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Bach Double Feature: Prelude in C Major & Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring on Hohner Morino Bayan

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breezybellows

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Exploring two of Bach’s masterpieces—Prelude in C Major and 'Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring'—on my new Hohner Morino Converter Bayan accordion. This instrument brings out the best in Bach’s music, with a tone that's both rich and refined. Join me in this musical journey and let me know which piece resonates with you more!

 
Congratulations Breezy - what an awesome instrument.
Didn't know that HOHNER is building custom instruments based on the MORINO series.
Please enjoy it a lot and share with us ☺️
 
JerryPH said:
Facinating... tell us more! Any history on this accordion? Is this the one that was shown at accordion Gallery?
Click to expand...
Yes, it is the same. Guenadiy was so kind to arrange a trade. His description is pretty through.
It is very different from my Petosa Cathedral I. I'll make a video comparing the two. I'll need to spend more time with the Morino before I do that.

Given all the options that are added, the palm master switch is not available. It's not available through the chin switch as well.
 
Thanks Joseph for sharing your lovely music with us and congratulations on the new accordion. A Hohner Morino IV 120 C bayan, no less - nice!

But what's in a name?

I guess that over the years there have been many terms for accordions that conveyed something about their tone, purpose, construction or specification etc. I really liked the old term "organtone" that Dallape used to describe their classical/liturgical instruments, back in the day. They were really nice accordions, usually with double-octave tuning and cassotto, giving a classical Italian tone and with extra kudos by association to church organs (the king of instruments dontcha know) and sacred music.

Seems to me the term "bayan" or especially "cathedral bayan" kinda does something similar too, with the additional free bass association. Okay, for the purist it's a bit of a stretch to really consider Italian or other western accordions that have the word "bayan" in their name, to actually be Russian button accordions (bayans), but hey, accordion's aren't really church organs either :unsure:, and anyway words like "organtone", "bayan" or "cathedral bayan", well... they just sound really cool.​
 
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Walker said:
Thanks Joseph for sharing your lovely music with us and congratulations on the new accordion. A Hohner Morino IV 120 C bayan, no less - nice!

But what's in a name?

I guess that over the years there have been many terms for accordions that conveyed something about their tone, purpose, construction or specification etc. I really liked the old term "organtone" that Dallape used to describe their classical/liturgical instruments, back in the day. They were really nice accordions, usually with double-octave tuning and cassotto, giving a classical Italian tone and with extra kudos by association to church organs (the king of instruments dontcha know) and sacred music.

Seems to me the term "bayan" or especially "cathedral bayan" kinda does something similar too, with the additional free bass association. Okay, for the purist it's a bit of a stretch to really consider Italian or other western accordions that have the word "bayan" in their name, to actually be Russian button accordions (bayans), but hey, accordion's aren't really church organs either :unsure:, and anyway words like "organtone", "bayan" or "cathedral bayan", well... they just sound really cool.​
Click to expand...
What about Bassoon, Bandoneon, Clarinet, Violin, Oboe and Piccolo? They took a lot of liberties naming the register switches. They got one of the switches right - Accordion.
 
breezybellows said:
What about Bassoon, Bandoneon, Clarinet, Violin, Oboe and Piccolo? They took a lot of liberties naming the register switches. They got one of the switches right - Accordion.
Click to expand...
Indeed! I like this naming convention (musical instrument names) because it tries to describe "something" of the sonic texture of the various registers, albeit in an imprecise way. It seems to follow an organ convention, but sadly this method isn't considered standard any more on the accordion. It is less clinical than the modern SMuFL (Standard Music Font Layout) glyphs, that are of importance primarily (in my opinion) for the composition of music using standardised fonts. An example of SMuFL glyphs would be - the circle with dots to symbolise the voice configuration on the treble switches. For further information, there is a website that catalogues all the standardised glyphs for every musical instrument, including accordion.

The organ is also the inspiration behind other accordion conventions - the use of "pipe lengths" on accordion registrations; like 16 foot, 8 foot or 4 foot pipes. It's an interesting method, despite the fact that accordion reeds don't sound anything like organ pipes, except in pitch. It's another accordion convention that seems to be less used these days, and is not contained in SMuFL.

However, going back to the convention that you mention, Joseph - using musical instrument voices to name registrations - is a well know organ convention. One of the more interesting "voices" is literally called Vox Humana:

Listen to the incredible Vox Humana "voice":



...and to think the accordion is a relative of the king of instruments. Just sayin'.​
 
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Now I want an accordion with a Vox Humana register switch. Kind of reminds me of those bass players back in the swing era who used to hum along as they bowed their basses on some tunes
 
Listen to the incredible Vox Humana "voice":
Click to expand...
Question: Do any of the sounds that are sold have this voicing? I have sounds from Dale Mathis, Richard Noel, and Michael Bridge. I've listened to most of them but have not heard anything like this.
 
cestjeffici said:
Question: Do any of the sounds that are sold have this voicing? I have sounds from Dale Mathis, Richard Noel, and Michael Bridge. I've listened to most of them but have not heard anything like this.
Click to expand...
I don't know... but I have an old Yamaha FB-01 and if I recall, there is something fairly similar in that, so if you have a Yamaha DX7 keyboard, you may find it there. I may need to pull that out one day, but thats going to be several weeks... I am dashing around like crazy lately and then in a few weeks I am off to Europe on vacation. After that, I am going to be a little less busy (I hope). :)
 
cestjeffici said:
Question: Do any of the sounds that are sold have this voicing? I have sounds from Dale Mathis, Richard Noel, and Michael Bridge. I've listened to most of them but have not heard anything like this.
Click to expand...
I didn't find this voice but you got me peeking into the jazz scat voices. It was interesting. I did record a video and I was kinda embarrassed to share it because it's ridiculous. But I uploaded it anyways.
It gives the ability to control the independent voice tracks and each voice has different sound bytes (Doo, day, daduh, Ah etc) which can be triggered by varying bellows pressure and key touch intensity. It has a lot of potential but I didn't have the skill to control all of this.

Disclaimer: watching this might cause adverse reactions.

 
The best use of the "scat sounds" I heard were Pesaturo's use of them in his song "Mr. Sandman" that he played at a presentation I was at. It's not really close to the Vox Humana register. I've played with it over the years, it's fun but not what I would commonly use.
 
JerryPH said:
The best use of the "scat sounds" I heard were Pesaturo's use of them in his song "Mr. Sandman" that he played at a presentation I was at. It's not really close to the Vox Humana register. I've played with it over the years, it's fun but not what I would commonly use.
Click to expand...
I've always felt that he over does it. Too many notes to enjoy the tune.
 
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