WTJU Jan 12th, 2021 | By Ralph Graves
In his native Bulgaria, composer and pianist Pancho Vladigerov is considered a national treasure. A treasure, perhaps, that was a little too closely guarded until now. For some reason, it’s always been difficult to access Vladigerov’s music outside of his Bulgaria.
Thanks to Capriccio, the world will finally discover what it’s been missing. This release is the first of an 18-disc series of Vladigerov’s music, licensed and remastered from Bulgarian recordings made in the 1970s.
That’s fine with me. This is music that deserves to be heard. Vladigerov synthesized his native music with classical forms to create a unique musical style. In many ways, his music reminds me of Bohuslav Martinu, who did the same with Czech music.