Let us look on the bright side of life, says composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov from the standpoint of his constructive pessimism

This year Gheorghi Arnaoudov turned 60, and his birthday has been honored by a few music events. Viva Piano, the competition for amateur pianists held in Sofia last April, was dedicated to the leading composer. In October the International Festival for Contemporary Piano Music ppIANISSIMO is featuring the world premiere of his Concerto ppianissimo for Two Pianos and Orchestra. And as part of the playbill of Sofia Music Weeks Festival, some of his works were played and will be played later. On 21 June at Studio No. 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio an album with works of the composer will be presented.

The Way of the Birds

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Brahms versus Wagner

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More details, from Gheorghi Arnaoudov:
“The presentation of my works at the prestigious international festival began at the end of May with a premiere of Concerto for Two Cellos. It was performed by two Bulgarian cellists who live in Vienna - Lilia Schulz-Bayrovaand Lilyana Kehayova under the direction of Maestro Christian Schulz (apart from being a famous Austrian conductor, he is also cellist at the Vienna Philharmonic). I was commissioned to write this work by the two performers. In all honesty it was an adventurous act on my side – I started writing it around 4 March and I submitted the scores in early May. It has turned out that my works have been included in two concerts, not only in the main program on 21 June. The performers are Galina Koycheva, violin, Konstantin Evtimov, cello, and Daniela Dikova, piano, or to put it in another way, the Ardentza Trio. They have been joined by young soprano Mila Mihova, as well as by soloists from the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra – Philip Philipov, violin, and Stefania Yankova, viola. It is a nice experiment. On the one hand, some works I have written in the past 5-6 years have been included – a vocal cycle on poems by PeyoYavorov, and a vocal cycle on poems by Ilya Bren. I was also commissioned by the New Year Festival in 2016 to write a trio which is also part of this program. Its title is Catalogue of Gadgets, Winds and Sensations. Further, the first movement of The Gates of Dream – three silent and muted poems for string quartet and piano will be played as well. I guess that the culmination of the night will be the presentation of a CD which the Bulgarian National Radio has offered to release. It features studio recordings produced by BNR. The album’s title is Flow and Stay. The CD will be released as a boutique edition – in just 60 copies. These are quite nice events in a situation in which music and culture have been pushed aside.”

Whatever we say, not every contemporary composer is lucky enough to see his works included in concert programs. As to Gheorghi Arnaoudov, since the beginning of 2017 he has seen world premieres of his works in China, Germany and other countries.

“It seems we have forgotten and slowed down the normalcy in the functioning of composers. A composer’s schedule is writing music which is then performed”, says GheorghiArnaoudov. “He is expected to be active in this way. And this is nothing exceptional. I wish we could introduce this agenda to Bulgaria too, meaning that we no longer term ‘exceptional’ every appearance on stage. There is nothing exceptional in this – this is our regular, daily job. In Bulgaria and across the world, there is a way for one to work as composer and not present this as some sort of an exceptional event. I remember a curious exchange way back at the Union of Bulgarian Composers between Prof. DimitarHristov and a group of young composers met including me. He told us that we had to learn two things. Frist, that there is nothing exceptional about us and that what we do can be done by another human being. And secondly, music will go on even without us. We should act with responsibility and awareness that another person can do what we do. This is a paramount position in art – you should not be up in the clouds and get in a state that Greek classicism described as hubris. In other words this is foolish pride and dangerous overconfidence, the things that usually ruin composers. A composer needs a lot of strength and intelligence to withdraw from this state at the right moment. We ought to be grateful to destiny when it deals blows to us. And we should look on the bright side of life. Guess who is saying this? Gheorghi Arnaoudov based on his ‘constructive pessimism’.”

English Daniela Konstantinova

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Let us look on the bright side of life, says composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov from the standpoint of his constructive pessimism

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