Delos Diary

There was once a wonderful violinist named Louis Kaufman. Although well-known in the classical concert world, he was most famous as the violin soloist millions of us heard on the soundtracks of many great movies from the '30s to the 70's … "Gone With The Wind," "Casablanca," "Wuthering Heights," and "Ben Hur" among many others. His widow and frequent accompanist, Annette Kaufman, now 88, has just completed and edited his memoirs, soon to be published under the title A Fiddler's Tale, How Hollywood and Vivaldi Discovered Me. This unusual name aroused my interest. It seems that Louis Kaufman may have been the very first violinist to record Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concertos, in 1947. It's hard to believe that these concertos, now so frequently heard and recorded, were ever a rarity.

Which brings me to my point. We, at Delos, have two excellent recordings of these Vivaldi favorites in our catalog: (DE 3007) Elmar Oliveira, Gerard Schwarz, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, recorded in 1980; and (DE 3280) Massimo Quarta (Italian violin virtuoso), Constantine Orbelian, and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, recorded in 2000. Both are wonderful versions, with very different interpretations of the same content.

Most music lovers don't realize that these beloved concertos are only the first four of twelve included in Vivaldi's Opus 8, called Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione (The Contest of Harmony and Invention). I couldn't have named them better myself.

Delos Diary

We never delete a recording. Well, almost never.
Like the packrat who never throws anything away, Delos International tries never to delete a recording from its catalog. The packrat of legend goes through his attic, sees something he forgot which catches his eye, takes it to Antiques Roadshow and finds that he possesses a valuable piece of art.
Going through a list of Delos recordings over ten or even twenty years old, but still available, one can find some surprising riches. Here are just a few —

Arleen Auger: Love Songs (DE 3029) and Arleen Auger: Great Arias by Bach and Handel. Valuable records of the unique artistry of a great soprano who left us much too soon. A wide rage of repertoire underlining her versatility and beautiful vocalism.

Water Music of the Impressionists (DE 3006) and Reverie (DE 3113). Carol Rosenberger, Delos's great pianist, illuminates romantic piano repertoire with her refined virtuosity and poetically compelling interpretations.

Piano Music of Franz Liszt (DE 3022) and Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2 (DE 3044), from pianist John Browning. This great, recently deceased, American pianist left us these one-of-a-kind recordings of music which he played with a unique blend of virtuosity and understanding.

Handel: Water Music, Gerard Schwarz conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (DE 3010). A Handel interpretation like no other — the virtuoso brass of LACO under the direction of virtuoso trumpeter Gerard Schwarz cut loose, throw caution to the wind, and take Handel for a swift ride down the Thames!

More choices later.

Delos Diary

Congratulations to Heidi Grant Murphy!
She is a featured soloist in Mozart's Il Re Pastore, the New York Mostly Mozart Festival's first staged opera, working with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra led by Nicholas McGegan. Performances are on August 12, 14 and 16. After appearances all over the USA with many orchestras as everybody's favorite soloist in the last movement of the Mahler 4th Symphony (DE 3261), it must be a welcome change for the "creamy-voiced" soprano to leave the angels behind and instead play Elisa, the sweetheart of the Shepherd King, Aminta.

P.s. Since August 14th was the evening of the big New York power outage, we presume that night's performance was cancelled, unless the brave singers went on illuminated by baroque candelabras.

Delos Diary

The dog days of August are here. Just ahead, we anticipate a busy autumn and cooler weather. Looking at the accomplishments of the last twelve months, I was surprised to see how many relatively unfamiliar composer's names pop up on our Delos releases and those of our distributed labels.

As well as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, etc., I see Ennio Morricone, Stanley Myers, Pierre Max Dubois, Phillipe Gaubert, Alexandre Tansman, Pierre Sancar, Raffaele Bellafronte, and Michael Daugherty, to name a few. Classical 20th century composers like Howard Hanson, David Diamond, Paul Creston, Walter Piston, and Vincent Persichetti are also represented. There's plenty of novelty to stimulate even the most jaded CD addict among these offerings. Check out DE 3318, AV 1527, DE 3324, DE 3291, and DE 3708 and you'll see what I mean. Lots of exciting, unfamiliar music to alleviate the BLAHS of late summer.

Delos Diary - DePreist Tribute

What an eloquent tribute! In May of this year the Oregon Symphony published a deluxe 48-page perfect-bound booklet highlighting the life and career of its distinguished retiring music director, James DePreist. After 23 years at the helm Maestro DePreist is relinquishing this post although he will continue appearances and projects with the orchestra until at least 2008. His new title will be Laureate Music Director.

Over the past two decades DePreist has advanced the Oregon Symphony from an ensemble with a regional reputation into national prominence. The tribute booklet details how and why with an informative and often witty text and many excellent photographs. Jim Svejda, almost everyone's favorite classical music radio commentator, wrote the booklet text with his usual panache. His Chapter Eight, title "Records," is especially complimentary to Delos and the six recordings with DePreist and Oregon already issued by Delos prior to the Tribute's publication. The booklet is crammed with facts and statistics. Some are quite impressive. In his 23 years in Oregon James DePreist has conducted over 575 compositions by over 200 different composers. Listen up, Guinness Book of Records!

Delos's newest DePreist-Oregon release "American Contrasts" (DE 3291) features unusual repertoire by American composers Benjamin Lees, Vincent Persichetti and Michael Daugherty … really interesting modern scores, beautifully played with exemplary sound … overall a fine demonstration of the very qualities which have made DePreist's work with the Oregon Symphony so special.

Shanghai Quartet's ChinaSong

MusicWeb has a nice review of ChinaSong, the Shanghai Quartet's last release. Here's an excerpt:

It should have been obvious all along that folksongs tend to be folksongs wherever encountered, and the human desire to sing beautiful tunes should be, and is, a universal. Beautiful songs is what we have here…

Complete review
More about this release

Delos Diary

A Delos release we all anticipate is the new recording by the famed Shanghai Quartet of Beethoven's "Razumovsky" Quartets, Op. 59, Nos. 2 and 3. The CD will feature the very first Beethoven music that the Shanghai has committed to disc.

While reading through introductory notes furnished by the Quartet I was struck by one line: "They [the Beethoven quartets] also happen to be among the hardest to play." To see such a confession from a virtuoso group which does not quail before the intricacies of Brahms, Ravel, Bridge and Zhou Long, can help us understand why musicians of Beethoven's own time found these quartets so formidable. Remember that most of the string players who first performed these pieces were dilettante aristocrats who would gather together of an evening to sightread a little Cimarosa or Locatelli. Suddenly on their music stands they faced the mad ravings of the crazed Beethoven, so different from anything they had dabbled in before. It's not surprising they complained. The tide soon turned, but at the time the irascible Beethoven had the last word: "Oh, they're not for you, but for a later age."Or even better, "Do you think that I care for your damn fiddle when the spirit seizes me?" Today, no professional classical string quartet dares to ignore the challenge of these great works.

Delos Diary

The Metropolitan Opera Ticket Service Calendar for season 2003–2004 arrived in the mail a few days ago. For the opera fan or fanatic, it's as much fun to browse through the brochure's 24 pages as it must have been years ago to leaf through a new Sears & Roebuck catalog. Here before your own eyes, all performances from September '03 through early May '04 (over 200!) are fully detailed — dates, times, complete casts — all you need to know to make your plans. Of course there's no mention of possible cancellations, unexplained cast changes, or all the terrible things that can ruin an evening in the world of live opera.
As your Delos Insider, I have scanned the entire schedule for the inclusion of Delos artists. Here are the ones to remember:
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, our stellar baritone (DE 3290, DS 3290, DE 3292, DS 3292, DE 3289, DS 3289) will sing Giorgio Germont in ten performances of La Traviata and will be featured in the Saturday matinee broadcast of March 6, 2004.

Sergei Larin, Hermann in the Delos Queen of Spades (DE 3289, DS 3289) has two roles. Dimitri in Boris Godunov in seven performances, with a Saturday matinee broadcast on January 31, 2004; and The Prince in three performances of Rusalka with Renée Fleming, Saturday broadcast on May 8, 2004.

Beautiful Marina Domashenko (DE 3285, DS 3285), Delos mezzo assoluta, escapes from sunny Seville and endless Carmens to gloomy Mantua. She will sing Maddalena (another vamp!) in the Met's Rigoletto six times with a Saturday matinee broadcast on February 7, 2004.

It's all there, folks, on paper. With luck, these performances will happen, as predicted. Of course, in the world of opera there are always colds, flu, throat problems, late visas, and temperaments, so be prepared and keep tuned!

Delos Diary

Our resident Janus (you know, the mythological character with two faces, pointing in opposite directions) would have to be Carol Rosenberger, Delos Vice President, A & R, and also one of the most recorded concert pianists in the business. In spite of a formidable load of executive decisions and details which chain her to the computer for many hours a week, she manages to keep her pianistic skills intact with relentless sessions at one of two majestic Bösendorfers which loom in stern rebuke not too far from the computers, printers, scanners, faxes, cell phones and other clutter necessary in today's business world.

Very soon she will have to tear herself away from the flickering screen for a series of live performances with Constantine Orbelian and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in venues from Alaska to California. Also imminent is the release on Delos this fall of her new and much-anticipated recording of the Mozart Piano Concerto K. 271 and a Beethoven "Concertante" adapted from a piano and wind quintet for Carol and the MCO.

Meanwhile if you want to keep in touch with Carol's talent and are not on the receiving end of one of her concise and pointed daily business memos, try "Carol's Piano Collection" (DE 3306), a two-disc survey of piano classics by Haydn, R. Strauss, Hanson and Falla.