Divertissement Aspenois – for Unaccompanied Clarinet in B Flat (1951)
by Victor Babin (1908 – 1972)
1. Humoresque for Reginald
2. Siciliana A L’Anglaise for Diana
3. Rondino for Jeffrey
4. Dithyramb for the Clarinet
Victor Babin was part of a Russian piano team. He was director of the Aspen Music Festival and dean of the Cleveland Institute of Music. In addition to his Hillandale Waltzes (for clarinet and piano) he wrote this unaccompanied piece for clarinet for British soloist Reginald Kell, who was also on the Aspen Faculty. We met Reginald Kell at Aspen in 1975, when he was living in Carbondale, Colorado, and came to a performance of this piece by one of our peers. We were all delighted to meet him! – Michael Drapkin
This performance was live from my freshman recital at the Eastman School of Music in 1976 in Kilbourn Hall. This is a very old recording of a very young Michael Drapkin!