Promenade Andante is the name of the new album by two Bulgarian ladies who have been living in France for decades. This is their first joint project and features their own compositions. Stefka Miteva is a singer with a penchant for jazz, ethno, she teaches music to non-professionals and conducts small choirs. Youliana Toshkova-Patrouilleau plays the harp, composes music, lectures music theory at the conservatory in Chartres and Orgеres-en-Beauce.

The duo have been working together for two years, calling themselves Cordames. “It was only natural to create our duo, after all we have known each other for 25 years and are constantly exchanging ideas,” says Youliana and adds:

“We decided on marrying jazz with classical music. The harp is now widely used in pop and in jazz, but in France it is still used mostly in classical music. We started out with a handful of classical works. Our aim was to demonstrate that the transition from classical music to jazz within a single piece comes naturally. This joint project of ours wasn’t easy to accomplish – after all I live in Chartres and Stefka lives in Paris. We were travelling all the time organizing rehearsals. I hope the result will be appreciated by listeners. The album features several standards but most of the pieces we wrote ourselves. In Clair de Lune we use literally two chords from Debussy’s Clair de Lune. The structure is completely different and the lyrics are our own. We have a piece based on Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique. The title of the album comes from the piece Promenade Andante, based on an excerpt from part two of a very popular sonata by Mozart. The song Sous les tropiques is a children’s song. About 20 years ago, Stefka, whose first profession is stage director, was working on a show for kids. She sent me some text to write the music to. And it turned out the children really loved the song. I myself teach. I have many students who learnt it and it gives them much pleasure to sing it.”

Stefka Miteva has been our guest, here at Radio Bulgaria on many occasions, but for Youliana Toshkova-Patrouilleau this is the first time:

“I did the harp at the National Music School in Sofia. I started composing music when I was still a child, that is why I applied at the theory and composition department at the National Music Academy and was admitted to Prof. Parashkev Hadjiev’s class. At one point he stopped lecturing so I continued with Prof. Dimitar Tupkov. I had the good fortune to be able to go to France on a scholarship where I specialized the harp. Now I lecture theory, analysis, solfeggio, I work as a rehearsal pianist, mostly with the choirs of my husband – he is a choir and orchestra conductor. He speaks very good Bulgarian. Together we do our best to keep in touch with Bulgaria, we have many music projects here. To me creating music is really important, though it is not always appreciated. I write all the time – chamber and symphony music, symphony-vocal music. My works are frequently performed in France, in Brazil, Mexico and of course, in Bulgaria. I love to use melodies and rhythms taken from Bulgarian folklore. In our work together with Stefka we invariably try to include folklore intonations. Bulgarian tradition is most diverse.”

The album includes two pieces for solo harp. One of them, based on a Bulgarian folk song, was written for Celtic harp (a smaller and simpler instrument used by different nations in their folklore.). The two ladies have been presenting their album in concert.

The audio features the following works:

-  Mari Babo...(on a theme of a traditional folk song)

- Clair de Lune;

- Promenade Andante;

- Sous les tropiques.

English version: Milena Daynova