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Fanfare

This is a disc to enjoy for sheer pleasure. It can be looked upon as a somewhat higher-class pops concert. Robin White has made very attractive arrangements of a number of (mostly) Russian pieces, and clarinetist lan Scott plays them with accuracy and elan. Scott is principal clarinet of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the orchestra of the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the UK, and he has enlisted that orchestra for the project.

The mood is set from the outset with two extracts from Mussorgsky’s unfinished comic opera Sorochinsky Fair, first the lovely, atmospheric Introduction, then an energetic Gopak. The longest work on the program is White’s own Russian Suite, which is a set of arrangements of traditional Russian songs. The first will resonate with anyone who remembers Glière’s ballet The Red Poppy, because the tune (“Little Apple”) is the source of the “Russian Sailors’ Dance.” After this boisterous opening, the suite’s second movement is a lovely lyrical expression of longing, and the third a more lighthearted dance that would sound at home in a family celebration. Russian gloom returns in the fourth movement, but all ends happily with an exuberant Gopak.

Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his Konzertstück in E flat for clarinet and military band in 1878, a reflection of his time as a naval officer and civilian inspector of naval bands. It is a very attractive work in one movement, and White has orchestrated it sensitively, retaining much of the color of its band origins. The four Tchaikovsky pieces fit the mood of the recital very nicely in White’s arrangements. The familiar Andante cantabile from String Quartet No. 1 doesn’t sound overblown in this expanded arrangement, and Scott’s affectionate shaping of the melody is quite graceful.

Crucial to the success of this disc is the variety of moods on the program, which alternates between the elegiac, the robust, the tender, and the joyful. The disc ends with a terrific arrangement of the Czardas composed in 1904 by the Italian composer Vittorio Monti. It has been arranged over the years for just about every solo instrument and ensemble. A good performance must be flexible, warm, and sound as if the performers are smiling as they play. Such is the case here, though candidly I felt that the energy level could have been even more unbuttoned. In sum, this is a highly entertaining disc that displays fine clarinet playing and colorful arrangements of some tuneful Russian music. Warm, well-balanced recorded sound and brief but informative program notes round out the production.