Delos Diary

James DePreist's newest recording with the Oregon Symphony will be released by Delos late in May. The CD will feature two symphonies by Jean Sibelius: No. 2 & No. 7, both long-time favorites of DePreist.
In many ways the last few years have been wonderful ones for DePreist's music-making. Philanthropist Gretchen Brooks of Vancouver, Washington (just across the river from Portland) and her Recording Fund for the Oregon Symphony have provided funds covering much of the costs of recording to ensure that Maestro DePreist could set down a permanent record of his mature thoughts and interpretations of some of his favorite classical works.
Delos International has done its part by furnishing technical and merchandising expertise. The results have been impressive.
These include new looks at Stravinsky's Firebird and Rite of Spring (DE 3278); Respighi's Rome (DE 3287) (a dazzling smorgasbord, or, more correctly, antipasti of the famous Roman tone poems); a new Shostakovich 11th Symphony (DE 3329) with state-of-the-art sound; a generous sampling of interesting American works by Lees, Persichetti and Daugherty (DE 3291); and still to come, after the Sibelius, some very special favorites by William Walton.
In all of these recordings the playing of the Oregon Symphony, as it has developed under James DePreist, is of the very highest caliber meeting the maestro's demands on every level.
Watch for the new Sibelius in just a few weeks!

Delos Diary

Britain's RAC Foundation for Motoring issues safe-driving bulletins on a regular basis. A recent release lists five tunes that should not be played while driving… the implication being that exposure to these melodies could encourage reckless driving, excessive speed and general lawlessness. Two of the five are classical: Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and the Dies Irae from Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.
I find it hard to believe that either of these selections could turn a classical music-loving motorist into a menace. Visions of drivers as Valkyries carrying dead pedestrians draped over their hoods on the way to a drive-in Valhalla come to mind. Also, Verdi's dire warnings of eternal damnation in his Dies Irae would seem to encourage better rather than more reckless driving.
To play it safe, however, you can avoid these adrenalin-rousing selections and, instead, opt for any number of Delos CD soothers.
How about Mozart Adagios (DE 3243), In a Quiet Cathedral (DE 3145) or Music of Hildegard von Bingen, Voices of Angels (DE 3219)?
Of course, there's always the possibility of becoming so sedated by the music that you fall asleep at the wheel. So do include an occasional rouser in your car's CD changer. Perhaps DE 3328, the Khachaturian Centennial Album, which is loud enough in part to rouse the dead.

Delos Diary

Sunday night, April 18, was a memorable one for us at Delos as well as for all devotees of great singing here in Los Angeles. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the outstanding Russian baritone who records for Delos, was presented in a full vocal recital at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion under the auspices of the Los Angeles Opera. Beginning with songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, he continued with a generous group of arias from three Russian operas: Rubinstein's Demon, Rachmaninoff's Aleko, and Borodin's Prince Igor. After intermission he continued with lengthy samplings from his Verdi repertoire… arias from Stiffelio, Masked Ball, Don Carlos and Otello. Ecstatically received encores included two Neapolitan songs and an unaccompanied Russian folk song, now almost his trademark final encore.
On a personal level the entire evening was a complete triumph. Dmitri's innate dignity framed his opulent vocalism and impeccable artistry. The capacity audience cheered as each number seemed to bring on an additional ovation.
Dmitri's new accompanist, Ivari Ilja, added unerring technical skills and sensitive support to the artist in what seems to be developing into a great partnership.
Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed says it this way: "it is hardly a secret in the opera world anymore, Hvorostovsky has grown into this music to the point where he has become the Verdi baritone of our time, and just possibly the finest singer of Verdi we have."
Of the specific Verdi arias sung the other night, he continues, "Hvorostovsky found an ideal balance between elegance of phrase, sumptuous sound, dramatic ferocity and careful attention to small musical details… he was true to the music, true to the character, true to his voice and true to himself." What more could we add?
Listen to Hvorostovsky's Verdi on Verdi Arias (DE 3292) and Italian songs on Passione di Napoli (DE 3290).

Hvorostovsky, Orbelian, Domashenko Shine in Moscow Concert

In little more than two years Dmitri Hvorostovsky has recorded for Delos International a remarkably wide-ranging repertoire — from Verdi arias to old Russian romances, from Neapolitan songs to Russian war songs. Understandably, the facets of this diverse material are increasingly represented in his many concerts.

Last April with Constantine Orbelian and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Hvorostovsky created a sensation singing war songs, an inspiring body of pieces in popular idiom that resonates strongly with the Russian audience. A telecast of the event on May 8 — the eve of Victory Day celebrating the end of World War II — was reportedly viewed by 98 million people.

On December 9 2003, it was the turn of the familiar opera aria and duet, as Hvorostovsky and Orbelian appeared the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, part of a tour that included Frankfurt, Munich and London and that had the critic of the Guardian proclaiming: "Hvorostovsky continues to astonish, and his voice remains one of the most beautiful of the world."

Delos Diary

The long-awaited release late last month of Dennis Keene and the Voices of Ascension's new disc Hear My Prayer (DE 3300) prompted me to look at the eight other CDs already recorded by this same group over the last decade. The breadth of repertoire they have offered is amazing. Works by 31 composers*, ranging from medieval and Renaissance giants like Hildegard von Bingen and Palestrina to the mid-twentieth century musical comedy immortal Jerome Kern, have been given deluxe treatment by Dennis Keene and his outstanding ensemble.
On this newest release Keene adds 10 more** composers to the list. A first time for Mozart, Franck and Tchaikovsky as well as American and British choral stalwarts Bainton, Thompson, Howells and Stanford. Taken as a group, these nine discs offer a broad survey of choral excellence and of the immense variety that can be achieved with 30 or 40 first class vocalists (except for the Berlioz Te Deum where several hundred were involved. But that's another story.).

*Palestrina, Desprez, von Bingen, Dufay, Byrd, Tallis, Isaac, Farrant, Lotti, Ingegneri, Weelkes, Berlioz, Victoria, Bruckner, Fauré, Holst, Casals, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Duruflé, Bach-Gounod, Kern, Lassus, Sweelinck, Gibbons, Tye, Viadana, Hassler, Schütz, Batten, Leo

**Bainton, Thompson, Mozart, Parry, Franck, Howells, Tolstiakov, Tchaikovsky, Stradella, Stanford

Delos Diary

While checking facts and figures in the notes accompanying Delos' new recording of Flute Concertos played by Italian virtuoso Raffaele Trevisani with Constantine Orbelian and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, I was struck by an interesting biographical phenomenon, revealed by the birth and death dates of the six Italian composers involved. Five of the six — Albinoni, Tartini, Vivaldi, Galuppi, and Boccherini — all lived lives comparable in length to what we consider normal today, ranging from 62 years to 79 years. Only Pergolesi died very young at 26.
In contrast, a comparable number of great composers who lived a little later in Germany and Austria all died much younger: Mozart at 35, Beethoven at 57, Schubert at 31, Schumann at 46, Mendelssohn at 38, and Weber at 40.
What conclusions, if any, can we draw from this melancholy data? Probably none, but we can conjecture. Perhaps the Italian diet helped. More pasta, wine, fruit, and vegetables plus a more salubrious climate.
Less angst than creative people encountered confronting the new Romantic era of the early nineteenth century could have contributed. While the Italians, Vivaldi, et al, ground out literally hundreds of concertos, cantatas, and operas, our Romantic-era Germanic composers produced a much leaner mass of music… still a lot from today's standards but not comparable, in quantity at least, to the mass of work the Italians wrote while feasting on abundant wine and pasta.
The new Delos CD Flute Concertos with Raffaele Trevisani (DE 3332) will delight you with six enchanting examples of music which kept these musicians alive and active for all those extra years. Listen to them often, they may add to your longevity.