Martin Georgiev – Violin Concerto
Vasko Vassilev (solo violin) with Covent Garden Soloists
Released on Trittico Records
Digital Only Release

Tracklisting
 
1: Offering 2: Frozen Path 3: Breathe… 4: Remember? 5: Recollections from a dance 6: Missing You 7: Almost Like A Seascape 8: Time Elapsing 9: Gales and Souls 10: Plainchant In the Memory 11: Earth, Soul Ratios 12: Memorial

The composer Martin Georgiev writes:
 
“During Covid-19 lockdown, like so many, I was overwhelmed by the sacrifices which health professionals were making on an everyday basis to save lives and alleviate suffering. To thank them in the only way I know how, I sat down and wrote music.
 
The result is this Violin Concerto which I humbly dedicate to all doctors, health workers, researchers and carers who thought about, and worked only for, others. In fact, they are always doing the same, day in day out, and not just in these challenging times. Over the years, I have often reflected on how we take their sacrifices for granted, and, for far too long.
 
My personal tribute is well overdue; and the inspiration for it to take the form of a Violin Concerto is the amazing Vasko whose artistry with the violin is what I heard in my head as I composed. Vasko mastered the work in the shortest time imaginable and so, together, we succeeded to record the entire piece with the speed of light. Unconventionally, this concerto is structured as 12 interconnected songs, sharing and developing 3 main ideas through 4 modes of expression musically.
 
The result is a recording of 12 segments which can be enjoyed as recorded, or, in any other sequence or combination. I intended for everyone, performer or listener, to have this freedom to choose different paths for the music to take in terms of content, emotion and  meaning. Perhaps it is a more general quest for freedom, deeply missed at the time, that underpins many of the unconventional features of this Concerto, as well as the extremely varied use of musical language, bound together with the aid of the Morphing Modality technique.
 
It may be that you would prefer simply to experience the concerto as a whole and then make of it what you will.”
 
Further Information
 
The concerto is structured in 12 movements that are not just unrelated separate pieces or a suite of contrasting ideas, but a dense web of internally related fragments, which can function as separate songs, or be dovetailed to form larger movements, in both cases suitable to be reshuffled in any sequence by the will of the soloist (or the listener, or even the computer, if you press the reshuffle button). The way that is achieved is such that 3 general musical ideas are materialised through 4 modes of expression, thus the resulting movements are interrelated in 4 groups of 3 songs each and at the same time 3 groups of 4 sounds each. Another way to think of it is to imagine a 3 movement Concerto being multiplied by a 4 movement Sonata, resulting in a hybrid of 12 densely interrelated songs. In that cross-fertilisation of genres, both the sophisticated and large-scale development of the Concerto genre and the immediate, fragile and relatable nature of the Song are present in this unusual concerto and it is up to the performer to decide which would be prevalent in each and every performance, depending on whether that is a live concert, a social media video, a flashmob or any other form of contact with our ever changing and ever more unpredictable audience.
 
Composer Biography
 
Compositions by Martin Georgiev (b1983) have been commissioned, performed and recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Kammerorkest van het Noorden, Sofia National Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium and Varna Symphony Orchestra amongst many. He was Composer in Residence to the City of Heidelberg in Germany and Embedded Composer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His works have been performed in concert and also broadcast in the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, USA, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Greece, Poland and Israel.
 
Georgiev completed his Ph.D. in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he created his unique compositional technique – ‘Morphing Modality’. He is laureate of the TACTUS International Composers’ Forum in Brussels and has won many other awards including the Grand Prize for Symphonic Composition of the Sofia National Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017, Georgiev’s debut album, Genesis, featuring orchestral works which he composed and conducted, was released to international critical acclaim on ICSM Records. Georgiev’s conducting career covers concert, opera and ballet performances across Europe.
 

Artist Biography
 
A child prodigy, Vasko Vassilev was born in Sofia and trained in Moscow. Still in his teens, he triumphed at the Thibault Competition in Paris, the Carl Flesch Competition in London, and the Paganini Competition in Genoa, leading the press to nickname him ‘Super-Paganini’. He has a vast repertoire and is known for his versatility across many genres of music. His solo performances have taken him all over the world to more than 20 countries. As a concerto soloist, Vasko performs a wide range of standard classics along with contemporary works by the likes of Esa Pekka Salonen, John Adams, Jaz Coleman, and Pamela Tan Nicholson among others. As a soloist he also excels in collaborations with artists of diverse disciplines such as flamenco, pop and jazz.
 
Vasko’s self-titled concerts are sold-out events culminating with what have become obligatory standing ovations in stadiums and concert halls alike. Vasko’s other achievements encompass conducting, directing and producing. At 21, he became Super Soloist at Opera Lyon and was appointed the Royal Opera House’s first ever Concert Master, and its youngest ever leader, at 23 years of age.
 
In 2005 he made his British conducting debut at the Royal Albert Hall and has gone on to an international career with engagements and tours spanning the continents. He is currently Artistic Director of Covent Garden Soloists, London Chamber Orchestra, Baltic Neopolis Orchestra and Laureate, the latter being a virtuoso orchestra made up exclusively of international prize-winners.
 
www.vaskovassilev.com

The Covent Garden Soloists draws not only upon the best from the Soloists within the Royal Opera House, but also from other comparable artistic institutions worldwide. The Covent Garden Soloists is unashamedly virtuosic and is highly selective of its performers and repertoire.
 

Since its debut in Spain, it has performed to standing ovations in many countries. The Covent Garden Soloists’ repertoire is specially constructed to demonstrate the awe-inspiring performing powers of its individual members, as well as their easy facility across a huge spectrum of musical styles. Its collaborations go beyond the realm of traditional classical repertoire and members now include not only orchestral instrumentalists and ballet dancers, but also rock guitarists, electronic musicians and ethnic performers. 

A Covent Garden Soloists concert is an ‘event’, where all the artistic senses are stimulated by a feast of music which extends beyond the aural. In every programme, Drama, Fashion and even Technology are also employed to create a sense of adventure, allowing audience and performers to explore new frontiers where tradition mixes with invention. 

In addition to Vassilev, The Covent Garden Soloists featured on this recording are  Andriy Viytovoch (viola), Alberto Ferres Torres (cello) and Tony Hougham (double bass).

 

This new recording will be fully serviced to all UK press and Media. Access to the digital files  can be requested from john@musicandmediaconsulting.com – interviews with Martin Georgiev and Vasko Vassilev can be quickly arranged if required.
 
Although at this stage, this work is only to be released commercially in digital form, a small number of physical CD copies have been manufactured for journalists and broadcasters who would prefer to have the recording in that format.
 
Advertising will include appropriate digital and social media.