Pancho VLADIGEROV (1899-1978)
Orchestral Works - Volume 1
Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 33 (1939) [46:28]
Concert Overture, Op. 27 "Earth" (1933) [20:59]
Heroic Overture “The Ninth of September”, Op. 45 (1949) [20:11]
Autumn Elegy, Op. 15 No. 2 (version for orchestra) (1922 rev. 1937) [7:40]
Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 44 "May" (1949) [45:15]
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Vladigerov
rec. Bulgaria, 1970-75
CAPRICCIO C8050 [2 CDs: 160:33]
I doubt there could be a more idiomatic combination than that of Bulgaria’s National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Pancho Vladigerov’s son, Alexander, a splendid pianist as well as conductor. These recordings have been licensed to Capriccio from the composer’s heirs and were recorded for Balkanton between 1970 and 1975. They are part of a serious restoration and reissue programme from Capriccio that should prove valuable to collectors. The Concertos have already been released (see review).
The main works here are the symphonies. The First was written in 1939 and is cast in four conventional movements. It opens in dramatic fashion, promising a kind of cataclysm but relents to invoke vivid late-Romanticism, lithe rhythms, and Vladigerov’s own brand of folkloric wind writing. This music is full of fervour, with a gripping and heroic sense of theatre, albeit of the piledriver variety. The slow movement fortunately, has a rather luscious almost mythic element – there’s even a Rimsky-like cut to Vladigerov’s jib – whilst the Scherzo is a Big Band folksy affair with rugged Bulgar rhythms. The finale opens with ominous filmic intimations which soon take in skirling folkloric extroversion, splendidly orchestrated with fine splashes of colour, before a truly inescapable grandiose ending.
The Second Symphony followed in 1949 but this time it’s for string orchestra and radiates a luxurious-lyric quality. Vladigerov cannily distributes material between the string choirs, balancing things very well; I’m thinking of the episode for pizzicati, for instance, and the sense of string mass he generates. The slow movement is richly melodic and has a verdant quality whilst this is followed by a Waltz, refined rather than avuncular, and probably an insufficient contrast to the Adagio in terms of mood. The ebullience of the finale doesn’t replicate those moments of bellicosity that made the finale of the First Symphony such a decibel-raiser. This Second Symphony sports the subtitle ‘May’ and its historical-political significance might well be something of a veneer. Vladigerov lived through troubled times in Bulgaria.
Also included in this twofer is a Concert Overture subtitled ‘Earth’ that dates from 1933 and runs for 21 minutes. This is another intense statement with contrastingly yielding wind panels and there’s plenty of drama and sweeping vehemence. Thematically it’s not immediately memorable but the constant play of sections and contrasts affords an edge-of-the-seat ride. The triumphant end, a Vladigerov Special, emphasises the relentless nature of some of this writing. The Heroic Overture (1949) supposedly celebrates the October Revolution and has a full complement of sweeping melodies as well as ruminative wind writing. However, Vladigerov was half-Jewish and quotes the Hatikvah, resplendently orchestrated, a rather daring exercise for the time, though he may have been encouraged to do so by virtue of the very recent foundation of the state of Israel. At 20 minutes, though, the work is rather garrulous and discursive, whatever its good points. The much earlier and briefer Autumn Elegy reveals another side of the composer. It is a 1937 orchestration of an earlier solo piano piece and shows a textured quasi-impressionism at work, subtle, and very attractive. It’s not, perhaps, a coincidence that it is transcription nor that the piano original dates from 1922
Christian Heindl’s notes are excellent and Martin Klebahn’s restorations sound accomplished. It’s good news that Capriccio has begun to undertake a mass restoration of the composer’s works.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: Rob Barnett
