Written in 2008, it was part of my graduation of my first masters in composition, In Liszt Ferenc Music Academy. This recording is made by the compose (me) singing all the voices, only the 2 lowest base lines being transposed an octave lower, the female parts sung in falsetto. The recording is made purely as a sketch to hear the piece, it has no value as to be a professional,good recording. Still, I found I would like to share with you the beauty I saw in this is song. The raw translation would be:
The forest is on fire, mother! The forest of Yasen, the forest of Gaber.
A nest is burning with three small eagle babies.
Above the nest flies sadly the eagles' mother. She shouts sad and desperate: no one can get them out of there. No one is brave enough to through himself in fire. 
Stephan, good man, throughs himself in the fire, so he brings out the three small eagle babies. 
The old eagle mother tells to Stephan:
"Stephan, good man, who does the good, is nor burnt by flames, nor sinks in water, the one, who does good, also receives good."

Zapali Se Gora (Bulgarian Folksong For 16 Voices)

Sometimes - Georgi Sztojanov

Who is man? 
The reflection of the Eternal Light.
What is the world? 
A wave on the Everlasting Sea.
How could the reflection be cut off from the Light? 
How could the wave be separate from the Sea?
Know that this reflection and this wave are that very Light and Sea.
Jami, Diwan, tr by W.C. Chittick

Prelude
Genesis: And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 

The serpent
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. 
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 

The expulsion
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are thou? 
And he said, 
I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
And he said, 
Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 
And the man said, 
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 
And the LORD God said unto the woman, 
What is this that thou hast done? 
And the woman said, 
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, 
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. 
Unto the woman he said, 
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 
And unto Adam he said, 
cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 

The Birth of the Illusion 
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. 
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 

Separation
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long way from home
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone
Way up in the heavenly land

True believers a long way from home
Along way from home
    
Maya
'One Light'
 
What are "I" and "You"?
Just lattices
In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One Light radiates.
"I" and "You" are the veil
Between heaven and earth;
Lift this veil and you will see 
How all sects and religions are one.
Lift this veil and you will ask---
When "I" and "You" do not exist
What is mosque?
What is synagogue?
What is fire temple?
Mahmud Shabistari

Wikipedia
Māyā is the empirical reality that entangles consciousness. Māyā has the power to create a bondage to the empirical world, preventing the unveiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. 
 "Maya and Brahman together constitute the entire universe, just like two kinds of interwoven threads create a fabric. Maya is the manifestation of the world, whereas Brahman, which supports Maya, is the cause of the world."

Māyā is not false, it only clouds the inner Self and principles that are real. True Reality includes both the Māyā and the Brahman. The goal of spiritual enlightenment is to realize Brahman, realize the fearless, resplendent Oneness.

Uniting

I speak of plural souls in name alone – 
One soul becomes one hundred in their frames; 
Just as God's single sun in heaven 
Shines on earth and lights a hundred walls 
But all these beams of light return to one 
If you remove the walls that block the sun 
The walls of houses do not stand forever 
And believers then will be as but one soul 
Rumi

Ending as One

A one-day notice jump in of the oratorio by Frank Martin: Le Vin Herbe, Georgi Sztojanov singing the role of Tristan.
Daniel Reuss conducting Cappella Amsterdam.
This is a snippet of the general rehearsal before the concert.

Le Vin Herbe Big Tenor Aria - Georgi Sztojanov

A piece from 2008 written on three novels by Ferenc Tarr (based on Michael Ende). 
1. "The mothers face is dark as a swamp..." 
for Mezzosoprano, Piccolo and Cello
- She sits on a table and chews. She spits seeds outside through the window: in the garden plants grow. She gives birth to children: the boys are dead, the girls go into the room. The husband brings the boys and berries them in the garden. He goes out and drinks.
He cuts a cow. They all eat it. He cuts the mother. They all eat it. 
He realizes he made a mistake: he goes out and drinks himself to the ground. One of the daughters sits on the table and chews. 
The man (a stranger) goes out and drinks. The daughter gives birth. He buries the boys outside. The girls go into the room. 
2. "In the labyrinth-town all meetings are accidental...or by destiny..." 
for Folk voice, Flute and Cello
- The young man slowly grew wings to leave the city, but before that he has to go through a test. The task he gets seems fairly easy: till dawn he shouldn't meet his beloved one. Although he arrives in front of her door three times, he never enters. In the morning, when all other successful youngsters leave, he realises: he didn't pass: the real test was to show no obedience.
3. "Black curtains are falling under from above..."
for Soprano. Altoflute and Cello 
She has to stay in this position: hands on the hips, one leg in front, one behind. And when she gets tired, she mirrors herself. 
But is the performance not tonight? Did they cancel? Did they forget about her? She thinks over all the jumps of her dance. She cannot miss the start, she has to begin from this position.
How long does she has to stand here? And when she gets tired, she mirrors herself. Slowly she forgets all her steps. And she stands, stands, stands...


Novellak

Terzetto - Kereveten fekvo no

Neprimirima

Georgi Sztojanov 
Angelic books

A selection of movements for 3 mixed choirs on diverse texts from the times of WW1 – in different languages and setups

The three big movements are the core of the piece.
The musical material for these is based on two scales which are put together in a bitonal harmonical sequence, one musical material referring to the other.

These bigger movements are surrounded with ‘Angelic comments’ – on texts of Angelus Silesius. The material for these originates in older sketches of a piece of mine for 12 voices.

The third big movement is based on a Hungarian novel, from which the title of the whole collection came. Although written 100 years ago, the text reflects on a growing problem in our modern world: violent and fanatic nationalism. The writer, Kosztolányi, appoints it as one of the main reasons that lead to WW1 – and wars in general. Shouldn’t we learn from it? And ‘teach our children to love Humans…and make peace?’


Prologue 

“They say: Space, and Time, Now, and Eternity.
What is Space, and Time, Now and Eternity?”

Three times three voices three questions.

I.	Come questa pietra – Marcia

An Italian funeral march. The weeping of a mother, “as cold, as tough… as totally disheartened… as a stone” – a chested, folky melody, introducing one of the scales of the piece. She is joined by growing groups of mourners. Their melodies blend into one harmonic progression.
Meanwhile the decomposed elements of the text are whispered, moving from left to right, and back – the marching of a ghost army.
The culmination: ‘Death is alive’.

II.	Saillant / Der Abend, Im Osten 
-  A (never ending) night on the (never ending) field

In the 2nd movement we hear the French and the German side, and in-between the noises of the emptiness - The tragic ‘boredom’ and uncertainty of the Front.
Suddenly a fight occurs, an explosion, from which we return to the weeping material of the 1st movement. Someone starts singing a Christmas carol: ‘Veni, veni Emmanuel’ (first in the scale of the piece, then slowly going back to its original modal form). The Latin text version is echoed in French and English.
Both parties join the song, for a day, instead of killing, comes the message of Love and Light. 
Then Death returns.

Intermezzo 

Chromatic etude - the leaves slowly falling and fading, so as we do, on our way to doom.
“Die before you have to die, so when you have to die you don’t die, otherwise you’ll be damned.”

III.	Nemzetesdi (Playing ‘Nationalism’)

Describing a nightmare of sick children (the different nations) lying on beds next to each other, and still screaming in their nightmares each other’s names – fearing they might be attacked by each other. 
Being lost in his thoughts, the writer draws his conclusions: 
‘Shouldn’t… all the poets, All the good-willed people of the world unite,
Write teaching books, respectable, smart, Angelic books…
So that our children can learn to love Humans… and make peace’.

Epilogue 

The angels talk about losing one’s self for God.
Is this self-sacrifice what brings us above ourselves? – or is it what is also used to motivate us to die or kill for our nation, religion or belief? 

This choral has “haunted me” for long time, before it found its place as the ending of Angelic Books.

Georgi Sztojanov2

Popular tracks