Divine Art Announces Album of Russian Music for Clarinet and Orchestra

Later this year Divine Art Records will release an album of Russian music arranged for clarinet and orchestra by Robin White. In some ways an old-fashioned potpourri of tuneful, enjoyable music, though all of the arrangements are new, the album presents some well-loved pieces in a new and fresh soundworld. The works include a new orchestration of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Clarinet Concerto (originally scored for military band), a suite of Russian folk songs, popular lollipops by Tchaikovsky and items from Mussorgsky’s unfinished comic opera ‘Sorochinski Fair’. The program ends with a non-Russian work, but one which has been immensely popular and is heard anew in this clarinet arrangement: Monti’s Czardas.

The recording was made in two sessions with musicians ‘socially distanced’ due to Covid regulations, an interesting challenge for the recording engineers to achieve a natural balance of sound – which they have mastered wonderfully.

Arranger Robin White, who also conducts, trained at Imperial College and the Royal College of Music, both in London and has enjoyed a varied and busy career. His first album of Edwardian light music (Chandos 1992) was a very successful title on Classic FM and he has since recorded ballet and choral music for Silva Classics, Classic Fox and Claudio. He also appeared with his own choir in an episode of the British TV soap opera ‘EastEnders’ in 2002. As an arranger, his work has been broadcast by BBC orchestras and featured in Australia.

On this new recording Robin White conducts the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the soloist being the Sinfonia’s principal clarinet, Ian Scott.

Ian Scott studied in Scotland and the USA. He has been guest principal with several major London orchestras, toured the Far East with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and appeared as soloist with I Solisti Veneti and Orchestra da Camera. He has recorded British concertos for ASV and Dutton and joined the Royal Ballet Sinfonia after being principal of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon.

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is Britain’s busiest ballet orchestra, playing for the Royal Ballet in London, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and other major companies including the Kirov, New York City Ballet and the Australian Ballet. It also performed with Royal Opera’s acclaimed production of Turandot at Wembley Arena.

Album Details

Title:  “Russian Music for Clarinet”  (working title)
Label: Divine Art
Catalogue no.: DDA 25223

Artists

Ian Scott (clarinet)
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Robin White (conductor)

Works

• Introduction and Gopak from ‘Sorochinsky Fair’ (Modest Mussorgsky)
• Clarinet Concerto (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
• Russian Suite (trad; arranged by Robin White)
• String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11– 2^nd movement, Andante cantabile (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
• Humoresque, Op. 10 No. 2 (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
• Children’s Album, Op. 39 – Waltz in E flat (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
• Six Romances, Op. 6 – No. 6 ‘None but the Lonely Heart’ (Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
• Czardas (Vittorio Monti)

All works arranged for clarinet and orchestra by Robin White.
Recorded at the Henry Wood Hall, London in September 2020 (engineer Paul Crichton) and March 2021 (engineer Tony Faulkner) under partial lockdown conditions