Frode Haltli, Arne Nordheim: Complete Accordion Works (Simax Classics)

The accordion is perhaps understandably an underrated instrument in the classical sphere, though as Frode Haltli demonstrates in this collection of Arne Nordheim pieces, its broad expressive range and varied timbres can be profitably employed in modernist tone-poems such as the huffing, panting, piercing, whining beats that is the accordion/tape composition "Dinosauros". Most impressive of all is the 26-minute "Spur", in which Haltli layers low wheezings, breathy staccato chordings and long notes akin to electronic tones over a densely-structured orchestral bed. Inquisi- tive and engrossing, it's at once alienating and beguiling, the suburban timbre of the accordion defied by its employment.

Download: Spur; Dinosauros; Signals