Everything in Us and around Us Is a Reflection of the Spirit”. Wladimir Pantchev – A Compositional Portrait

Abstract

This paper investigates Wladimir Pantchev’s work from the perspective of the musicologist and singer Albena Naydenova, Wladimir Pantchev’s widow, focusing on stylistic aspects. The author presents firstly the three generations of Bulgarian composers, who created the compositional school in Bulgaria. The assimilation of the Western compositional techniques with which the composers model the folklore is common in Eastern countries. This is obviously in Pantchev’s works. The importance of the folk quote is underlined by the author. The quoted folk melody is treated by Pantchev in heterophony: the interpreters have to improvise variants of the folk melody simultaneously. The composer used the controlled chance principle, creating a texture, which he named “sound-carpet”. Two works of the composer are discussed: Concerto for double bass and ensemble on old church songs (2001-2002) and “Lieder und Musik meiner Vorfahren”/ “Songs and Music of my Ancestors” for voice and live electronics (2008).