The accordion doesn't feature regulary on the Video of the Day, much to the detriment of us all, but this performance of Jean-Phillipe Rameau's 'Les Cyclopes' by Janne Valkeajoki proves how versatile and expressive the instrument can be. The work features on a brand-new album of transcriptions of works by Rameau.

'Les Cyclopes' (The Cyclopses) is one of ten movements of the Suite in D Major written in 1724 for solo harpsichord.​ It is a suite of 'character pieces' with each movement having a unique title such as 'The Sighs', 'The Happy', and 'The Woman with a Limp' (some more abstract than others...). It was customary at the time for composers to reuse, rearrange and repurpose their music to whatever the brief required, and Rameau was no exception to this - many of the melodies in these harpsichord suites eventually found their way into his operas. So, this set of transcriptions stays true to this, the source material is the same but a new layer is added!

'Rameau' is out now and can be heard below via Apple Music