Video published April 25, 2024. Lyell Cresswell composed ‘Dragspil’ for the BBC Proms in 1995, its solo accordion part written for James Crabb. Crabb returned to the work for its New Zealand premiere with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (conductor Luke Dollman) last year and you can view the SOUNZ Film of this explosive, sinewy and entirely Cresswellian piece below.

Audio recorded by Radio NZ Concert, Film funded by NZ On Air.

Ahead of the performance James Crabb spoke with Elizabeth Kerr for her excellent music blog Five Lines, saying, “It [Dragspil] has a pulsating groove, a ceilidh stomp. I can just see Lyell chuckling away at this incessant, primal thing…It takes you by the collar and won’t let go. And when you think it’s over, it steps up another level and off it goes again. You’ve just got to hang on.”

The 2023 concert preview is here:
https://www.fivelines.nz/articles/apo-and-cresswells-dragspil-a-concerto-comes-home