An artist that always tries to be perfect – this is respected clarinet player and pedagogue Rossen Idealov. One can say that art is in his blood, across all its dimensions. Few people know that the famous name Ideal Petrov belonged to a real person – a renown actor and a grandfather of the musician. His father was into graphics, fine art and cartoons – a talent, inherited by his son. The mother was devoted to dancing and that gift also remained within the family – Rossen is proud of his son, named after him and currently being one of the best Irish dancers in Bulgaria.

Ideaov says that his system of values as a musician was formed as early as the start of his training. He shows no compromise in his artistic wanderings, he tries to be a brilliant instrumentalist with a really clear style – these are the main principles he inherited from his lecturers. The talent of Rossen blossomed in the surrounding of a series of Bulgarian composers. His long-year friendship with Dragomir Yosifov turned into the reason for the composing of a huge number of opuses. His cooperation with cello player Georgita Boyadzhieva, pianist Yovcho Krushev and many others was useful as well.

The repertoire of Rossen Idealov spreads from the Baroque époque to modern times. Asked on what made him study contemporary Bulgarian music, he answered:

“A different world is locked inside it. It allows the composer to monitor the process of the piece’s creation from the initial idea to its first staging. Each new author over the past 6 – 7 decades has been looking for his own approach and style. While studying this type of music, the performer touches the knowledge, coded inside the score, the energy hidden in intervals and rhythmic formulae.”

Rossen Idealov celebrates his personal fest end-October and in 2014 he marks his 35^th anniversary on stage. In this relation, he spoke on his forthcoming concert and the repertoire selected for the Biad hall:

“It is a special hall, as its acoustics is with a smaller reverberation. There has been a Bechstein grand piano from the dawn of last century there as of the spring. It belongs to Kamen Kenov, who works in Switzerland and provides lots of instruments to Bulgarian musicians. I built up my program around this grand piano. It sounds as if it was made in the 19^th century – with very bright, distinctive articulation and not so strong in the power of sound. That is why I picked up works from that époque. I will have the premiere for Bulgaria of a sonata by Ferdinand Ries – a student of Beethoven. He was a representative of the early romanticism and is not famous here. His style was influenced by his teacher, as well as by Mendelssohn and Weber. I have included Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in my arrangement that I will present for a first time.”

The plans of Rossen Idealov include a concert at Studio 1 of the BNR. It will be an unusual combination of instruments – a clarinet, a cello and a slide-trombone. The program of contemporary works, combined with renaissance covers for the same formation has been a common practice over the past decades. According to the musician the comparison gives an idea for the artistic value of the modern pieces.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

The audio file contains the following works:

1-  “Songs without words” (fragment) by Yordan Dafov, perf. Rossen Idealov, Georgita Boyadzhieva and Alexander Vassilenko

2-  Part 3 from Trio Fantasy by Robert Muchinski, perf. By Rossen Idealov. Nina Gordon and Robert Kent Cook

3-  Part 1 from Sonata for clarinet and piano by Camille Saint Sans, perf. by Rossen Idealov and Maria Mircheva

4-  Fragment from Sonata for clarinet and piano by Lazar Nikolov, perf. by Rossen Idealov and Dragomir Yossifov