Undergraduate Student Recital Among Flowers Olivia Nava, Trombone Dr. Natasha Kislenko, Piano May 22, 2021 | 6 pm PDT | Virtual Event program

Stereograms David William Brubeck 20 Studies for Solo Bass Trombone (b. 1966) From Vol. 2 Modern Renaissance: 12. Spain – Dedicated to the Memory of Frank Crisafulli From Vol. 1 Three Smooth Stones: 1A. Moderato – Dedicated to James Pankow 7. Funk! – Dedicated to Bob Mintzer and Dave Taylor

Concerto in One Movement for Tuba and Piano Alexander Lebedev (1924-1993) Rearranged/edited by Allen Ostrander

Intermission

Sonatina for Tuba and Piano Halsey Stevens 1. Moderato con moto (1908-1989) 2. Andante affettuoso 3. Allegro

Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra Thom Ritter Georg To Emory Remington and Robert S. Braun (b. 1942)

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Dr. Natasha Kislenko is a UC Santa Barbara faculty member

Olivia Nava is a student of UC Santa Barbara Recall Continuing Lecturer William Booth

Presented by the University of California, Santa Barbara Division of Humanities and Fine Arts in the College of Letters and Science and the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Music degree. About the Artist

Olivia Nava is a student of Bill Booth at UC Santa Barbara, in her fourth year. She has been playing trombone for seven years, and is very excited to put on her senior recital.

Program Notes

Stereograms by David William Brubeck From Gustav Holst to Tommy Dorsey, these studies are all dedicated to famous and/or skilled musicians and trombonists. David W. Brubeck, no relation with the Dave Brubeck of Take Five fame, wrote these pieces in the style of the Bach Cello Suites, where an unaccompanied instrument outlines and performs multiple voices. He writes “A visual ‘stereogram’ represents a 3-D image while looking though a pair of 2-D images” and considers his and Bach’s music to be an auditory version of the same art style. However, unlike the Bach Cello Suites, these are all in a rhythmic and modern style.

No. 1A is dedicated to James Pankow, trombonist, and songwriter for the jazz-rock Band, Chicago. While the 7/8 pulse makes it feel very lopsided, the ostinato bassline gives a very steady groove and keeps it moving.

No. 7 is dedicated to Bob Mintzer and Dave Taylor. Bob Mintzer is a saxophonist, and member of the jazz-funk fusion band, Yellowjackets, and leader of the Bob Mintzer Big Band. Dave Taylor is an incredibly prolific jazz bass trombonist who regularly plays with the Bob Mintzer Big Band. It is very clear, however, that this piece was written in Yellowjacket style and is very funky.

No. 12 is dedicated to the former principal trombonist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and David W. Brubeck’s trombone teacher, Frank Crisafulli. In the tradition of the CSO Low Brass, Crisafulli was capable of and regularly played with a very broad, heavy, and dark sound. Compared to the other two, this piece’s style is more contemporary classical.

Concerto in One Movement by Alexander Lebedev Born in Russia in 1924, Alexander Lebedev is one of the most prominent Russian composers and tuba players. It was after his time in the military, and while at conservatory, that he wrote the Concerto No. 1, now called the Concerto in One Movement. This piece is very much in the style of Russian composers of the 40s and 50s. As far as I can tell, there is no programmatic aspect to this piece, it simply exists for tubists to play. This is very much in line with most of his later publications which are, for the most part, etude books and technical studies. In the years after its publication, it quickly spread into Europe and America, where it was eventually rearranged by the Bass Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, Allen Ostrander. Ostrander, like Lebedev, wrote and arranged several early low brass method books. These two composers comprise the bulk of the early, important low brass technical studies and method books.

Sonatina for Tuba and Piano by Halsey Stevens Very much like the rest of the pieces on this concert, this piece is not one of a programmatic nature. Stevens wrote on his website “Except for works with a text, I have written nothing of a programmatic nature”. Even still, I think of this piece to tell a story. The melody, stated by the trombone, develops throughout the piece. It is a shy but very animated person, becoming more and more excited to be conversing with the piano. This comes to a head in the first movement around 2/3rds of the way through. The second movement is a sort of lull in the conversation, but the dialogue is still happening. I can think of several moments where the piano sets up sentences that are then continued by the trombone and then finished together. The final movement is the culmination of the conversation. Our two characters understand each other in more detail by revisiting topics from all the movements and can converse quicker and in more detail. They’re more in sync than they ever were before. This synchronicity is what ends the piece, with the two trading their final goodbyes. Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra by Thom Ritter Georg A common joke among studio musicians in Los Angeles is that there are only two kinds of songs – love songs and pirate songs. As I was practicing this piece, I tended to lean heavily into this dichotomy. The piece is in one movement, as is the Lebedev. The two primary melodies are the opening love song adagio, and the pirate song allegro. This, of course, gets varied and developed throughout the piece very quickly becoming difficult to recognize and follow along. The opening section is in a somewhat sonata form, with an exposition, development, and a bit of a recapitulation, though nowhere near as conclusive because it smoothly leads into the cadenza, which itself smoothly leads into the fugue, which then ends the piece, and our concert.