At 81, Lazar Nikolov is the doyen of Bulgarian musical modernism. Along with a small group of his contemporaries, Nikolov pioneered the use of avant-garde techniques in Bulgaria, giving them a distinctive Eastern European personality. His strong musical personality and the evolution of his innovative ideas are most forcefully expressed in his seven large-scale piano sonatas, three of which are performed by the formidable Bulgarian virtuosa, Angela Tosheva. They range in date from the Fifties to the Nineties, from the most oppressive period of the old regime to the freedom and recognition of recent years.