Krassimir Gatev - A Friendship in Recordings (2020)

Gega New Music House has in its catalogue many recordings of the great Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978) performed by renowned artists, and two of the releases contain his works only (GD 203 and GD 239). This is yet another release entirely of works by the composer, performed by the talented pianist Krassimir Gatev (1944-2008). He graduated the Sofia High School of Music as a student of Assoc. Prof. Lydia Kouteva and the “P.I. Tchaikovsky” Moscow Conservatory as a student of Prof. Yakov Flier. Gatev gave numerous recital programmess and appeared as soloist of leading orchestras in Bulgaria, in many countries in Europe, Asia and the USA, in prestigious concert halls. His repertoire includes works from all music epochs, including works by Bulgarian composers. But it is with the utmost consideration and respect that Krassimir Gatev regards the works of Pancho Vladigerov. Their decades-long friendship and creative collaboration is well-known. The composer dedicated to him Four Frescoes – 1977 and Three Bagatelles – 1978, which are included in this programme. The rest of the works were composed earlier. The Variations on the Bulgarian folk song “Gorda Stara Planina” (“Proud Balkan Mountain”) were written in 1916, when the composer was 17 years old. He wrote Three Piano Pieces, Op. 15 in 1922, Classic and Romantic in 1931, and Episodes and Aquarelles were written consecutively in 1941 and in 1942. Even though composed over a large period of time (some of them during his stay in Germany until 1932), they have many characteristics that feature his whole work: distinctive style, richness of sound expression, brilliant national intonations, rich harmony, technical complexity, virtuosity ... Krassimir Gatev’s recordings unite them all and, as the composer himself notes about the performance of his piano works, they “… created a gold standard for my own personal view and aesthetics in regard to the interpretation of my compositions.”