Borges Music – Gheorghi Arnaoudov

Gheorghi Arnaoudov (b. 1957)

Introduction
Gheorghi Arnaoudov is a Bulgarian minimalist who writes unabashedly spiritual music designed to create “mystical spaces.” While secular music aspiring to religiosity is too-often riddled with clichés, from “new age” music to “inspirational” film scores—even John Tavener occasionally indulges in sentimentality—the restlessly searching music of Gheorghi Arnaoudov avoids these pitfalls unerringly. Embracing dissonance and finding beauty in the strange, his music remains rooted in the avant-garde, but its elegance and poignancy feel entirely relevant and accessible. Difficult to categorize and impossible to predict, the music of Gheorghi Arnaoudov truly warrants the much-abused description of “unique.”

Biography
Gheorghi Arnaoudov was born in Bulgaria to a family with a strong musical background. He attended the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia, and studied composition in Florence under Brian Ferneyhough, where he explored electronic and musique concrète. Upon graduation and completion of his studies abroad, Arnaoudov began establishing a reputation as a musical theorist. Specializing in “modern and postmodern aesthetics, communication and semiotics,” Arnaoudov also studied ancient and Far Eastern musical forms.

Often compared to composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Olivier Messiaen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Arvo Pärt, Gheorghi Arnaoudov is known for creating “a music of stasis, a kind of intense minimalism that tells no conventional stories but rather meditates on an idea.” Mysticism and ritual are important features of his work, and Arnaoudov’s music frequently calls for musicians to use their instruments in non-traditional ways to produce overtones and resonances. He also draws inspiration from other artistic fields, particularly the art of René Magritte, the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, and the writing of James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges.

Arnaoudov has won several international prizes, including the Grand Prix of the European Broadcasting Union, the Golden Harp Prize, and the Carl Maria von Weber International Prize of Music. In 2017 he was awarded Bulgaria’s “Golden Age Star” award “for his contribution to the development and the flowering of the Bulgarian culture and national identity.” In 2009, Gheorghi Arnaoudov was appointed associate professor in Composition and Harmony and at the New Bulgarian University.

Borges-Related Works

Ritual III, “Borges Fragment” (1992)
A work featured on the 1998 disc Compositions, this is a meditation for solo cello.

Phantasmagorias I (2010)
Also known as the Concerto for Violin, Harpsichord, Keyboard Instruments, Percussion, and Orchestra, its three moments were inspired by The Book of Imaginary Beings. This link takes you to Arnaoudov’s page describing the work.

Notes of the Phantom Woman (2020)
A chamber opera for female voice, prepared piano, percussion, and electronics, Notes of the Phantom Woman is a Monodrama based on the work of Bulgarian poet Iana Boukova and Borges’ “The Sect of the Phoenix.” This link takes you to Arnaoudov’s page describing the work.

Other Arnaoudov Albums of Interest

Gheorghi Arnaoudov is a composer that deserves a wider audience, from fans of traditional classical to those who favor the esoteric in all its forms. While neither of the following albums contain Borges-related material, they are both worth a listen!

Empire of Light
Concord, 1997

This wonderful album focuses on Arnaoudov’s compositions for piano. While perhaps more uniform than the pieces found on Compositions, the works on Empire of Light convey a similar sense of longing and exotic beauty. Ritual I and Ritual II are present on both collections; here Angela Tosheva takes them slower than Boyan Vodenicharov, and, in my opinion, shows greater sensitivity to the material. Released by Concord Records, Empire of Light boasts superior packaging and liner notes than the Gega CD.

The Way of the Birds
Labor Records, 2010

This album was released by Labor Records in 2010. It includes FOOTNOTE (…und Isolde/ns Winkfall lassen…)—an imaginary interlude to the second act of “Tristan and Isolde” after the text of James Joyce, a piece written in 1991 that combines a poem by James Joyce with themes from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. You can read more about this album and the Joyce inspired work at The Brazen Head’s Arnaoudov page.

Additional Information

Gheorghi Arnaoudov Website — The composer’s official homepage is the most complete source of Arnaoudov information on the Web.

Music Bulgara Arnaoudov Page — Musica Bulgara hosts a small page on Arnaoudov.

Wikipedia Arnaoudov Page — Wikipedia maintains a brief page on Arnaoudov in English.

Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 17 June 2022
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