Bellows and Pipes

The sound and grandeur of a vast cathedral, and the intimacy of chamber music: the combination of church organ and accordion is a rare one. But Bellows and Pipes is a project built on belief and passion by two outstanding musicians – accordionist Markku Lepistö (well known for his years with Finnish legends Värttinä, as well as a brilliant solo career) and organist Mikko Helenius, who is also well-known on the international scene as a bandoneón player.

While Lepistö's earlier solo albums have inhabited the world of Finnish tradition, here he turns to two of the musical interests he had even as a teenager, jazz and classical music.At the heart of the album is his six-movement Suite for Accordion and Organ, which brings together classical traditions and folk sensibilities. Its third movement ‘Choral’, for example, reveals an exquisitely gentle accordion melody, typical of Lepistö's writing, against a background of church-like reverence from Helenius' colourful and warm playing. The moment when it moves on to the ‘Second Waltz’ is mischievous and inventive.

Either side of the suite are arrangements of traditional tunes, unforgettable in their beauty and in the warm acoustic of the Käpylä church in Helsinki.