“Professor Plamen Kartaloff was so kind to invite me for my jubilee to conduct one of the repertoire spectacles of the National Opera “Rigoletto” or “La traviata”, but I thought to myself that I would upset the orchestra. And my spectacle won’t be good, and the one of the colleagues too. This is why we will show the shot spectacle of “L’italiana in Algeri” by Rossini, which the Sofia Opera presented in Bolshoi Theatre in 1981” – shared maestro Mihail Angelov for his choice how to mark his 85th Anniversary on his favourite stage.
The history of this shot opera spectacle is as if from a novel. With his exceptional sense of humour and self-irony the eminent conductor quotes the English thinker, who said that old people usually share memories for things, which never happened to them, but the shot
“L’italiana in Algeri” is the proof of a real Bulgarian triumph
of the Bulgarian operatic art. The spectacle was guest-performed on the stage of Bolshoi Theatre at the occasion of 1300 years since the foundation of the Bulgarian state. One day before the spectacle during the acoustic rehearsal to Maestro Angelov came one man, who presented himself as director of the musical direction in the Soviet television of that time with the request to shoot the performance. Mihail Angelov agreed under the condition to make an extra lighting, outside of the stage one and of course to pay a fee to the Bulgarian team – artistic and technical. They fixed up the sum. The spectacle was shot. On the next day, the conductor called the director in question, but they told him that he had departed for America and his deputies cannot sign such a document for fees. Then they left a bank account in Sofia, but one way or another they didn’t receive any money and they didn’t know anything more about the recording of “L’italiana in Algeri”. And only last year on maestro Angelov’s birthday on 19 February called him the wonderful opera singer and pedagogue Pavel Gerdzhikov to congratulate him, by telling him that he had a special present for him. A student of his in specialisation in Moscow fell into a broadcasting of the spectacle on one of the channels of the Russian televisions and recorded it. Gerdzhikov himself participated then in Bolshoi Theatre in the role of Mustafa. And so, after 35 years, Maestro Angelov saw that remarkable performance under his baton, which you can see in the hall of the National Opera on 30 March at 19 h. Now he evaluates that to the picture one can have pretence, but at that time there were no digital recordings, but the sound is very good, evaluates he. At the presentation of this recording will be present Pavel Gerdzhikov, Stefka Mineva, who then performed the role of Isabella /the Italian/, as well as all people, who are still among us. Unfortunately, many of the even young performers in 1981 too early had gone away from our world. Our exceptional baritone Assen Selimski, who performed Taddeo won’t be able to be present, because he recovers after an operation. Mihail Angelov thanks to maestro Kartaloff that the show of the shot “L’italiana in Algeri” is with free entrance, so that more people could visit it, including the already aged ones, who remember the premiere in the Opera in 1980.
For himself Maestro Angelov confessed, that he had special partialities to Rossini not only to his operas, but also to his cantata and oratorio music, at that he specially marks “Stabat mater” and adds that many singers at that time, performing his music with the characteristic “crescendo”, qualitative accumulation of sounds from the adding of more and more instruments in the orchestra, which repeat the melody and the voices in the solo parts have abstained a repertoire by Verdi. The opera and ballet repertoire of Maestro Angelov includes 55 titles, from which 17 he produced for the first time on Bulgarian stage, and with the repetitions they are over 2500. Among them are the first performances in Bulgaria of “Les Indes galantes” by Jean-Philippe Rameau, “Dido and Aeneas” by Purcell, “Der_Schauspieldirektor” by Mozart, “L’italiana in Algeri” and “La_gazza_ladra”, as well as “Stabat Mater” by Rossini with the Sofia Philharmonic, “Renard” by Stravinsky, “Stiffelio” by Verdi, “Khan Krum” by Alexander Yossifov, the ballets “Carmen” by Bizet-Shchedrin and “Suite en blanc” by Lalo. With “Semyon Kotko” by Prokofiev…
Always in the repertoire were present Bulgarian composers like Alexander Raichev, Alexander Tekeliev, Marin Goleminov, Lyubomir Pipkov, Pancho Vladigerov, Alexander Yossifov. In the mentioned guest-performance of our National Opera Mihail Angelov conducted in Bolshoi Theatre also the opera “Khan Krum” by Alexander Yossifov.
Mihail Angelov and Acad. Plamen Kartaloff - photo Svetoslav Nikolov, archive of the Sofia Opera and Ballet
Maestro Angelov shares, and next to him is Plamen Kartaloff – they are connected by
one very courageous project
from quite a lot years, when many things were made for a first time in Bulgaria – the Chamber Opera in Blagoevgrad. In summer 1972, a group of students from the Bulgarian State Conservatory founded the Youth Opera to cultural club “Pencho Slaveykov” – Sofia. The idea was of its founder Plamen Kartaloff – Director, Chief Art Director and Stage director /1972–1982 /, in collaboration with Trifon Silyanski – Music Director and accompanying pianist /1972–1983/. For conductor they invited Mihail Angelov. By common decision of the Chairmanship of the Committee for Culture – Sofia and the regional directions of Blagoevgrad from 1977, Blagoevgrad was declared for permanent seat of the Chamber Opera. The first production on Blagoevgrad stage was the opera “La serva padrona” – G. Pergolesi with stage director Plamen Kartaloff, guest-conductor Mihail Angelov and designer Ani Hadzhimisheva.
The conductor with admiration appreciates the ambitious projects of maestro Kartaloff in expectation of the upcoming premiere of “Parsifal” by Wagner. Mihail Angelov is incredible eloquent man with great knowledge not only of the music, to which he is devoted, but also of the literature, the dramaturgy, the philosophy. But the music is his predestination again also like in a fairy-tale or rather like a novel with different turns. His parents were not musicians, but his mother felt his musicality still since his earliest age and posed the question for piano, even rented, the family didn’t have big means. But his father, without being member of the party, was absolute left-winger. He was categorical that the piano was a bourgeois anachronism and they bought an accordion for the little Mihail. But he, without knowing the notes became famous with his fantastic playing, even hearing the waltzes by Chopin he performed them on his accordion. About the talented boy heard our exceptional pianist, composer and intellectual Dimitar Nenov. He asked to see him. “He was living somewhere around Solunska Str. In the Centre of Sofia /Bistritsa Str., near the corner with Tsar Samuil Str./. He asked who made the arrangement of Chopin for accordion, and I asked him what was arrangement and said that I don’t know the notes”, tells the maestro. And so in his home appeared the piano. With one of his hands he could play on the keys, but the other one was used with the buttons of the accordion. That is why they tied one of his hands… “And the records in those years of Dimitar Nenov were destroyed!”, added, not without sadness, Mihail Angelov.
And in the years followed incredible events and meetings.
In 1956, Angelov graduated from the first master class in conducting and composition of the Conservatory in the class of Vladi Simeonov. During two years he gave 11 concerts with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, where he was appointed for Second Conductor of Maestro Vasil Stefanov. He recorded music by Russian composers and a part of the recordings were first performances for Bulgaria. And he was appointed at this post after the members of the orchestra had sent a letter to the Minister of Culture of that time Ivan Bashev, that they wanted him… Later this same Bashev, who after a time would become Minister of the Exterior of Bulgaria, sent him to the Moscow Conservatory to make a post-graduate course, although the young Angelov didn’t want it so much, as he himself shares today.
Between 1958 and 1960, Angelov made a post-graduate course in opera and symphonic conducting at the Moscow Conservatory “P.I. Tchaikovsky” with Prof. Boris Haykin, Chief Conductor of Bolshoi Theatre and Prof. Leo Ginsburg, from which he graduated ahead of schedule for two years with full distinction. At the same time, there were working Shostakovich, Rostropovich, Richter, Gilels. In 1959, he conducted a concert, dedicated to an Anniversary of Chopin, which ensured him more than 20 participations with the biggest orchestras of the former USSR. More than once Angelov conducted the Moscow Philharmonic, the Moscow Radio Orchestra, the Leningrad Philharmonic, the orchestras of Vilnius, Riga, Kiev. The Maestro himself shares that when he found himself at the Moscow Conservatory, the fact that in the corridors he met figures like the composers Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, performers like Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emil Gilels and more and more was a stunning feeling – a world of the almost unattainable in the music. And
About his teacher Boris Emanuilovich Haikin
he tells, almost with an excuse for the obscene words, a story, delivered to him by him himself. The great conductor and professor at the Leningrad Conservatory of that time was invited for conductor at Bolshoi Theatre and for professor in Moscow. But the party directions in conversation with him told him that he had to change his family name – it was not possible for such a Soviet music institution to be directed by a Jew. And the conductor said that he was ready in his family name after the “а” to be “у” – it would sound absolutely like Russian. The party members in question burst into laughter and didn’t change his name… And otherwise Haikin told him about Toscanini, about the different ways of performing Verdi and more and more…
Lyudmil Angelov - photo Stefan Dzhambazov
Mihail Angelov, besides being a great musician, is also a charming narrator, whose words flow like a wonderful music, which you don’t want to end, because however you think that you know, he leads you in new worlds. He supposes that the interest in the new, the unknown is transferred to his son, the exceptional pianist Lyudmil Angelov, who with his Piano Extravaganza festival presents to us also a new and unknown music. They obviously share mutually their musician’s discoveries. Recently Lyudmil shared with his father that Bizet had an opera “Ivan the Terrible”. Once the composer of “Carmen” and “Les pêcheurs des perles” saw a reproduction of Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible is killing his son”. This son’s blood impressed him so much, that he wrote his opera. But the more incredible, which found maestro Lyudmil Angelov was that the Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann /1681-1767/ had a work called “Boris Godunov”. And Mihail Angelov told him that Pushkin wrote his drama in 1831, immortalized in the celebrated opera by Mussorgsky in 1874. A work on this theme has also Sergey Prokofiev from 1936. But yet Boris Godunov reigned from 1598 to 1605. “I am waiting to see the notes with a smile”, said the father Angelov. His present for his 80th Anniversary in 2012 was the concert of Lyudmil Angelov and Alexandrina Pendatchanska, daughter of his third and especially beloved third wife Valerie Popova, incredibly beautiful soprano.
On the event in the hall of the National Opera, when will be shown the recording of “L’italiana in Algeri” will be presented and sold
his book “Old man’s pen sketches”.
We cannot miss to quote his confession in it “When a man is a centenarian, he is present at his oblivion.” Bravely said, isn’t it? We weren’t many people at this meeting with Maestro Mihail Angelov. With conviction and from my heart I can say that it was an experience. Out of the self-irony about his years with his great sense of humour Mihail Angelov said still more important things not only about music, but also about our values as society. He shared how several days ago on Classica TV he had seen and heard Verdi’s Requiem in the performance of Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Herbert von Karajan with the participation of Nicolai Ghiaurov and the young Placido Domingo in the men’s parties. But this is another theme and probably we are going to comment it.
With a smile, Mihail Angelov reminded us the words of Bernard Show -
Let’s not wish long life, because actually we wish old age.
And we reminded ourselves for how many times the wonderful film of Dustin Hoffman as director “Quartet” after the play by Ronald Harwood, where eminent opera stars are in a nursing home and are preparing their concert, in order to save the institution from bankruptcy. And they save it with the famous quartet from “Rigoletto” by Verdi. And the main leitmotiv of the film, several times pronounced by one of the characters, is: “Old age isn’t for greenhorns!” This meeting with maestro Mihail Angelov was a feast of the young spirit, it is never getting old, if you continue to work and love what you are doing!
Text: Zelma Almaleh