Ambrose Bierce defined the accordion as “An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.” What’s wrong with the accordion, I ask.

Those who disrespect the accordion turn their backs on an instrument that can score every mood from depression to elation. Enter Richard Galliano’s ‘Bach’, a collection of music that should put to rest any negative connotations associated with the accordion.

One might not know it, given the instrument’s unwarranted red-headed-stepchild status, but Bach on the accordion has a venerable history. The legendary Charles Magnante, for example, opened his 1939 Carnegie Hall concert with the Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

So it’s natural that Richard Galliano, the superb French jazz accordionist, would then turn to Bach for his first classical recording. But Galliano, unusually, ventures beyond keyboard repertoire, offering transcriptions of not only the Fifth Harpsichord Concerto (BWV 1056), but also the A-minor Violin Concerto (BWV 1041) and the Concerto for Violin and Oboe (BWV 1060), as well as a handful of Bach greatest hits. Galliano, one of the foremost accordionists of our time, has practiced and performed Bach over the years, but this is the first time he has recorded the composer’s works. Accompanied by a string quintet, Galliano’s interpretations of familiar pieces such as Orchestral Suite no. 3 in D Major and Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord no. 2 in E flat major soar. Every piece performed is a gem unto itself. Playing the accordion since the age of four and recipient of the Académie du Jazz’s Django Reinhardt Prize (“French Musician of the Year,” 1993), Galliano presents his audience with faithful renderings of the music as Bach wrote it. As in any great orchestral production, the music elevates the listener who is not hearing an accordion, but the works of a master played by a master.

Dating back to the early nineteenth century, the accordion has long supplied the melody for folk music from a variety of cultures. What’s klezmer or a tarantella or a polka without an accordion? Accordionists have been the subject of jokes and wisecracks, yet they are handling an extremely complex instrument that is suited to a wide variety of music, from folk to rock to classical. Those who master it can produce rich sound that does not require accompaniment. And, really, is there anything more romantic than having a strolling accordionist stopping by a candlelit table and playing “That’s Amore”? Ok, some may find it tacky but then you can’t win them all…