Magnificent Yotzov Clarinet Sextet and its music from different epochs

published on 2/4/17 10:30 AM]

БНР Новини

Photo: courtesy of Bobby Yotzov

A good performer can create miracles, as long as the environment is suitable and the music played is enjoyed. In short, this is the secret of the Yotzov Clarinet Sextet. The formation performs the music of Bach, Tschaikowski, Rimsky-Korsakov, but also transcribes pieces of Joe Cocker, Queen, jazz, pop, ethno etc. In today’s show you will listen to renditions of the quartet within the frameworks of the Ruse jazz meeting, held end-2016.

The flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov

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"The band was formed spontaneously,’ says Borislav Yotzov, the founder. ‘I am a tutor at the music high school and academy in Sofia. My students are great and I always play with them at concerts and within different productions. I think this is important – the teacher should play with the student on one stage, to show the practical side of what’s been taught during the classes. Thus one develops best – with the example in front. The current members of the sextet were among my students around 2011. The idea was born during a class concert and later on we began to work on our repertoire, to receive different offers to play. It turned out that bass clarinet player Yavor Gaydov was really good with the scores and arrangements. At one point I felt that the current image of the formation was a bit restricted and I decided to add a piano and a Cajon."

Teodor Petkov – Toto, a jazzman and the author of some of the pieces and arrangements in the repertoire is the pianist of the band. Colorful Piero Epifania from Peru plays the Cajon.

Flocks by Teodor Petkov

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Bobby Yotzov comes from a large musical family. His mom Rina Randjeva was the pianist of the Sofia Philharmonic and his father Georgi Yotzov was its leading oboe.

"I have always found my example at home first and classical and jazz music was a part of my life. My older brother Hristo Yotzov is a famous drummer, composer and arranger. His fellow musicians would often pay visits to my home. I have grown up with pianists like Boyan Vodenicharov, Antoni Donchev and many others. They were still in the music school back then, students later on. They have always been incredible musicians."

Yotzov Clarinet Sextet is the first formation of that kind in Bulgaria. Bobby gives us details on the repertoire selection process:

"No matter if we play classics or something new that we’ve created, we have only one criterion – to touch the heart of the audience. I think this is the essential part. Many musicians and also good ones would recognize nothing else but their own opinion, trying to impose it on their listeners. I would stand behind the basic principle of the musical phrase’s constructing – the ‘question – answer’ one. Young musicians also give ideas, the work is joint. Although our music is improvisational in its type, we do not improvise – it’s been all written down in advance. However, we have the freedom to decorate the melody lines and to come up with new ideas during the rendition itself."

The next concert of the Yotzov Clarinet Sextet is on February 8 at Studio Five of the National Palace of Culture.