Pirin s pesnite na Kiril Stefanov

Double album. PIRIN State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances, with the songs of Kiril Stefanov.

Pirin – Record 1

Oy, proshetal se Sandanski (Hey, Sandanski roamed about)
Ya ti postilyam shareni chergi (I'm covering the floor with multi-colored rugs for you)
Vila sey gora (A forest burst into leaves)
Altûn Maro (Beautiful Maro)
Kakvo e tsvete tsûfnalo (What a flower has blossomed)
Ayde, tsûfti, Ruzho (May your beauty bloom, Ruzho)
Kavali sviryat (Kavals are playing)
Na megdana (In the square)
Proshetoh se s koncheto (I roamed about on horseback)
Vûrni se, ludo (Come back, you madcap)
Rusi kosi imam (I've got fair hair)
Proletni pesni (Spring songs)
Pirinsko horo

Pirin – Record 2

A bre, Kolyo (Hey, Kolyo)
Shetnal se Yane (Yane roamed about)
Shto ma ya sûrtse trognalo (It touched me to the heart)
More, pile (Hey, bird)
Kostadin kapetan (Kostadin the captain)
Parapunovata (Parapuntov's song)
Katerino, mome (Katerino, maiden)
De gidi, ludi-mladi godini (Oh, those years of youth)
Karamfilo, mome (Karamfilo, maiden)
Nevesto, mori (Hey, you bride)
Bolno lezhi moyto libe (My sweetheart is lying sick)
Doydi, mayko, izprati me (Come, mother, see me off)
Glasût na Pirin (The voice of Pirin)

The Pirin State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances and its chief artistic director and conductor Kiril Stefanov, People's Artist, present a remarkable example of fruitful thirty years' work. Having gone a long way to their creative maturity together, both the author and the performers have reached such perfection and creative involvement that are a synthesis of the great artistic achievements and the definite creative success. It is interesting to note that no matter what different opportunities Kiril Stefanov has had, the commitment of his whole life and activities to the patriotic calling of creation through folk songs and through the musical language of the Southwestern Bulgarian ethnical regions, seems to have been predetermined.

He was born in 1933 in Blagoevgrad, and he grew up in the lively folk music tradition of the Pirin region, in the powerful cultural processes in the young socialist country of Bulgaria. His real vocation he found in Professor Georgi Dimitrov's class in choral conducting at the Bulgarian State Conservatoire. After a short period of teaching in the spring of 1956, he became the chief artistic director and conductor of the Pirin Ensemble. The larger part of Kiril Stefanov's work as a composer is closely linked with the history of the already world-famous ensemble. He is the author of over 600 arrangements and songs based on the folk tradition, a characteristic feature of which is his excellent knowledge of folk tunes and the magnificent recreation of folk imagery and feelings. Kiril Stefanov's songs in which his talent for composing is beautifully combined with his qualities of a choral conductor are a synthesis of the original musical thematic structure and the folk song sound expressiveness with a rich, complex, but strikingly light modern choral texture. Being a composer of great social spirit, in his work he also included the new topical song based on folk motifs, presenting a brilliant example of that modern form in a number of his works. These songs of his quickly folklorized and became an important part of the 'constant companions' of Bulgarians today together with the number of real jewels of songs of the Pirin region, into which his art inspired a new life. Besides choral pieces for male, children's, and mixed choirs, in his creative maturity the composer turns more often to larger musical forms for the stage in the folk song and dance ensemble art. Kiril Stefanov's artistic achievements here are primarily due to his mastery in recreating the many-faceted synchratism typical of folk art combined with a solid musical dramatic texture. In all his works Kiril Stefanov's original style defines a new stylistics in which the national, regional, and personal are organically fused. And it is probably that strong convincing artistic unity and the brilliant performances of the Pirin Ensemble he created, that are the reason for Kiril Stefanov's receiving the highest awards at the 'New Bulgarian Music' reviews for years now. A member of the Union of Bulgarian Composers who treated folk music samples with professional skill and responsibility and put an end to their traditional interpretation in contemporary Bulgarian art of composing, he has been awarded the Golden Record of Nashville, the USA in 1982 and of Balkanton in 1983 for his achievements. The whole work of Kiril Stefanov as a composer, conductor, teacher, and social figure magnificently demonstrated in the achievements of the Pirin State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances is a great contribution in the establishment of Bulgarian culture in more than 45 countries on all continents. – Lyudmila Dimova