The Requiem in Bulgaria Hall (1972)

The hope that the Requiem could be finished with little effort was not fulfilled: over the summer much had been forgotten, and the work had to be relearned section by section. Progress was also slowed by repairs to the small rooms of the rehearsal hall, and at the end of October Dimitar Demirov was released from his duties with the choir. Sectional rehearsals began only in December, the planned December concert was dropped, and after negotiations by Petar Vitanov in Sofia the concert and recording were postponed to 22 February 1972.

Chonev sought advice from experienced colleagues. Georgi Robev, who was in Varna, listened to the Requiem and gave tips for working with an orchestra, drawing on his experience with the Choral Chapel. The Honoured Artist Vasil Stefanov, who was to conduct in Sofia, at first doubted that the choir could manage so difficult a work; on 21 January he came to a rehearsal and was astonished. An exchange of visits with the Mixed Choir of Debrecen was also agreed for as early as July. Meanwhile came news that excited everyone: the choir had been chosen for the International Choral Competition in Gorizia, Italy, where only 48 singers were allowed on stage. A panel of Marin Chonev, Petar Vitanov, M. Dimova and Yordanka Shishkova auditioned the singers on musicality, voice, technique, ear, attitude and attendance; despite some grumbling, not a single singer stayed away. On 14 February Prof. Georgi Dimitrov again listened to the Requiem and gave his final remarks.

In Sofia the choir rehearsed with the Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian Radio and Television in the Radio Sofia hall. Stefanov had more remarks for the orchestra than for the singers. The recordings were made at night – after 10 pm, when the concerts in Bulgaria Hall were over, and after the sessions of the Ruse choir Rodina. On the first night work began only around midnight, and by 2.30 am several movements were done; the longest, the third and fourth, were left for the next night. The orchestra’s players made no secret of their satisfaction. At the concert the orchestra played a Brandenburg Concerto and the Requiem filled the second half; the audience applauded at length, and Stefanov thought the performance even better than the recording.

The reviews were enthusiastic. The musicologist Sider Siderov headed his article with Stefanov’s words, “Tonight I am truly happy!”, and called the concert a real event in the capital’s musical life. He praised the crystal sound of the rejuvenated sopranos, the clearly etched fugue of the fourth movement and the well-balanced Lacrimosa, and wrote that Chonev erased the line between professional and amateur art; credit also went to Petar Vitanov, Mimi Dimova and Yordanka Shishkova. In Rabotnichesko Delo (27 February 1972) Prof. Georgi Dimitrov called the performance a true feat and – together with the Rodina choir’s Beethoven Mass – a new stage in Bulgarian amateur choral singing. Before the concert St. Dimitrova had described the choir’s busy programme in Narodno Delo. The Balkanton LP turned out more than successful and was prepared for the international market.