Plamen Petrov : Three Bulgarian Legends : Bergmann

Plamen Petrov

Bergmann Edition: 12 pages

Born in Sofia, this guitarist /composer has written many works for guitar , but often in a semi – jazz style, as here, for he does play in many different styles , including jazz, pop and classical and has more than 400 pieces to his name.

These three legends are definitely not for any player, unless you have a wonderful technique, which you would certainly need for these three pieces, the first of which is Legend of the Mountain, ostensibly in 9/8 but not in three groups of three quavers, but rather in 2, 2, 3, and 2, which does give you occasional problems getting used to the strangeness of the rhythm. The harmonies are friendly but sometimes a little unexpected for being often jazz – influenced, they do sometimes land in a completely unexpected place when you are playing!

Legend of the Water is the most difficult by far with a crotchet beat of 165, and the music usually in quavers and sometimes in semi – quavers. Just witness the recording on YouTube of the entire 4 and a  1/2 minutes of all three pieces if you are curious! This middle piece literally flies around in two voices with a number of fast strums in semi – quavers and never stopping at all even for a second.

Legend of the Sky is in 7/8 in Em and again jumps around in very different looking groups of notes that are unlike most music you will have come across. Again, it is very jazz – like in style and harmony, and really does require a superb technique.

So if you like your music, technically challenging, quite unusual in harmony and full of jazz influences, then this set of three pieces might be right up your street !

Chris Dumigan