“The heart is an ancestral metaphor: throughout human history, it has been thought of as a thing of paramount value, representing both literally and figuratively the core of a person; their essence. Slavic Heart is one of the most personal projects I have brought into this world. It is autobiographical and represents my journey both as a musician and person. “ – Anna Petrova
The album includes music written within a period of 50 years by four Slavic composers: Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev who are Russian, though Prokofiev was born in Sontsivka (present-day Ukraine), and the Bulgarian Vladigerov,
The Slavic cultural community came in very close contact with both what traditionally has been called the West, and also with what traditionally has been called the East, experiencing strong influences both from the Roman Catholic and the Byzantine Orthodox cultural traditions. Although historically, Slavs’ relations with the steppe world, on the whole, were much more intensive than with the Byzantine Empire or with the West in general, this communion of East and West is at the heart of all of the music presented here in this album, as well as at the heart of my musical identity: a fertile mix of two very different cultural traditions, a cultural crossroads of sorts, a melting pot of different strands of civilization united by languages, religions, and other shared cultural traits and mythologies.
Interview in Ritmo.es (Spanish)
Audio interview, Spanish National Radio (Spanish)
Bulgarian National Radio Interview (Bulgarian)