Angela Willoughby, Music of James Sclater, at MS College,
November 2, 2002
This was the premiere of Sclater's Variations and Toccata on a Theme
by Paganini, commissioned by the MS Music Teachers Association, and
performed at their annual convention. In his instrumental incarnation,
Sclater is a clarinetist. As a composer, he has written for all sorts
of musical genre, including voice. Here he proved his versatility in
two ways: first by writing a work for piano, that was so pianistic that
one might think him a concert pianist; second, by exhausting all the
possibilities of treatment of this familiar theme, in fifteen different
variations, the last a brilliant toccata. Willoughby, a partner in the
clarinet-piano duo Lyricas, was equally brilliant in her passionate and
energetic performance. I want to hear this again.
- Glenn A. Gentry
Click here to see Program Notes