# Bulgarian composers



## TodorYankov (Jan 25, 2017)

Beacause composers from Bulgaria are usualy not very popular, I'm going to post a few works by some of the greatest composers from by country

Pancho Vladigerov - Piano Concerto No.3:






Grotesque suite "Bai Ganyo" second movement. This is a program suite, based on the finctional caracter Bay Ganyo, created by Aleko Konstantinov.






Pancho Vladigerov - Autumn elegy






Vasil Kazandjiev - Toccata






Ivan Spasov - Begala Rada


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Thanks for this thread. So far, I've listened to the piano concerto and Bay Ganyo and I like both, especially the latter. I found this recording in good sound 



. This is really good music.

Edit: wow, I really like the Bay Ganyo piece. Now I have to buy a recording!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Fantastic composers! Vladigerov is really a treat! I'm tempted to call his music Russian, but it's just Slavic/Soviet, nor did his sound escape Russia. I really enjoy his piano music.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Thank you for the new things we are learning from your country.


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## TodorYankov (Jan 25, 2017)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Thanks for this thread. So far, I've listened to the piano concerto and Bay Ganyo and I like both, especially the latter. I found this recording in good sound
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The suite is supposed to depict the literary caracter of Bay Ganyo, who is created as a combination of all negative stereotypes of the bulgarian people. The second part witch I postet is called "Bay Ganyo in Vienna". It starts with him walking through the streets, and after that he goes to a ball where he sees a beautifull Viennese women dancing, represented by the Viennese waltz, and he tries to impress her by dancing a ratchenica, a bulgarian folk dance. The dance is in 7/8 metric, and the composer wrote it quite crude in order to depict the vulgararity of the caracter. And the culmination of the second part represents a slap from the woman.
The first and third parts are similar to the second, but the forth is very different. It is very pastoral, and represents the bulgarians' love for their homeland.
I don't know if you can buy a recording, the piece is very rearly performed here, and it is not very popular abroad, if at all. Even the recordings on Youtube are from over 30 years ago.


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## TodorYankov (Jan 25, 2017)

Nikolay Stoykov - Dance on embers. Stoykov is a pupil of Pancho Vladigerov and Dmitri Shostakovich






Dimitar Nenov - Piano concerto






Petko Staynov - Rachenitsa, from suice "Tracian dances"






Krasimir Kyurkchiysky - Polegnala e Todora variations (based on a bulgarian folk song, Kyurkchiysky is also a pupil of Vladigerov)


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

TodorYankov said:


> The suite is supposed to depict the literary caracter of Bay Ganyo, who is created as a combination of all negative stereotypes of the bulgarian people. The second part witch I postet is called "Bay Ganyo in Vienna". It starts with him walking through the streets, and after that he goes to a ball where he sees a beautifull Viennese women dancing, represented by the Viennese waltz, and he tries to impress her by dancing a ratchenica, a bulgarian folk dance. The dance is in 7/8 metric, and the composer wrote it quite crude in order to depict the vulgararity of the caracter. And the culmination of the second part represents a slap from the woman.
> The first and third parts are similar to the second, but the forth is very different. It is very pastoral, and represents the bulgarians' love for their homeland.
> I don't know if you can buy a recording, the piece is very rearly performed here, and it is not very popular abroad, if at all. Even the recordings on Youtube are from over 30 years ago.


My taste must be really unusual then. How come this piece is not popular even in Bulgaria? What are the "popular" classical pieces there?

And yeah, I did a search online but could find no recordings of Bay Ganyo to buy. YouTube would have to suffice.


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## TodorYankov (Jan 25, 2017)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> My taste must be really unusual then. How come this piece is not popular even in Bulgaria? What are the "popular" classical pieces there?
> 
> And yeah, I did a search online but could find no recordings of Bay Ganyo to buy. YouTube would have to suffice.


Classical music itself is not very popular here. This is because during communism, people of culture and intelectuals were repressed, because they were seen as Bourgeoisie.This caused a few generations to be very unejucated when it comes to culture. Also musicians here are very underpaid, so orchestras performe popular works that will surely sell tickets, while great pieces by bulgarians are forgotten. You can't even find information about composers.I know about them because I'm studying at the Academy of arts in Plovdiv.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Interesting history on how classical music had been viewed in Bulgaria under communism. It's a little bit in contrast to classical music in the USSR under Stalin in the 1930's. There, western music influence as a whole was considered bourgeois, but western popular music more so than classical per se. 

Stalin encouraged classical music but only in terms of socialist realism to advance the principles of the proletariat, with support for composers such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, and others. So there was state support for classical music under Soviet communism through to the end of the Cold War. It's surprising to hear classical music (and culture) as a whole was repressed in Bulgaria in those days.


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