Ludmil Angelov: Berlin Concert Is the Beginning of Something Even More Important for Bulgarian Culture

The Sofia Philharmonic’s first ever concert in the Grand Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic on December 12 took place on the initiative of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute Berlin and celebrated its 60th anniversary. The programme included Pancho Vladigerov’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4.

Ludmil Angelov said the concert was a memorable event for the audience and something that is very important in the culture of Bulgaria. „More importantly, we have brought Pancho Vladigerov’s music back to Berlin, and in Karajan’s Hall of all places, the hall of the Berlin Philharmonic,“ he added.

„It was a very important encounter with an audience that is spoiled after listening to the best possible performers throughout the concert season. So to go there and show  them that a Bulgarian orchestra, a Bulgarian conductor, a Bulgarian soloist can perform at the level to which the Berlin audience is accustomed, carried its own great responsibility. But I think we did well. We did something important for Bulgaria,“ said Prof. Lyudmil Angelov.

Asked about his decision to play Chopin in an encore, he said he had a few things prepared and the first option was to play Vladigerov again. „In the end, I decided to have a bit of a contrast because, after all, Pancho Vladigerov’s Piano Concerto, which we performed, is a very spectacular and very beautiful piece, long enough. I decided that another Vladigerov would continue a little bit what we had just done with the orchestra, and I chose to play Chopin – as a performer and pianist, who has proven himself with this composer. I think it was a very good choice and the response of the audience said it all. Some people were in tears. Chopin always gets to people’s hearts very quickly. And this particular posthumous Chopin opus, this Nocturne that I performed, is really very moving,“ he said.

As to Pancho Vladigerov’s connection with Germany and whether the audience felt any of it, Angelov believes that these are energies that linger. „Pancho and his twin brother Luben both studied in Berlin, at the Berlin Academy. That’s where their very successful career began, both as performers – both of them – and Pancho Vladigerov’s as a composer as well. At a very tender age he won twice the most prestigious prize for composition at that time, the Mendelssohn Prize, precisely in Berlin. I think these circumstances carry their own energy, regardless of whether the public is aware of them, maybe they have read about it, and whether they make connection between Pancho Vladigerov, Berlin and Germany in the 1920s and the present moment. More importantly, we have brought Pancho Vladigerov’s music back to Berlin, and not anywhere else, but in Karajan’s Hall, the hall of the Berlin Philharmonic.“

Ludmil Angelov said that one can feel Karajan’s spirit in that concert hall. „This hall was his idea, it was designed by him. It was made especially for this orchestra, which is probably one of the three best orchestras in the world – not only now, but also in the near and distant past. His spirit will always be there. One cannot help but feel that spirit because he was among the people who had done the most for the Berlin Philharmonic. He was one of the people who took the music to another level, a different level,“ said Angelov.

Nowadays there is a lot of talk about classical music being easier to understand, about crossover music projects. But it was Herbert von Karajan who, using only classical music, opened the doors to a much larger audience, he added.

Asked to assess the concert on the background of all the other concerts he had performed in, Angelov said that the venue was not new to him and it was his third time playing in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. „What was different was that I have played with other orchestras before and this time I played with our own Sofia Philharmonic. On the one hand, this gives you a very special emotion – as Bulgarians we are performing the music of a Bulgarian composer. On the other hand, it raised the bar for myself, because we were really representing Bulgaria. It was a very important encounter with an audience that is spoiled to listen to the best possible performers throughout the concert season. So to go there and show that a Bulgarian orchestra, a Bulgarian conductor, a Bulgarian soloist can perform at the level that the Berlin audience is used to, was a big responsibility. But I think we did well. We did something important for Bulgaria.“

Angelov says the fact that the two biggest TV platforms that film exclusively live performance, Medici and for Mezzo TV, recorded the December 12 concert in Berlin,  was „an extraordinary breakthrough for the Sofia Philharmonic and for Bulgarian music culture“. „Because these media outlets will broadcast the concert and it will be seen by an awful lot of people, and people who are in this business, who are in the business of managing concert halls. Of course, it will also be seen by a very large audience of classical music lovers. All this creates energies that are important for future projects, so I am sure there will be a follow-up: this concert was very important and valuable from that point of view as well,“ said Ludmil Angelov.