Vocalise for Trumpet and Piano is one of my very early compositions. I wrote it when I was still studying at the Musical College at the Moscow State Conservatory. Then the question that stood before me, who I want to become in the future – a musicologist or a composer – was at the very beginning of my understanding. But gradually outlined the answer to the upcoming choice. My mother, member of the Union of Composers, doctor of art history, professor of the Moscow State Conservatory Marina Skrebkova-Filatova, very closely followed the development of my interests, studying composition with me at home, especially since she herself graduated from the composition department. She discussed with me many times how exactly to develop musical thought and use the created material in terms of imagery and dramaturgy. It was my mother who advised me to attend a composition circle under the guidance of Professor Konstantin Batashov. And so, step by step, in the process, my compositions began to appear.

This vocalise contains elements of the old sarabande dance combined with the melody of the solo instrument, which gives it expressiveness. Already in the Conservatory years, this composition gained some "popularity" among my fellow instrumentalists. Their teachers suggested that I make arrangements for various solo instruments, and in the arrangement for bassoon, the vocalise was performed during a student trip to Yugoslavia, to the city of Novi Sad (now Serbia). Sometimes I played the piano part myself, sometimes someone else. In the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, at a student concert, a piano student was at the piano, and my good friend and wonderful trumpeter Alexei Vorobyov performed the trumpet part. Both the musicians and the listeners each time met the vocalis warmly and cordially.

It is very pleasant to return to the early works and look at yourself as if from the outside: here is the search for melody, here is the search for texture and harmony. I sincerely love this early composition of mine and sincerely wish that it will be performed many more times.

Elena Sokolovski