Credits:

Saint-Saens / Stembolskaya

Description:

Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978) was a modern Bulgarian composer and an important figure in the history of Bulgarian music, including being a founding member of the Bulgarian Modern Music Society in 1933. Vladigerov began composing and playing the piano as a boy and eventually moved to Berlin, where he studied composition with Paul Juon at the Higher School of Music in Berlin and with Friedrich Gernsheim and Georg Schumann at the Prussian Academy of Arts. as a composer and pianist under the director Max Reinhardt, before returning to Bulgaria. He taught piano at the Bulgarian State Conservatory and wrote works in a wide range of genres that were performed and highly acclaimed in Europe, Russia, and the United States. After his death, his works were almost forgotten, but in the 21st century, they have come back into the spotlight and several recordings have been made. Vladigerov made a series of recordings in Bulgaria in the 1970s, and the Capriccio label has 18 albums worth of material. The piano concertos on the three CDs are a joy to listen to, with colorful orchestral backdrops reminiscent of Rachmaninoff and Ravel, and the piano's technical passages are a delight to hear. Vladigerov himself plays solo in the Fifth.It proves that he was a pianist of exceptional skill. Wielding the baton here is his son Alexandre (1933-1993). He plays brilliantly to carry on the music of his great father into the future. Naxos Japan