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Clarinet and Saxophone Magazine

Prokofiev’s own set of piano pieces from the two ballets serve as the basis for two four-movement suites arranged for clarinet and piano in the 1950s by Branislav Fedotovitch Prorvich, a clarinettist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. lan has developed his arrangements from these originals aided by his producer and long-standing clarinet colleague Malcolm McMilllan.

From the commencement of this epic musical journey in the Cinderella Suite, the piano sets the scene in ‘The Dancing Lesson’. The clarinet joins after a few bars with a beguiling and sardonic melody punctuated by sparkling altissimo staccato interjections. By contrast, in ‘The Winter Fairy’, the clarinet employs a dark and soulful sonority which is played here with great tonal warmth and sostenuto. Our two soloists are constantly rising to the challenges set out by the composer and offer a virtuosic duo display in ‘Grasshoppers and Dragonflies’. In the opening of Romeo and Juliet, the clarinet has to navigate the rapid-scale passages, which is accomplished here with complete ease, and then assumes the sombre tonal voice of the original tenor saxophone, with the piano re-creating the orchestral landscape.

This recording shows the musical mastery and nuanced imagination of lan Scott’s artistry. In ‘Dance of the Girls with Lillies’, he plays with an exquisite and delicate voice as the clarinet ascends into the heavens, creating a ravishingly mesmeric effect. Both lan and pianist Jonathan Higgins exercise such control over this musical offering that it is easy to forget the gigantic technical challenges that Prokofiev had originally created. I am sure he would have approved of this re-working. This recording ends with ‘Death of Tybalt,’ where the piano creates a terrifying demonic foreboding as the clarinet joins ni conclusion to halt one’s breath!

Ian Scot studied with Henry Morrison at the RSAMD (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) in Glasgow. He continued his studies with John Denman at the University of Arizona, at the recommendation of Reginald Kel. He has been a guest principal with all the major London orchestras, and appeared as soloist with I Solisti Veneti, the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, the BC Concert Orchestra and the Gulbenkian Orchestra on tour in the Far East. He has been principal clarinet with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia since 2000.