Concertino, the "little concerto" for accordion and string quartet, was written in 1983 at the suggestion of the accordionist Hugo Noth and is Yun's first composition for this instrument. For the premiere in November 1983, Yun's publisher and friend Harald Kunz wrote: The accordion is used "in memory of the East Asian mouth organ. This instrument, which originated in classical China, is called shêng there, ssaenghwang in Korea and shô in Japan. There are usually 17 bamboo pipes of different lengths and diameters on a gourd-shaped wooden resonance box. A metal tongue is inserted into the base of each pipe and vibrates when blown. Up to three-part playing is possible, drones and long chords with ornamental decorations determine the character of the instrument. As a reed instrument, the accordion is related to the ssaenghwang. - Isang Yun's treatment of the accordion is primarily chordal, whereby the chords are not held rigidly but are broken in many ways, changing in their density and range. The strings usually complement the accordion's actions; they occasionally form a contrast, occasionally they prepare a new phase and conclude a section as an echo. This juxtaposition and coexistence of accordion and string quartet, solo and tutti, is hinted at by Yun's choice of the title Concertino."
At first hearing, Concertino appears to be in two parts; however, the first part merges almost seamlessly into a slow middle section, and a slow passage is sunk into the second part as a "suspension", as a slowing release of tension shortly before a rapid conclusion. The work can thus be characterised - another ambiguity of Yun's composition - as having both three and five parts.
The motivic nucleus is the predominantly upwardly directed semitone as well as a variable interval (second, third, etc.) in the rhythm long - short - long: attached to the earth, swinging widely and yet full of longing for a better world. The evocation of the string sound at the beginning, for example, is developed from this melodic model. The accordion answers quietly and distantly: on the one hand chordally, on the other with the same motif in the bass register. The strings take a second approach; the contrast accordion - strings is at first even more intensified and then leads into an excited contest. A contrasting turn with soloistic engagement of the violoncello brings the meditative middle section; departure and dance then in the moving final section.
Concertino is dedicated to Hugo Noth and the Joachim Quartet, the performers of the premiere.
Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer
