Modest Moussorgski (1839-1881)
Tableaux d'une exposition

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski (1840-1893)
Children's Album

Nikola Djoric, accordéon

Dans la notice de son disque Nikola Djoric nous vante les mérites de son instrument possédante la polyphonie d'un orgue, le phrasé lyrique de la clarinette, les nuances dynamiques d'un violon ou d'un violoncelle « …all rolled into one » ! Mais duquel s'agit-il ? De l'accordéon mon capitaine ! Il admet tout de même que pour ce programme russe pour piano Tchaïkovski/Moussorgski, il a procédé à quelques ajustements techniques. On est prêt à l'entendre et à nous laisser convaincre si l'on met de côté nos expériences d'écoute passées... au piano. Les Tableaux d'une Exposition (1874) offrent d'emblée une (trop ?) riche palette d'expressions, de climats, d'atmosphères. Du thème populaire varié des Promenades à la Grande Porte de Kiev, martiale sans être pompeuse (mais où sont passées les cloches ?) Djoric nous rend parfaitement les mélodies (Goldenberg et Schmuyle) et la structure en arche ne nous a jamais paru si éclatante. Le Ballet des poussins est une tuerie. Reste que les nuances dynamiques sont atténuées (Gnomus) et que l'éventail harmonique s'est inéluctablement restreint (Il vecchio Castello, Bydlo, Tuileries, Catacombes) autour de la ligne mélodique. Les quelques pièces de Tchaïkovski, tirées de l'op. 39 (Album d'Enfants) par leur simplicité et leur inspiration populaire se jouent évidemment mieux à l'accordéon et sont irrésistibles. Convaincu ? Oui et même conquis ! (Jérôme Angouillant)

It is no understatement to say that the accordion is one of the most underrated instruments in the world of music. This exciting instrument is often reduced to the stereotype squeeze box employed by itinerant musicians to play old favourites on crowded streets, or the frequently derided oompapa music of Alpine legend. Nikola Djoric is not an artist who wants to shatter such preconceptions. He has no need to do that; it happens quite automatically. The world lies in his hands, as it were, whenever he straps the instrument with its host of buttons to his chest. The two buttonboards on each side have a similar range to that of a piano. By using a swaying movement of the bellows the tone can be varied much as it can on the cello. This is augmented by the metal reeds set in motion by the circulation of air from the bellows and the various registers for bass and treble. Nikola Djoric is fascinated by the fact that the accordion combines the characteristics of keyboard, string and wind instruments. A fact which he exploits to paint the tonal pictures of his performance programmes. He has dedicated his debut album for Berlin Classics to two of the great Russian masters: Modest Mussorgsky and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His approach is very simple. "I play exactly what is in the original score." No arrangements, just everything as Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky wrote it. It is this interplay – original score played on a new instrument – that informs Nikola Djoric's performance and which astounds the purists and experimenters alike. He applies his personal view to the images and to the music. At the same time, it is his aim to provide every listener with a personal sense of access to the music. Djoric is sure that "if Mussorgksy and Tchaikovsky had been more familiar with this instrument, they would have been fascinated by it."