Garden Grove Conductor Finds ‘Universal Language’ Works in Bulgaria

It took only a week for Garden Grove Symphony conductor Edward Peterson to become close to members of the Pazardzhik Philharmonic of Bulgaria, which he recently conducted as part of a conductor-exchange program.

“I was apprehensive about going into an Eastern Bloc country, not quite knowing what to expect and me not speaking the same language as the group in front of me,” Peterson said recently.

“But as the rehearsals went on during the week, it was a growing process of communication. What is the old adage: ‘Music is universal’? If I didn’t believe it before, there is no question in my mind how true that is now. . . . I became very close to them by the middle of the week.”

Peterson flew to Bulgaria around Thanksgiving to lead the Pazardzhik orchestra in a program of American music as the first half of an exchange program initiated by Barbara Ness, the orchestra’s general manager, while she was on summer vacation in Europe.

Pazardzhik conductor Ivan Spassov will reciprocate by leading the Garden Grove Symphony in Orange County in October.

Peterson, who will conduct the Garden Grove Symphony on Saturday for the first time since his Bulgarian excursion, had selected a program of music by Gershwin, Bernstein, Barber, Copland and Ives for the Bulgarian performances. The idea, he said, was to offer “a wide range of music, from serious to light, to give them a taste for America.”

As it turned out, other than Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” every piece was a premiere for the orchestra. Ironically, the only reason they knew the Barber piece, which they had played on one of their own programs, was from its use in the movie “Platoon.”

Virtually all of the other works on the program called for a full-size orchestra, something that is generally taken for granted in the United States. In Pazardzhik, however, it meant sending out for reinforcements.

“In Bulgaria, everything is taken care of by the government, but some strings are attached,” Peterson explained. “Sometimes they step in and set some parameters that don’t always make sense. The size of the orchestra is set not by the conductor deciding how large the group is going to be and building the orchestra up, but rather by the size of the city or the town.”

Because Pazardzhik has about 70,000 people, Peterson said, the size of the orchestra is set at about 60.

“That is what they are allowed to hire,” he said. “Basically, they do a lot of Mozart, Haydn, maybe early Beethoven symphonies with smaller instrumentation. They are not able to perform (works by) a lot of the late Romantics . . . “ which can require 100 or more players.

“Just to do the things we did on that concert, we had to bring in some extra trombones, tuba and saxophones, and those musicians had to drive in 2 hours from (the Bulgarian capital of) Sofia to be able to do this. But they were willing . . .”

Even so, Peterson still could not round up all the musicians he needed and had to abandon plans to play Gershwin’s “American in Paris” and Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”

Peterson encountered more than just musician shortages in the country. “You see empty shelves in a store . . . people standing in meat lines, waiting for a store to open to sell fresh bread or meat, until they run out and then they close the doors again,” he said.

Although the hotel he stayed in--the Novotel Plovdiv--offered conveniences such as a spa and a sauna, meals could prove limited, according to Peterson.

“You’d go into the restaurant and order something off the menu, and the waiter would point to an item and say, ‘That’s what we have today,’ or “We’re out of Coke today.’ ”

Peterson said he also came across two luxury-item stores that would not even accept Bulgarian currency--only American dollars. But how do the citizens get American dollars?

“The black market is incredible,” Peterson said. “You are constantly approached by Bulgarians on the streets because they want to get American dollars. You get very popular if you are tipping with American dollars. But tipping is actually looked down upon, so you don’t do it in the open.”

Peterson said he also was surprised at the political interest the Bulgarians showed. “I was asked more times about Michael Dukakis and George Bush than you can imagine,” he said. “They really keep up with politics more than we think they do. Things American interest them very much.”

But there were few lacks in the musicianship of the orchestra. “The musicians could have been musicians sitting in any place in the world,” he said.

And apparently the feeling was reciprocal. One day, Peterson was called over to a group of musicians crowded around the concertmaster and his new acquisition.

“They called me over and stepped back. The concertmaster had just picked up a brand new car that morning. They informed me that I had a godchild: They had named the car the ‘Peterson.’ ”

The public’s reaction to the American program was “very positive,” he said. “But the emotional high for the audience was when we played a special Bulgarian tune that we had arranged before going over there. I don’t know all the significance of that particular tune (‘How Beautiful You Are--My Old Forest’). I suppose it would be close to, in America, suddenly pulling up ‘God Bless America’ and inviting the audience to join and sing.

“Turning to the audience halfway through the piece, I saw literally the entire auditorium join in. It was a packed auditorium, of, I believe, 750 to 800 people. . . .

“I think that is something I will carry with me through the rest of my life, just the emotional highs. I felt as close to that orchestra as to my own group over here.”

Edward Peterson will conduct the Garden Grove Symphony in music of Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and others at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the Don Wash Auditorium, 11271 Stanford Ave., in Garden Grove. Featured soloist will be violin i st Mischa Lefkowitz. Tickets: $10-$25; students and seniors, $7. Information: (714) 534-1103.