Bulgarian Rhapsody, Op.16

Although he is the best known Bulgarian composer since Orpheus - who is claimed as Bulgarian on the grounds that, according to legend, he was born in Rhodopes - Vladigerov’s music is little performed outside his own country. Indeed, his name is more familiar to us through its association with the State School of Music in Sofia than through its appearance in concert programmes or CD catalogues. His music is worth getting to know, however, for its spontaneity, its energy and the virtuosity of its writing.

The Bulgarian Rhapsody - originally scored for violin and piano but performed here for the first time on viola - is a characteristic example. Written in 1922, it is roughly equivalent to, say, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies or Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsodies, drawing liberally on folk or folk-like material. The construction is based on the expressive quintuple-time Allegro moderato with which it begins and which is recalled towards the end just before a brilliantly volatile coda. There is a variety of colourful episodes between, beginning with an Allegro vivace where the viola accompanies the theme on the piano with combined left-hand and right-hand pizzicato. The most remarkable passage of all is one in which, at high speed and while continuing to apply the bow to the strings, the violist achieves a sensational glissando by twisting a tuning peg so that the pitch of the open C string slides down a minor third. The new pitch of the bottom string is retained through a vigorous Vivacissimo before it is just as sensationally tuned up again.