Concerto Scherzoso – Graham Whettam – Setting the record straight

Jim Hughes saw a video of Graham Whettam’s composition Concerto Scherzoso for Harmonica and Orchestra on YouTube, which was attributed to Larry Adler but did not sound like him. I checked with the person who posted the video and he said that his recording did not name the harmonica player. Because the piece was written for Larry Adler he had assumed Larry must be the performer. My first thought was Tommy Reilly, but when I checked with my friends, Jang Ming, Art Daane and Sigmund Groven, the truth was established. The harmonica was played by the Dutch soloist, John van Vuuren, also known as John Larryson, the lead player of the harmonica group, The Larrysons. This performance by John van Vueren and the Dutch Orchestra conducted by Hugo de Groot was recorded for the publisher, De Wolfe, and first published in 1962 on the “Music De Wolfe” label, no.DWLP 2732. Click to hear it for yourself.