Traversing folk and classical traditions, without blinking or apology, comes naturally for the good-humored Russian virtuosos making up Trio Voronezk, formed in 1973 in the city of Voronezk, near Moscow. These guys-Valerie Petruchin on the double bass balalaika, Sergie Teleshev on the chromatic-button accordion called the bajan, and Vladimir Volochin on the three-stringed, balalaika-esque domra-can play up a storm, with chops and heart. The group covers a lot of ground, texturally and stylistically, as their new self-titled album (Angel 7243556892; 41:32) reveals. And there are no particularly genre party lines governing the repertoire on the recording, framed by Vivaldi and a Gershwin medley. In between come custom-tailored arrangements of music by Bach and Schubert, Russian composers Schnittke, Shostakovich, Argentine sonorities from Piazzolla, reminding us of the natural cross-cultural resonance between tango and Eastern European sonorities. If this sounds like a hodgepodge, banish the thought: it all fits together neatly, and that’s the point.
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