Vladigerov edition from Capriccio

[Martin Eastick]

I'm sure there are some here who have been following these releases with interest - although I appreciate that some of his later works do fall beyond the remit of this forum (and also my interest FWIW!) eg piano concertos 4 & 5. I am not exactly sure what is due to come out in this series of recordings; I obtained the original Lp's over 30 years ago and I understood then that there were to be 7 box sets in all, but I have only ever known of three, which I manged to obtain at the time - concertos, orchestral works & music for the stage (including his opera, Tsar Kaloyan). Presumably to have been included in the other sets would have been his music for string orchestra (symphony No2 etc), chamber music, piano music & vocal/choral music, but I wonder if these were ever released.

Anyway, it would seem that the actual recordings were made at the time (1970's), as the Symphony No2 for string orchestra Op44, entitled "May", appears in the first volume of symphonic works in the Capriccio edition. Dating from 1949, I did not know exactly what to expect, but enthusiasts for lush, late romantic string music need have no concerns, and, IMHO, this work is an absolute winner! I am aware that there have been concerns rasied elsewhere about the sound quality of the recordings, but I wouldn't let that stand in my way, and they are not at all bad, in fact far better than those rather unreliable Balkanton originals! 

[Alan Howe]

I wasn't impressed with Vladigerov's 1st symphony, finding it brash and noisy à la Khatchaturian - same with VC2, I'm afraid. I'm interested to hear about his 2nd Symphony, though - excerpts here:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8829242--vladigerov-orchestral-works-vol-1