The duo Brun / Draeger is a wonderful combination of accordion, wind instruments and schwyzerörgeli: Swiss diatonic accordion which is widely used for playing folk music from the Alps. Albin Brun plays very skillfully this instrument. He is a melodic poet who takes your breath away by the amazing title track ‘Glisch d’Atun‘ on which he plays the schwyzerörgeli with the accordion by Patricia Draeger, the opening piece on this recording. An innovative collaboration that is further been developed into an inseparable duo creating a very different sound with several instrument combinations. Draeger plays accordion and the accordina (kind of mouth-harmonica) while Brun varies from accordion to soprano sax and duduk (Armenian double reed instrument). They use thereby various kinds of music like Balkan/Gypsy (‘Gadno Aynish‘), the Nino Rota-like ‘Simelibärg-Tango‘, the psalm touch in ‘Gislers’ and back to Switzerland with ‘Friedberg-Jodel’. All the compositions have nice theme’s (variations) and improvisation. Particularly attractive is the duduk in ‘Lo‘, the national wind instrument from Armenia made out of apricot wood. In traditional Armenian music this instrument is often supported by a drone; a long reclining tone by second duduk player played through ‘circular-breathing‘ creating a hypnotic sound with a soft tone. That drone in ‘Lo’ is played on the accordion, followed by subtle accordion chords, but the duduk melody still remains serene and subtle. Gorgeous! Brun / Draeger is a very fine duo, with good musicianship and virtuosity. The musical value of this album ‘Glisch d’Atun‘ reach even higher than the Alps and ready for worldwide exposure!
Mattie Poels