Thom de Klerk - Recordings

Recordings

It was not at all customary in his days to record albums, so there are just two solo recordings known, apart from the many recordings he made as a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The two are: Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in Es-dur, KV 297b (Anh. 9) by the Concertgebouw Quartet of which de Klerk was the bassoonist, accompanied by the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Szymon Goldberg. This recording is still available on cd in the series Philips Classic Productions, volume 37 (Philips 462 552-2). Furthermore Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto B-dur, KV 191 accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bernard Paumgartner (Fontana 894 053 ZKY & Philips 839 517 VGY). In all three parts of the concerto Thom de Klerk replaced Mozart’s cadenzas with cadenzas of his own making, which earned him much acclaim with the critics - the cadenzas are still studied today. Another peculiarity of this recording is that each movement of the concerto was recorded in just one take. The Fontana label has been acquired by Philips in turn acquired by Universal Classics. Possibly this company will republish this concerto in 2012 at the one hundredth birthday of Thom de Klerk. For the time being this concerto has been digitally remastered and privately published by his son Thomas.