Delos Diary

A brief note to pass on to Delos aficionados. We hear that David Shifrin, premier clarinetist and artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992, will step down from that post at the end of this season. He has declared his intention "to devote additional time to my solo career and my family, as well as my teaching at Yale University and my responsibilities as artistic director of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon."


Delos retains in its catalog many oustanding recordings featuring the playing and conducting of David Shifrin: the best-selling Mozart Clarinet Concerto (DE 3020), the Weber Clarinet Concerto (DE 3220), Five American Clarinet Quintets (DE 3183), and the Complete Chamber Music of Debussy (DE 3167), to name a few. Also three vintage recordings among those with Chamber Music Northwest (DE 3066, DE 3088 & DE 3136) which feature a wide variety of music for clarinet and chamber groups by composers as diverse as Brahms, Diamond, Ives, Porter, Nielsen, Loeffler and Prokofiev. And there's even more. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of David Shifrin. He's at the peak of his career and his Delos recordings, early and more recent, give testimony that there's no one better doing what he does best — play the clarinet.

Delos Diary

Hail and Farewell!

Two great choral directors, both prominent on Delos recordings, have reached important landmarks in their careers. David R. Davidson, choral director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chorus since 1994, has had his contract extended through the 2005-06 season. His superbly trained and directed singers have been featured on the Delos best-selling Dallas Christmas Gala (DE 3267) and on two other CDs conducted by Andrew Litton, the all-Tchaikovsky Gala with Chorus (DE 3196) and the Mahler 2nd Symphony (DE 3237). Long may he prosper.

Meanwhile, Joseph Flummerfelt bid farewell, after a 33-year tenure as artistic director of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, with his performances this past summer at the Spoleto Festival USA. Delos has had the pleasure of recording this outstanding musician and his famous choir in four recordings of Dvorák choral and orchestral works conducted by Zdenek Macal with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (DE 3161, DE 3260, DE 3296, and DE 3314), an album of Mussorgsky with the same conductor and orchestra (DE 3217), and a really delightful album of choral songs by Brahms, Singing for Pleasure, with a two-piano accompaniment (DE 3193). Flummerfelt's retirement will leave a large gap in East Coast musical circles. Delos wishes him well.

Did You Know?

Delos has been releasing SACDs for a little over two years now. Not all of our CD titles have been released on SACD yet, but you should know that for the past three years or so, the vast majority of Delos recordings that have been released on CD have been recorded in DSD®.

Delos Diary

Working with members of the Shanghai Quartet can be both exhilarating and intimidating.

The beauty and refinement of their playing can be exhilarating.

Their expertise in so many things other than music can prove intimidating.

They all dress well (no untidiness allowed), they all seem to possess multiple cameras (digital, of course). You take their picture, they take your picture, better than yours. Now it seems that Yi-Wen Jiang — violinist, composer, arranger, writer, photographer, and snappy dresser — is also a connoisseur of fine wines and writes a continuing and informative critique of his world-wide wine experiences. You can find it on the Quartet's website: www.shanghaiquartet.com.
This October the Quartet begins a tour that will take them to Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; Shanghai, China; and Seoul, South Korea. They will regale local audiences with large doses of Beethoven: Op. 18, Nos. 2 & 3; Op. 59, No. 3; Op. 95; Op. 127; and Op. 132, plus excursions into other major repertoire like the Mendelssohn Octet (this latter with help).
Will the Quartet, by any chance, surprise their audience in Shanghai by programming any of their seductive arrangements of Chinese folksongs? We have grown to enjoy these greatly on their Delos CD CHINASONG (DE 3308).

Perhaps such a gesture would seem too obvious. Instead Yi-Wen and his colleagues could hold wine tastings after each concert, while taking photos of everyone and giving lessons on good grooming.

Where Are You, My Brothers?

When Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Constantine Orbelian began this project they called it War Songs, referring to the Second World War, or The Great Patriotic War as it is known in Russia. As this project has evolved, it has grown to include songs from the early period of the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 to the Cold War period and beyond.

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Stars of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra

This special salute recording is something of a "greatest hits" disc, showcasing six splendid musicians chosen from the ranks of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.

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Plaintive Melody

Thomas Stacy has been hailed as "the Heifetz of the English Horn" by the NY Times. We're proud to announce his debut recording with Delos.

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Delos Diary

Attention all Armenians! Or … Armenian music lovers!

Or…
just plain music lovers, particularly if you live in the New York area. To celebrate the great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's centennial (1903-1978), a Gala Concert will be given in Carnegie Hall on Friday, October 10th at 8:00 pm. The program is very special indeed, consisting of two favorites — the Piano Concerto and Music from Spartacus, and two US premieres — the Ode in Memory of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a tragic masterpiece, and the Ode of Joy, a jubilant tribute to the motherland.
And what an array of talent performing! Constantine Orbelian, famed conductor of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, is bringing his other full-sized virtuoso orchestra, the Philharmonia of Russia, from Moscow. Dora Serviarian-Kuhn will be soloist in the piano concerto. The amazing and gifted Yale Alumni Chorus will be joined by Russian mezzo and Met star Marina Domashenko in the Ode of Joy. The ticket prices seem amazingly moderate for such a star-studded evening ($45 - $35 - $15).
It's not to be missed. A new Delos CD featuring most of the same stars and music will be on hand to coincide with the concert. The recording is truly a spectacular sound trip — a centennial bon-bon!
As a final tribute to the great Armenian composer, a full-length documentary film "Khachaturian," produced and directed by Peter Rosen, will be released in New York and Los Angeles during October-November, and should soon after expand into other US markets.
Aram is finally getting some of the attention he richly deserves.

Delos Diary

Reading the movie and TV reviews in Weekly Variety can be addictive. Productions are covered from a professional viewpoint and the reviews are often detailed in ways ordinary newspaper criticisms are not. They also contain unique "Variety-isms" worth remembering. In the August 25 issue, a new BBC-TV production called "Eroica" is given lengthy coverage. We in the USA will undoubtedly see it sometime in the future on PBS. It's a biography limited to one phase of Ludwig van Beethoven's life … the period when he was composing his Third Symphony, the breakthrough Eroica.
At one point, demonstrating his Variety pedigree, the reviewer refers to the composer as a "cantankerous cleffer." That set me off into dreaming of other two-word descriptions of famous composers. How about "neurotic notespinner" for Tchaikovsky, "pubescent prodigy" for the young Mozart, or "seraphic songmeister" for Franz Schubert? After that, my fantasies failed. Anyone have suggestions for Wagner, Brahms, or Berlioz?
Whatever, they could hardly be more irreverent than calling the admittedly "cantankerous" Beethoven a "cleffer"!