PIRCHNER: “EU.” Werner Pirchner, accordion, bass-vibes, bell,...

PIRCHNER: “EU.” Werner Pirchner, accordion, bass-vibes, bell, voice; Ernst Kovacic, violin; Kurt Neuhauser, organ; Vienna Wind Soloists; Vienna Brass Quintet; Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Vienna; Peter Keuschnig, Othmar Costa, conductors. ECM 1314/15 (two digital records). Erik Satie meets and embraces Gerard Hoffnung in this discontinuous suite of parodies directed at both the stodginess of contemporary concert life and the devastating effects of Tyrolean musical kitsch. Pirchner is a shrewd but loving satirist, capable of serving up a Milhaudesque wind quintet, a catchy duo-accordion sonata or “Do You Know Emperor Joe,” a set of rude orchestral variations on Haydn’s “Emperor” Quartet. Half the musicians in Vienna seem to have participated in this album. Their delight in Pirchner’s nose-thumbing gestures seems infectious.