Bojidar Spassov's Musical Creation as a Reflection of the Eastern and Western European Traditions

"Irony, a major aesthetic attitude in 20th century music, ceases to be irony if seriously discussed. I play with the myth, inventing it myself and using it only as an object of interpretation." This thought of the German-Bulgarian composer Bojidar Spassov sounds like a proclamation of the idea of postmodern irony that pervades all his work. Old and new times, cultural and national traditions, and archaic and modern sensibilities emerge like carnival masks through the ironic prism of his multifaceted music. The present book is the first monograph on this artist – a paradoxical multinational and multicultural phenomenon who developed in three geographical areas and three national cultures: Bulgarian, where he grew up; Russian, where his professional personality was formed; and Western European, where he found his own way among the countless aesthetic and compositional trends. This is also the first attempt to shed some light on a culture that is little known to the English reader – the contemporary music of Bulgaria.