Natasha Kislenko, continuing lecturer of keyboard at UCSB, and a revered performer in most of our major venues (Music Academy, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Music Club, UCSB concert halls) will present a solo piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, in Karl Geiringer Hall on the UC Santa Barbara campus.
The solo piano portion of Kislenko’s program will consist of Wolfgang Mozart’s “Six Variations in F-Major” on an aria by Giovanni Paisiello, “K. 398” (1783); Friedrich Chopin’s “Variations in A-Major, ‘Souvenir de Paganini’” (1829); Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Opus 42” (1931); and Alfred Schnittke’s “Variations on One Chord” (1966).
For the concert’s finale, Kislenko will be joined by pianist Sarah Gibson, a UCSB teaching professor, for a performance of Witold Lutoslawski‘s “Variations on a Themeby Paganini for Two Pianos” (1941).
Mozart took his theme from Giovanni Paisiello’s opera “The Imaginary Philosophers” (1779). Paisiello (1740-1816) was the most popular opera composer of the late 18th century. His version of “The Barber of Seville” held the stage against all rivals until the advent of Rossini’s in 1816, the triumph of which was total and may have hastened Paisiello’s death.
Nevertheless, Paisiello’s “Barber” is a lovely work, and I rather prefer it; so much less exhausting than Rossini.
The theme used by Rachmaninov for this wonderful work is not, in fact, the work of Corelli, but is the melody of an ancient Spanish dance called “La Folia.” The tune is, in fact, one of the oldest remembered European musical themes.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) used the theme for a set of variations in his “Sonata in d-minor for Violin and Continuo, Opus 5, No. 12” (1700).
Other notable uses of the melody occur in the works of Marin Marais, G.F. Handel, Henry Purcell, J.S. Bach, and about 150 other composers. Film maker Stanley Kubrick used the Handel version for the opening titles of “Barry Lyndon.”
The Lutoslawski “Variations” are a wild ride. When you hear the theme, used previously by Brahms and famously by Rachmaninov, hang on tight, for it is easy to get lost in the whirlwind that follows.
Admission to this concert is $10 general admission; $5 non-UCSB students; free for UCSB students and children under 12. Tickets can purchased at the door, by phone at 805-893-2064, or online at music.ucsb.edu/news/purchase-tickets.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.