Ivan Sverko

http://www.strumentiemusica.com/en/accordion-en/lets-discover-a-new-talent-of-the-accordion-the-croat-ivan-sverko/

 
The roots that have led to the concert accordion as we know it today have been developing in a slow but steady manner for about one-hundred years. Although in appearance similar to the widely-recognized traditional accordion known for it's left keyboard based on pre-fixed chords, the concert accordion differs considerably, both in construction and in sonority.
One of the most prominent features of the classical accordion is the free-reed system of the left manual which consists of single notes arranged in a chromatical order.
Patent for the accordion was taken out at the beginning of the 19th century. At first, it was a simple instrument used for entertaiment and dance. From that period onwards, many musicians and constructors have been involved with the evolution of the instrument. One of the directions some of the enthusiasts were striving for was to adapt the accordion into a fully-featured instrument to be used in classical music. As the time passed by, many small upgrades and improvements of the instrument have been made in that direction but the idea had remained overshadowed by the enormous popularity of the accordion in light music.
It wasn't until the mid-twentieth century that the classical accordion sidestream became more obvious. The instrument had started to appearin music schools of European countries in the early 1930s. Since then, departments of concert accordion have been opened in many of the most-known music universities.
Today, the concert accordion is a fully-developed instrument with a tonal range of over seven octaves. The quailty of the sound increased greatly over the years. The so-called soul of the instrument, bellow, allows for very subtle dynamical nuances. Moreover, the construction and ergonomics of a modern concert accordion is such that it allows technically superb playing. The three manuals are extremly suitable for complex polyfonic works of Baroque as well as for the lyrical and virtuosic transcriptions from the Romantic Era.
During the last few decades, many composers embraced the accordion for its distinct capabilities and sonority. The result is a ever-growing number of original accordion pieces. Composers who have written solo, chamber and concerto works for the classical accordion among many others also include Paul Hindemith, Sofia Gubaidulina, Luciano Berio, Magnus Lindberg, Edison Denisov, Astor Piazzolla.
Accordion performers of today are more then ever integrated into the classical music society, collaborating with famous composers, conductors and instrumentalists with a great success and performing in some of the world's most-known concert halls.