Decrescendo.net · 15.09.2025
With two classical crowd-pleasers, Nayden Todorov and the Sofia Philharmonic entrusted to him opened the new concert season (11 September). The concert's programme was calculated with the interests of the Sofia audience in mind, all the more so since the soloist invited was the young pianist and musician Emanuil Ivanov — already boasting a serious concert and repertoire record for his age, and winner of first prize at the Busoni Competition (2019).
[...] Here, once again, Nayden Todorov proved himself an understanding, responsive partner, and had "tuned" the orchestra into a maximally reflective instrument.
The inspiration of the first half did not leave Nayden Todorov and the Sofia Philharmonic in their reading of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. One could sense the musicians' enthusiasm, surely stemming from the very fact of opening their new season, and Hall "Bulgaria" was packed, which likewise affects the musicians' confidence and inspiration. Here the musicians demonstrated their high level of instrumental skill, were careful not to overexpose the effective "fateful" motifs in the brass and the climaxes in the work's structure, and responded flexibly to the demands of the conductor, who, with a more detailed plasticity in his manual technique, "communicated" his requirements regarding phrasing through corresponding articulation and moderately projected dynamics. Tchaikovsky's music is extremely clear — both in meaning and in emotion — and also exceptionally generous in the sensitivity of its narrative. So it seems to me that his scores do not require excessive bodily plasticity from the conductor; it is enough, as was the case here, for the demands of the dramaturgy to be "spoken" precisely, in relief, clearly, with taste and measure.
A successful start to the season! 
