Music from the Balkans

[alegitor]

Yannis Constantinidis (or Konstantinidis), Greek composer, (1903-1984). An example of his style in the attached, NMS. His scores are hard to obtain, that's why I take the liberty to post that one, although it is under copyright ... moderators, please decide

Constantinidis Six Etudes sur des rythmes populaires grecs.pdf

[mballan]

Yannis Constantinidis (or Konstantinidis), Greek composer, (1903-1984). An example of his style in the attached, NMS. His scores are hard to obtain, that's why I take the liberty to post that one, although it is under copyright ... moderators, please decide

alegitor

As this is quite rare and very difficult to obtain, I am happy for it to remain as an example for members of this composer's music.

Malcolm

[alegitor]

Much appreciated, thank you!

Cheers.

[alegitor]

Milcho Leviev (1937), Bulgarian composer. Milcho Leviev graduated from the State Academy of Music in 1960 majoring in Composition under Professor Pancho Vladigerov and in Piano under Professor Andrey Stoyanov. As a student, he won the second prize at the International Competition in Vienna for his Toccatina for piano. His professional development as a composer began at the Drama Theatre in Plovdiv. He was appointed conductor of the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio (1962-66). His vanguard ideas innovated the orchestra; pieces like Studia, Blues in 9 or Anti-waltz became a standard of a successful synthesis between music folklore and jazz, this synthesis being particularly pronounced in his music. From 1963 to 1968 he worked as soloist and conductor of the Sofia and the Plovdiv Philharmonic. In 1965, embracing the idea of the writer Radoy Raline, he founded Jazz Focus ‘65, with which he toured actively till 1970, achieving great success for the Bulgarian jazz and winning prizes at the international jazz festivals in Montreux, Prague and Sofia. Among the most exciting pieces in the repertoire of Jazz Focus ‘65 was Blues in 10 and Blues in 12, as well as the arrangement of Paul McCartney’s Yesterday.

In 1970 he left Bulgaria for political reasons. Since then, he has lived and worked abroad and achieved professional renown at prestigious international music stages. He was allowed to perform in Bulgaria not earlier than 1980.

He worked as composer, arranger and pianist at the Don Ellis Orchestra and the Billy Cobham Band (1971-77). He toured the USA and Europe; he was Music Director of Lainie Kazan (1977-80). He gave concerts and made recordings with John Clammer, Art Papper, Roy Haines, etc. He toured Europe with Art Papper (1980-83); at the same time he was one of the founders and managers of Free Flight, selected Combo of the Year in 1982. Since 1983 he has been music director of the Jazz Sessions at the Comeback Inn in Venice, California. He gave concerts in Japan with the bassist Dave Holland (1983-86) and organized solo jazz recitals in Europe (1985-86). He teaches Jazz Composition at the University of South California. He also gives master classes at the New Bulgarian University. He is author of symphony and chamber works; big band and jazz orchestra music, etc. In the 1960s he also wrote film music.

In 1987 he won the Dramalogue Prize for best music director awarded by the PCPA Theaterfest. His works and performances were recorded by Atlas Records, Alpha, Discovery, Balkanton, Columbia, Atlantic, ABC and others. Part of his works were published by Dick Drove Publications and the Bulgarian publishing house Nauka I Izkustvo (up to 1968). He won a prize at the National Jazz Educational Congress, the Grammy Prize for arrangement, the Honorary Gold Medal of the Academie internationale des Arts in Paris (1995). He was also awarded the honorary title Doctor Honoris Causa by the Academy of Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv (1995) and by the New Bulgarian University, etc.



Hope the composer, who is a good friend of mine, would enjoy his Toccatina being posted here. Just as I said concerning other living composers whose works were posted in this thread, I hope we would help to promote the work of this terrific artist!

Leviev - Toccatina.pdf

[rob]

...Hope the composer, who is a good friend of mine, would enjoy his Toccatina being posted here. Just as I said concerning other living composers whose works were posted in this thread, I hope we would help to promote the work of this terrific artist!

But please ask the composer if he IS happy for his work to be posted here and that there are no copyright restrictions of which we might fall foul. Thanks.

[alegitor]

Done, Rob. The composer doesn't mind, just received an e-mail from him. About the edition, it's the old State Edition Muzika, which doesn't exist anymore .... so I have no idea if someone could claim royalties.

Cheers.

[mballan]

Done, Rob. The composer doesn't mind, just received an e-mail from him. About the edition, it's the old State Edition Muzika, which doesn't exist anymore .... so I have no idea if someone could claim royalties.

Cheers.

Thanks alegitor for this posting and information. As Bulgarian composers are another great passion of mine, I did a little researching as he was a new composer to me and discovered he has his own website with other music clips and video [just search on his name in English]. I hadn't realised he is quite an accomplished Jazz pianist and composer. Very interesting website especially for those who like Jazz, not too dissimilar to Kapustin [but more traditional and melodic overall].

Malcolm

[alegitor]

Hi Malcolm,

Milcho Leviev is indeed a terrific musician. His jazz "face" is wonderful too. We have performed 2P concerts with him, in a sort of "classical meets jazz" fusion programs, which was a very enriching experience to myself.

Regards.

[alegitor]

Hi Malcolm,

Milcho Leviev is indeed a terrific musician. His jazz "face" is wonderful too. We have performed 2P concerts with him, in a sort of "classical meets jazz" fusion programs, which was a very enriching experience to myself.

Regards.

Here are the links to a piece we performed back in 2005, a Phantasy on Korsakov's "Sheherazade" by Milcho Leviev, where I was required to improvize too It's on youtube, but the files are only audio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbacaMtauJk (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM9-slgaH3I (part 2)

Moderators, forgive my posting here those recordings, but as we were at Leviev's theme, I thought you wouldn't mind Otherwise, these might be moved to the recording's section.

Regards.

[rob]

...

Moderators, forgive my posting here those recordings, but as we were at Leviev's theme, I thought you wouldn't mind Otherwise, these might be moved to the recording's section.

Regards.

That's fine. It's on-topic and perfectly sensible even if it does appear to infringe rules...