Music / Accordion Dances. At Gandel Hall, National Gallery, February 15. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

This concert was the first of this year’s Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Series. The audience in a sold-out Gandel Hall at the National Gallery was treated to an eclectic program from violinist Courtney Cleary, cellist Patrick Suthers and accordionist James Crabb.

Crabb plays a “classical” accordion, an instrument that has five rows of buttons for the right hand, which plays most of the melody and a mosaic of smaller buttons for the left hand, mostly used for chordal accompaniment.

Unlike simpler button accordions, which have a limited range and can only play in one or two keys, these larger instruments have a five-octave range and are fully chromatic.

The program was music arranged by James Crabb for this trio combination, the first being a 16th century work from Spanish composer Diego Ortiz, bouncy dance tunes from the violin and accordion over bass riffs from the cello.

This was followed by a Bach Sonata, No. 5 in C major originally written for two keyboards and pedals as would be found on an organ. The violin and Crabb’s right hand played the higher parts while Suthers’ cello took the bass line with harmonic additions from Crabb’s left hand. The first movement was precise and tight but the later movements lacked some coherence.

The major work was the Suite in C minor, Op 149, by Josef Rheinberger, a German Romantic composer of the second half of the 19th century. Originally scored for organ, violin and cello, this is a big work in four movements, close to 40 minutes long. All four movements are full of charming little melodic fragments which would reappear as variations throughout the movement.

One of these little melodies in the second movement was used in the opening line to Silence is Golden, a 1964 hit by the Four Seasons. The use of the accordion, rather than an organ, allowed a comfortable balance between the three instruments.

The concert concluded with two shorter works from Astor Piazzolla, Oblivion from 1982 and Libertango written in 1974 as Piazzolla was developing his style of tango nuevo. Both were brought to life with interesting and engaging arrangements by Crabb and played with appropriate fire and passion.