photo: Georges Braunschweig

“Richard Galliano has changed the course of accordion history. Today we can speak of ‘before’ and ’after’ Galliano.” — Yasuhiro Kobayashi, accordionist and musician accompanist of the singer Björk

It was my dearest wish: to give a fair place to this instrument, unjustly qualified as the “poor man’s piano,” whereas my accordion has always been a Steinway with braces.

I was determined to restore the image of my instrument, so I left my native village and “went up to Paris” like many others. There I had the chance to meet artists who quickly put their trust in me: accordionists like Jo Basile, singers like Claude Nougaro, Serge Reggiani, Barbara, and jazzmen like Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Michel Portal. 

Then, in the early 1980s, there was the collaboration and the birth of a friendship with Astor Piazzolla, and a close collaboration on several creations: Famille d’Artistes, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Three Preludes for concert accordion, and Ballet Tango for four accordions. 

The years 2010 to 2016 were devoted to the realization of four albums (Bach, Vivaldi, Nino Rota, Mozart), at the initiative of the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label.

This intense production reminded me of my very first recording — made in Bonson, a small village in the Alpes-Maritimes, in 1979 — a 45 rpm record in which I interpreted one of my compositions Trois Images pour accordéon, the Prélude du Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel, and Docteur Gradus ad Parnassum by Claude Debussy.

The concerts I give today recount the story of an artist’s life, mine, the itinerary of a child animated by the passion of music, and of all the music itself.

My friend Pierre Barouh wrote a very beautiful text entitled L’Allégresse on my composition Il Piccolo Circo. He used to say at the time, “It’s incredible to see the number of countries that have made the accordion their national instrument.” He was so right. Indeed, the accordion is omnipresent in the popular music of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, China, Russia, Ukraine, and in the Balkans.

With this experience and all the concerts I have given on the five continents in my 50 years of career, I invite you to share my music.

— Richard Galliano

Albums

Madreperla

Release Date: April 14, 2023
Catalog Number: NV6518
21st Century
Chamber
Orchestral
Accordion
Orchestra
The accordion surely is an evocative instrument, its mere timbre conjuring mellow images of the Italian Riviera or cobbled Parisian streets. One would expect it to be quite out of place in the relatively formal environment of the classical concert hall – and be sorely mistaken, as far as Richard Galliano is concerned. The versatile French composer and accordion virtuoso sets out to elegantly shatter expectations – and his new album MADREPERLA proves him right. MADREPERLA's brilliance stems not only from the sheer audacity of juxtaposing the accordion with a full orchestra, nor from the fact that it succeeds spectacularly in doing so. What's most intoxicating is Galliano's fusion of symphonic writing with eclectic styles of dance – the pavane, the mazurka, the milonga, the forró, the waltz – whose particular zest, allure and élan pour forth torrentially from these compositions. A triumph.