Concertino for Violin and Orchestra

After his first violin sonata (1940), a year later Parashkev Hadjiev composed a Concertino for violin and orchestra. Its first performer was the great violinist Vladimir Avramov, the future distinguished professor at the Academy of Music. They have a cordial friendship since their student days in the Czech Republic. In order to support themselves financially, the two played a wide violin repertoire together in various bars, cabarets, cafés and restaurants in Prague. From this practical experience, the composer learned many subtleties about the technical possibilities of the violin, which he uses in the Concertino. The premiere of the work was on December 23^rd, 1941 in Bulgaria Hall with the Academic Orchestra of the State Music Academy under the baton of Prof. Tsanko P. Tsankov and was marked with flattering reviews of the music critics - both for the author and for the soloist. The concertino is written in the traditional three movements structure and is illustrative of the times in which Bulgarian composers sought to embody national identity in their style. Parashkev Hadjiev, with his rich melodic talent and fresh creative invention, was no exception. The rhapsodic First Movement spectacularly exposes diverse themes in a national "tone", skillfully deployed in the colorful orchestra and virtuoso solo violin. In contrast, Part II begins with a chorale-like epic theme that develops expressively in the solo part. A buoyant fast finale crowns the form in a folk-dance vein.