Description
As part of the audience, I was very lucky to be there to share such a beautiful, heartfelt concert. My husband Ivo was the promoter. I remember he ran away on the same day in search of some MINI-DISCs, as soon as he listened to the trio rehearsing: there were all the signs that something exceptional was about to happen. He was right in his intuition. The Queen Elizabeth Hall was full, with people waiting outside in search of a spare ticket. As soon as the concert started, the Bulgarian audience was enthralled, as we all were. There was some magic in the air that evening, all the elements converging towards the perfect event, inspiration, joy, elation. Fiammetta Tarli
This concert was a special night, probably one of those special concerts that happen few times in a lifetime. Looking back, I can say that I am very happy I have organised the gig at the South Bank in London for the Theodosii Spassov Trio. We were offered a last minute cancellation by the South Bank and the concert was on Sunday, the 30th of June 2002. We realized why we were offered the concert at the last minute: it was the day of the Football Word Cup Final. When we understood, it was a bit of a heart-stopping feeling. It could have been a disaster for the box office. In fact it wasn’t. We had a SOLD OUT performance. We were not planning to record the concert, but after listening to the rehearsal, we wanted to. But it was a Sunday, and the only thing available in the hall for recording was a mini-disc recorder to be plugged in the mixer. It was obviously not ideal, but we did not have a choice. At 5pm, I took a cab and went in a search of few blank mini-discs. I found some just 10 minutes before closing time. I returned to the South Bank 15 minutes before the beginning of the concert. The quality of the recording itself is not what we would like a recording to be, but it has a very meaningful story behind it.
It is very important because this is one of the only three recordings available of this Trio. For me is a privilege to publish this recording, despite its shortcomings, also because it features the pianist Rumen Toskov who is no longer with us. He died at the age of 41 on the 22.07.2010 from a Lymphoma. The news was given to me, while I was fighting with Leukaemia in London, by Hristo Yotsov, who visited me at Hammersmith Hospital in September 2010. I was shocked and very sad. This recording is dedicated to his memory with, the wish and hope that medicine will be able, in the future, to help cure such diseases. Ivo Varbanov
