“To hear colors and see sounds was one of my dreams as a teenager.  In the current years of reckoning I go back to my wildest dreams and try to fulfill them,” Alexander Kandov once said. In June he will be celebrating his 65th birthday.

"I want to mention the people who presented my music and were committed to my work over the years. In the very beginning of my career I received much support from composer Ivan Spasov. Special place in my professional life occupies conductor Dimitar Manolov. He literally took part in creating "Music for Orchestra" - one of my most famous works, performed by many orchestras in various countries. There is also a nice live recording under the baton of Emil Tabakov. I need to thank to a number of my colleagues - conductor Plamen Djurov, harpist Suzana Klintcharova and others. Renowned pianist Boyan Vodenitcharov, a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels recorded the Crystals of the Zodiac cycle. Two years ago we recorded the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. The premiere was in Sofia and the concert was performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio with conductor Emil Tabakov."

"As we speak in relation to my 65th anniversary, I would like to say that I am in a new and very interesting life period. I have time for reckoning and looking back. Actually, I go back to my ideas and dreams from the youth - to "hear" colors and "see" sounds. This is how the Concerto for Piano emerged. Images and stories are born in my imagination before music. Sometimes I become inspired by theatre or literary works. For a long time I thought that it was not necessary to share these ‘waking dreams’ but currently I am writing a few novels simultaneously, which tell stories about the creation of my works. My new projects are also related to the activities of my daughter. She works in the film industry - writing scripts and producing films. I am trying to attract her attention to fulfilling my dreams from the youth. I would call them “multimedia projects” now, but there were no computers and Internet back then. I wanted to make the link between matter and music visible.”

One of the works by Alexander Kandov is called "Apotheosis” and has a link with “The Master and Margarita.” In the final seconds of the work a male voice sings very softly, "God, why hast thou forsaken me.”

“Bulgakov also experienced a waking dream in order to write this brilliant book. In 1988 in the days around Easter, just before the democratic changes in Bulgaria, I also experienced a similar condition. There were demons and black cats. The event was a sad one, somewhat related to my late friend - writer Victor Paskov. Someday I'll finish the novel in which I describe all of this and you will be able to read it."

English version: Alexander Markov