A few months ago Prof. Boyan Vodenitcharov recorded at the First Studio of the BNR his own improvisational music. Several of the plays come from the concert programs he performs alongside Belgian saxophone player Steve Houben, recorded in an album some time ago and now re-worked and recreated for this occasion. However, most of the pieces have been created exclusively. “Unlike the previous time when I recorded improvisational music the plays are a bit more tonal, more traditional – at least most of them,” the maestro says.

Famous pianist and tutor at the conservatory in Brussels, Prof. Vodenitcharov tends to concentrate more and more on a different music making model that he prefers over the past years.

“Improvised music takes a greater and greater share of my work,” he says. “I do feel the pleasure to do it – this is the most natural and free manner to create music. I have used to improvise yet since I was a kid. The grownups around insisted on me playing the plays provided, but I simply wouldn’t stop improvising. I have always done it. I think it enriches the musician as this is real time composing. Improvisation develops composing processes to a certain extent, if one has such impetus. I composed relatively actively over a period of time, alongside my performing and teaching activities. I realized then that I couldn’t do all this simultaneously and with a good quality. I can say that my composing ideas, flowing in my mind find their implementation in improvisation precisely. Of course, these are different phenomena. A music moment at composing may take days or even weeks. At improvisation the moment is gone and one has to continue to the next one. One works with sound material that needs to be organized and taken care of its harmonic language, form, and last but not least – of the rendition’s quality. I have always found this kind of music making really attractive. Over the past decade I have mixed my repertoire plays with improvised ones. For instance – a Schumann piece and then improvisation, but not on the music, around it. In the beginning organizers got concerned about my ideas. Then after the concerts they would smile, happy with hearing something new, spontaneous and different. Being a lecturer, I have a students’ improvisation workshop for classic piano. I find it really important to build up skills of that kind.”

Boyan Vodenitcharov recalls that improvisation used to be a main form of music making by mid-19^th c. Its significance was even greater during the Renaissance and Baroque epochs. Basic parameters used to be notated and the entire music tissue was improvised.

Last year the Fuga Libera music company released an album of the pianist, named Random Patterns.

“It is a CD with solo improvisation plays, recorded a long time ago, but it remained unreleased due to financial reasons. It is not a secret that music companies around the globe do have their difficult times and many even stopped operating. I resumed my observations and researches on improvisation in the text that accompanies the CD. I begin with the historical aspects – performers used to be composers as well till the beginning of the 19^th c. The strict separation of these two activities was partly the reason why improvisation disappeared from musical practice. Then music language got complicated and a huge variety of styles intruded the 20^th c. Those were hard to be linked to any improvisation. Of course, jazz appeared and flooded the globe. Glenn Gould says that the separation of composer and performer is dreadful to music. I do agree, as this separation exists nowadays in music theory at all levels. I think improvisation is the noble form which contributes to the overcoming of that dramatic rift. I am convinced that improvisation is the main form of music making – much more basic and spontaneous…"

One can learn a lot more from the small book with the album – for instance that improvisation is an intuitive process – one includes elements he or she has never expected to know. This is due to the fact that the brain preserves sound music culture via both the emotional and rational memory… You can find many more curious facts in the new CD of Prof. Boyan Vodenitcharov.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev