Henry Le Comte
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SYMPHONIC PRELUDES AND POSTLUDES ON WELL-KNOWN CHORALS BY HENRY LE COMTE
Under his French pseudonym Henry le Comte, clarinetist Henk de Graaf composed fifteen Symphonic Preludes and Postludes on well-known chorales. Inspired by his work as a solo clarinetist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, he decided to give shape to his composition and arrangement talent in organ playing.
This fascinating CD, on which connoisseurs will recognize composers such as Franck, Tchaikovsky, Mendelsohn, Brahms, Liszt Dvorak, Chopin, Bruckner, Mozart and Bach, gives an impression of Le Comte's special preference and is dedicated to his parents, named after his mother who died in 1998.
He has managed to bring out the organ literature in a new way for the national and international market, which will be gratefully received throughout the liturgy.
Henry le Comte, alias Henk de Graaf, was born in 1949 in Spakenburg and, remarkably, as a clarinetist he obtained all Diplomas with distinction, while he was awarded the Prix d'Excellence in 1973. At the Conservatory he also studied piano, which gave shape to his bond with clover.
In addition to years of experience as an organist, his professional practice as a musician has yielded impressive results in recent years.
He has been the solo clarinetist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for 30 years and was a main subject teacher at the Rotterdam School of Music and Theatre and the Amsterdam School of the Arts for 25 years. Major CD and TV projects were also part of his activities, in which piano virtuoso Daniel Wayenberg collaborated on several occasions.
His best-known CD releases include 'The Virtuoso Clarinet with works by Von Weber, Baermann, Crusell and Spohr with the Schubert Consort Amsterdam, Brahms sonatas op. 120, Piano Quintets by Mozart and Beethoven with Hungarian pianist Klara Würtz and The Netherlands Wind Soloists, major projects with clarinet trios in works by Mozart, Schumann, Bruch, Beethoven, Glinka, Brahms, Zemlinsky in collaboration with Israeli violinist Itamar Shimon, Russian cellist Wladislav Warenberg and Dutch pianist Daniel Wayenberg, Wind Quartets by Rossini with The Rotterdam Philharmonic Wind Soloists and 'Mozart's Clarinet Concerto KV 622' with the Amadeus Ensemble conducted by Marien van Staalen, of which the first Dutch TV recordings were recently made in all these works. Henry le Comte is organist at the Immanuel Church in Bunschoten.
