Dom Frontiere: Mr. Accordio

 

Sarabande

Dom Frontiere: Mr. Accordion

Producer: Si Waronker

Cover Photograph: Phil Howard

Engineer: Ted Keep

Liberty Stereo LST 7008

1958

From the back cover: Dominic Frontiere started his accordion studies at the age of four with S. Pierpoali, then with Joe Biviano until he was sixteen. He later studied arranging with Robert Van Eps, conducting with Felix Slatkin and composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. It was through the encouragement of his father, Joseph Frontiere, that Dom was able to pursue his studies so successfully.

Also from the back cover: You may find it hard to believe that just one accordion, recorded one time only, with no 'gimmicks', could possibly have produced the magnificently enveloping sound recorded in this album... but it's true!

For many years the accordion has been condemned as being an instrument literally incapable of producing anything which might be called real music. Mr. Frontiere is one of the very few people who is able to disprove this theory. "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee" and Chopin's "Minute Waltz" stand out as the greatest display of Dom's virtuosity; however the entire album contains a delicacy of touch and a cleanest of technique rarely found in accordion performances.

The "Nutcracker Suite" is sheer loveliness – played on one accordion, yet with each instrument of the orchestra seemingly there in its place, and the Frontiere original "Scherzo", is very pleasing as well. It clearly demonstrates that Dom has a vast knowledge of the capabilities of the accordion.

This is a find display of series accordion playing, and an excellent way of getting people to listen to more extended compositions. The term "classical" in this album should not frighten away the listener more accustomed to lighter forms of music – these selections, so brilliantly performed by one of the world's foremost accordion technicians, will delight the most "un-serious" of music lovers.

And... Liberty Stereo create an audio and visual atmosphere that will fill your ears and home with the magic of the concert hall. – George Shearing 

George Shearing is a jazz musician. He is respected and admired by classical connoisseurs as well as the modern. His tastes are universal to the extreme, ranging from Bachian forms to Schoenbergian chromaticism and harmony. Since most of the Braille music materials available to him in his early training was classical in nature, he gained a solid technique and a thorough background in serious music. These qualities are evident in his many recordings.

Flight Of The Bumble Bee

Valse Brillante

Sarabande: Minuet I & Minuet II (French Suite - J. S. Bach)

Hora Staccato

Minuet (Ravel from "Le Tombeau de Couperin")

Scherzo (Frontiere - Dedicated to Robert Van Eps)

To A Wild Rose (MacDowell

Minute Walt (Chopin)

Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71A (Tchaikovsky)

1. Miniature Overture

2. March

3. Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy

4. Russian Dance (Trepak)

5. Arab Dance

6. Chinese Dance

7. Dance Of The Reed-Flutes

8. Waltz Of The Flowers