Vassil Kazandjiev TOCCATA

Vassil Kazandjiev was born in 1934 in Rousse, Bulgaria. At the age of 7 he started playing the guitar and two years later he learned to play the piano. At the age of 10 he started composing music. His first teachers of composition and conducting were Konstantin Iliev and Dobrin Petkov. In 1957 Kazandjiev graduated from the Bulgarian State Conservatoire in the composition class of Professor Pancho Vladiguerov and conducting with Professor Vladi Simeonov. Already as a student at the Conservatoire, he won a laureate's prize for his Sinfonietta for a large orchestra at the Sixth International Youth Festival in Moscow (1957).
Vassil Kazandjiev started his career in conducting at the National Opera in Sofia, where he worked for seven years. During that period he staged and conducted a number of Bulgarian and foreign operas and ballets: Yana's Nine Brothers and Antigona 43 by Lyubomir Pipkov, Sly Peter by Vesselin Stoyanov, The Boyana Master by Konstantin Iliev, Othello by Verdi, Turandot by Puccini, The Magic Flute by Mozart, Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky, The Wooden Prince by Bartok, and many more.
In 1962 he founded the Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble with which he had very successful concerts in Bulgaria and abroad for 15 years. Since 1978 he was appointed conductor, and from 1985 until 1993 - Chief Conductor of the
Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio.
Vassil Kazandjiev combines high professionalism and broad musical culture, as well as a highly developed creative intuition. Therefore, his interpretations of works by different authors and epochs are distinguished by depth, stylistic authenticity and pointed modern sensitivity. His art has been immortalized in many recordings of the Bulgarian Radio, Balkanton, Harmonia Mundi - France, Kibaton - Japan and other companies from different countries. He has had extremely successful guest tours in many European countries, USA, Canada, Africa, Japan, South Korea, etc.
In addition to being a remarkable conductor and pedagogue - he is professor of Orchestral Conducting at Pancho Vladiguerov State Academy of Music - Vassil Kazandjiev is one of the most talented Bulgarian composers. He is the author of a large number of symphony and chamber music works: four symphonies, a number of sonatas and instrumental concertos, "Pictures from Bulgaria","LiveIcons", "Apocalypse", "Illumination", three string quartets, piano quintet, etc. He has also composed music for many theatre performances and films. His style is characterized by clear expressivity and artisticism, combined with a virtuoso composition technique.
His TOCCATA for piano is written in 1957.This spontaneously written piece is the second one from V. K.'s cycle "Predude and Toccata", intended for his graduatoin examine at the Music Academy. Prelude is a hundred percent Vladigerov's (a gesture of gratitude towards his teacher), but Toccata is an eloquent fact for the real creative direction of the student.
Toccata reveals a mixed image, having in mind the style imitations, and rasembles (sounds like) toccatas of 20th sentury - from the music of Bartok, Stravinski, Prokofiev's harmonic style, Pancho Vladigerov's texture and harmonic originality, and even Chopin's etudes texture. Toccata fascinated with its dynamic story, sound richness and harmonic and rithmical ingenuity - witticism, close shape, flowing passages from one kind of technique to another, with the texture coverage over a numbers of layers, with the syncope rhythms.
This recording is from live concert of Bulgarian pianist Veselinka Ivanova in Dartmouth college, NH on 25 February 2004

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Vassil
• Kazandjiev
• toccata
• bulgarian
• composer
• contemporary
• piano
• miniature
• Veselinka
• Ivanova

[MKazandjieva]

Thank you for this video! (I am Vassil Kazandjiev's daughter).

[veseli601]

It's always been a great pleasure and honor to meet Vassil Kazandjiev and his outstanding art! That was a life performance in 2004 in the United States, so, sorry for bad sound quality. Thank you very much and a lot of hearthy greetings to him!

[Chakiejan]

This is fabulous. Unfortunately no music stores in my city carry this great work and I cannot find any publishers online that carry it either. I would love to learn it. How can I get a copy of the sheets to this? Either free or pay, I don't mind either way. I must have this excellent work. Anyone know where I can get this? Perhaps a number I can call or an Internet link? Thanks.

[glantz91]

Hey, dear friends, I'm verry happy to read your comments and hundred times more to hear the incredible toccata, dear prof. Vesselinka Ivanova, you made me play it next year! (: Ivan

[olga2809]

I love the different ritmical, harmonical ideas that are combined in this piece. Thanks so much for posting.

[pianist626262]

Thank you very much for the "Toccata for piano and strings".Many Greetings Franco Di Nitto(Pianist)