Comparing Notes, Musically Speaking : Symphony: Guest conductor Ivan Spassov says Bulgaria is far ahead of U.S. from an avant garde point of view.

Few tunnel-visioned Americans would regard Bulgaria as a hotbed of front-line radicalism. But in at least one regard, that Iron Curtain country may be more advanced than the good ol’ U.S. of A.

“From the avant-garde point of view, Bulgaria is very much ahead,” says Bulgarian conductor Ivan Spassov. “Practically all the composers in Bulgaria write in this style and all the orchestras play it, especially my orchestra, which is very famous for this type of music. Everybody studies it in conservatories. Musicians can play it on a first-read, just like they do Mozart.”

The conductor couldn’t resist giving his country another pat on the back.

“Bulgaria has a population of nine million,” he said, or about the population of Michigan.

“But there are 25 symphonic orchestras, eight operas, four companies devoted to operettas, four chamber orchestras--and all of them are paid for by the government. There are also smaller orchestras and lots of choirs, and most of them have very high status.”

Spassov, music director of the Pazardzhik (Bulgaria) Philharmonic, is in town to open the Garden Grove Symphony’s new season Saturday as part of an ongoing conductor-exchange program.

Last December, Garden Grove music director Edward Peterson flew to Bulgaria to lead Spassov’s orchestra in an program of American music. Spassov will reciprocate with a program that includes music by three Bulgarian composers--including himself--as well as works by Mozart and Borodin.

Since his arrival on Tuesday, Spassov, 55, has taken in some local sights, including a trip to Disneyland. However, his first request was to see the Pacific Ocean. “I have to dip my feet in the ocean,” he told his hosts.

After only two rehearsals with the Garden Grove Symphony, Spassov was ready to describe the home team as “a very good professional orchestra.”

But he had spotted a few problems.

“The musicians were having a hard time, especially with the rhythms” in the Bulgarian music, he said, speaking through a translator.

Two of the pieces--Vladigerov’s Bulgarian Rhapsody and “Rachenitza” from Stainov’s Thracia Suite--utilize uncommon meters of 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, “up to 16/8,” the conductor said.

(Vladigerov was Spassov’s teacher. “He is the classicist of Bulgarian music,” the conductor said. “He died 10 years ago.” Stainov’s work is in 7/8 time and demonstrates strong national characteristics.)

“Sometimes, Bulgarians have a hard time playing Spanish music, and putting in the right (national) characteristics,” he said, making apologies for the Americans.

“The Austrians say that nobody plays waltzes better than they do. They say a waltz is not in 3/4 time, but in a little bit more than 3/4 time.”

In his Concerto for Solo Cello and Orchestra, also on the program, Spassov feels he has passed beyond any nationalistic elements.

“Every composer has a period where he’s interested in different sorts of things,” Spassov said.

“When you are young, you go through a constructive period, then you come to a period where you are more interested in folklore. Then comes a period in which there are strong national elements. Now I’m in a period which collaborates with all the previous ones. The music becomes more universal and not not strictly Bulgarian.”

“It will work out” by concert time, he said.

Spassov has led the Pazardzhik for 21 years, conducting about 30 concerts a year. He composes--he has some 40 published works to his credit--and he recently also was made dean of the academy of music in Plovdiv, one of two national academies in Bulgaria. (The other is in Sofia, the capital.)

“I think of myself as both a composer and a conductor, but first as a composer,” he said. “I am not a composer who conducts, however, but a professional conductor.”

Currently he is writing a concerto for orchestra, to be performed at home in January, and also a piece for soprano and chamber orchestra, which incorporates poems by Emily Dickinson.

He also recently published a book of philosophical essays. “When they print something in Bulgaria, it’s an achievement,” he said.

Spassov is on his first visit to Southern California and his first visit to the United States as a conductor. He had been in New York in 1982 as a guest lecturer at Columbia University. While there, he met composer John Cage, one of the godfathers of experimental American music.

“(But) my music has nothing to do with the music of Cage,” Spassov said. “It is written in an aleatory (or indeterminate) style. . . . When I say ‘aleatory,’ I mean the European style--composers such as (Pierre) Boulez, (Witold) Lutoslawski, (Krzysztof) Penderecki, (Karlheinz) Stockhausen, Luigi Nono.”

Anticipating some audience resistance to the contemporary Bulgarian music, however, Garden Grove’s Peterson plans to hold at a preview of the music at 7 p.m. before the concert.

Spassov seemed to understand.

“Beginnings are always hard,” he said. “Also in Bulgaria, it was hard. But I’m an optimist. Young people understand this music right away. It’s closer to them than what we call classical music.”

Ivan Spassov, music director of the Pazardzhik (Bulgaria) Philharmonic, will lead the Garden Grove Symphony in music by Mozart, Borodin and three Bulgarian composers at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Don Wash Auditorium, 11271 Stanford Ave., in Garden Grove. Soloist will be cellist Vicki Anglin. Tickets: $10 to $25. Information: (714) 534-1103.