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Harmen de Boer

Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2016-03-23 18:32

In looking through the archives, I don't see a lot of postings that mention Harmen de Boer. Last weekend at a yard sale, Kevin and I picked up a used and somewhat incomplete set of the 170-disc Mozart Edition, all of Mozart's music, from Brilliant Classics. This set includes Harmen de Boer playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, conducted by Lev Markiz. I highly recommend it! I think this 1994 performance also got released on a single disc.

As I've mentioned here before, I'm partial to basset clarinet renditions (particularly Tony Pay's) of this concerto. However, it's a big world with plenty of room for variations. I also like a number of performances on modern clarinet, including this one by de Boers. While he doesn't seem to have made a lot of recordings, I'll be sure to hunt down more.

One of the many things that appeal to me about his Mozart Concerto is a difficult-to-describe quality of *fun*. Of course, nobody tries to turn this concerto into something dark and grim -- that would just be stupid. But de Boer, more than most clarinet players, brings a captivating lilt to his Mozart.

He's got bottomless lungs, btw. In a number of places where it's easy to sneak a breath without messing up the phrasing, and where most clarinet players do take a breath, I hear no evidence that he takes a breath. He's individualistic enough to be interesting, while (for my ears, anyway -- I'm an amateur) he stays well within what's appropriate from the written score.

I'm curious what other folks here think of de Boer.

Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

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