Ruth Leon recommends… Dmitry Zharikov – Accordion

Dmitry Zharikov – Accordion

Russian musicians are having a hard time these days. Not the big stars, the Netrebkos and the Gergievs, they’ll always come out on top no matter what happens to their country or their neighbours. There are still plenty of opera companies and orchestras willing to engage Russian star artists to perform even while they’re personae non grata in the West. No, the ones I feel for are the artists lower down on the scale, the orchestra musicians, the corps de ballet dancers, the chorus singers who are trapped in Russia unable to perform. Much of their lives would usually be spent on foreign tours and who is going to engage a Russian troupe to dance or sing outside of Russia while this war is going on next door? Indeed, they’re lucky if they’re not enlisted in the military to fight in Ukraine, these performers who don’t know one end of a tank from the other.

​So spare a thought for the Russian singers, dancers and actors who can’t sing, dance or act and let’s not throw away the baby with the bathwater.

Here’s one young Russian musician, Dmitry Zharikov. I don’t know what’s happened to him since the war began or even if he’s still alive. For all I know he’s on the front line somewhere or maybe he got out before he was drafted. But before all this started, he was a remarkable talent. What is remarkable about him is that he plays the accordion, remarkably well. I’ve always hated the sound of the accordion – nasty, squeezy sound, like the bagpipes, suitable only for raucous weddings and cheap restaurants.

But wait. Wrong again, played like this, by a master, which Zharikov is, this unpleasant and unwieldy instrument can produce wonderful sounds, in this case a Bach Chaconne, meant to be played on a solo violin. How extraordinary.

If anyone knows where he is or what’s happened to him, do let me know.
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