DE 32780 13491 32782 2

Executive Producers: Amelia S. Haygood,Carol Rosenberger

Recording Producer: Michael FineRecording Engineer: John M. EargleAssociate Engineer: Michael JohnsonProduction Assistant: Tamra Saylor

Recorded: September 20-21, 2000Baumann Auditorium, George Fox University,Newberg, Oregon

Loudspeakers: JBL LSR Series

Digital Processing: Apogee A-D 8000Microphones: Sanken CU-41, Schoeps MK-2 & MK-4Series; Neumann KM100 Series

Console: Crest Model X

DePreist Photo: Anthony Barboza

Creative Direction: Harry Pack, Tri Arts and AssociatesGraphics: Mark Evans

Special thanks: Brownell Sound, PortlandHorne Audio Incorporated, Portland

7 & W 2001 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, California 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645 • Made in USA • www.delosmusic.comVIRTUAL REALITY RECORDING, VR2, and the VR2 logo are trademarks of Delos Productions, Inc.

This program has been produced with the Dolby Surround™ encoding system, and is fully compatible with stereo ormonaural reproduction. Dolby and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

IGOR STRAVINSKY ~ (1882–1971)

The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps) [32:03]Part One

1. Introduction (3:15)2. The Augurs of 3.Spring (3:04)3. Ritual of Abduction (1:21)4. Spring Rounds (3:38)5. Ritual of the Two Tribes (1:51)6. Procession of the Oldest and Wisest One (0:39)7. The Kiss of the Earth (0:19)8. The Dancing Out of the Earth (1:12)

Part Two9. Introduction (3:57)10.The Mystic Circle of the Young Girls (2:55)11.The Naming and Honoring of the Chosen One (1:30)12.Evocation of the Ancestors (0:41)13. Ritual Action of the Ancestors (3:08)14.Sacrificial Dance (4:33)

The Firebird Suite (1919 version) [21:52]15 Introduction (4:44)16.Khorovode (5:17)17. Infernal Dance (4:46)18.Berceuse (3:34)19.Finale (3:31)

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 53:56

James DePreist, conductorOregon Symphony

This recording was madepossible through the Gretchen Brooks Recording

Fund for the Oregon Symphony.

Fewevents in the history of music caused a greaterstir than the first performance of Stravinsky’s LeSacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring). Mounted

by the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev’s adventur-ous Ballets Russes at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées inParis on May 29th, 1913, the premiere provoked a riot, asthe composer himself would later recall:

“Mild protests against the music could be heard fromthe beginning. Then, when the curtain opened on agroup of knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumpingup and down, the storm broke….”

The storm included whistles, catcalls, heated argumentsand fistfights as rival factions in the audience tried toshout each other down. The critic André Capu shoutedat the top of his lungs that the music was a completefraud, while Maurice Ravel, in another part of the the-ater shouted “Genius!” at the top of his. The Austrianambassador was heard laughing indignantly, while anelderly society matron rose and spat in the face of one ofthe demonstrators. In what may have been the most se-rious altercation of the evening, a woman slapped theface of a man in the adjoining box who was hissing; herescort exchanged cards with the injured party and aduel was arranged.

For years thereafter, the composer and writer AlexisRoland-Manuel would cherish the torn shirt he had re-ceived in the melee like some sacred relic, and the poetCarl van Vechten was nearly pounded insensible by aman in the row behind him, who had gotten so excitedhe began beating time on the writer’s head. “My emo-tion was so great,” van Vechten remembered, “that Ididn’t feel the blows for some time. They were per-fectly synchronized with the music. When I did, Iturned around. His apology was sincere. We had bothbeen carried away.”

Everyone in that first night audience would be carriedaway, in one way or another, by The Rite of Spring. Its ef-fect on the subsequent history of 20th-century music wasprofound. Virtually every work of serious music writtenfrom that time to this has been influenced by it, eitherobviously or indirectly. Stravinsky’s friend and long-time assistant, Robert Craft, characterized it as “an an-cestor which, like a prize bull, has inseminated thewhole modern movement.”

In his Autobiography, Stravinsky insisted that the inspira-tion for The Rite of Spring came to him without warning,as in a vision: “I saw in my imagination a solemn paganrite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to pro-pitiate the god of spring.”

It was Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned both TheFirebird and Petrouchka for his Ballets Russes, who con-vinced Stravinsky to transform these scenes of paganRussia into a ballet, rather than the symphony he hadoriginally planned. He further persuaded the youngcomposer to work out the scenario in collaboration withNicholas Roerich, who not only had designed sets forDiaghilev’s ballet company, but was also a gifted ama-teur archaeologist and an authority on the customs ofthe ancient Slavic peoples. While the scenario makes useof no specific Slavic myths or folk tales, it does reflectRoerich’s deeply held conviction that there were direct,if deeply hidden links between mythology, geology andwhat he called the “seismic and cosmic forces of nature.”

Stravinsky, along with Roerich — to whom The Rite ofSpring is dedicated — divided the ballet into tworoughly equal sections, the first called “The Adoration ofthe Earth”; the second, “The Sacrifice.”

“My intention,” Roerich wrote to Diaghilev, “is thatthe first part should transport us to the foot of a sacredhill in a lush plain, where Slavonic tribes are gatheredtogether to celebrate the spring rites. In this scenethere is an old witch, who predicts the future. Thencomes the most solemn moment. The wise elder is

brought from the village to imprint his sacred kiss onthe new-flowing earth. During this rite the crowd isseized by mystic terror….

“After these scenes of terrestrial joy,” Roerich contin-ues, “the second scene sets a celestial mystery beforeus. Young virgins dance on the sacred hill amid en-chanted rocks; then they choose the victim they intendto honor. In a moment she will dance her last dance be-fore the ancients, clad in bearskins to show that thebear was man's ancestor. Then the graybeards dedicatethe victim to the god Yarilo.”

Since The Rite of Spring is a work about primitive manand his celebration of nature, its basic musical materialsare constructed in such a way as to seem equally primi-tive. Stravinsky’s melodies are extremely simple for themost part, fashioned from only a handful of notes, whilethe harmonies, although complex and dissonant, areusually sustained over long periods of time. Such staticharmonies are a hallmark of primitive music.

While the rhythmic thinking in The Rite of Spring is im-mensely sophisticated, Stravinsky also makes extensiveuse of various ostinato figures. An ostinato is simply aphrase that is repeated over and over, literally, an “obsti-nately” repeating figure. It is this device, more than anyother, which gives many of the dances their alternatelymaddening and hypnotic quality.

The Rite of Spring begins with a 70-bar introduction thatwas actually written after the ballet was finished. Theplaintive voice with which the music begins is that of thebassoon in its extreme upper register, an unusual effectwhich no one — not even a master orchestrator likeStravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov — had ever re-ally exploited. Other voices begin to join the bassoon —chirping, cawing, twittering voices which suggest birdsgreeting the arrival of spring. The prologue becomes in-creasingly chaotic and agitated, since spring, when it fi-nally comes, in Russia, tends to be brief, noisy anddramatic — what the composer, in later life, called “theviolent Russian spring that seemed to come in an hourand was like the whole earth crackling.”

The bassoon melody returns, and after a brief transi-tional passage called “Harbingers of Spring,” whichhints at the basic rhythm of what is to follow, the “Danceof the Adolescents” begins. The entire dance, which por-trays the heavy stamping of primitive feet, is built on asingle, savagely dissonant chord which is stomped outin vigorous, off-beat accents. (When Stravinsky playedthis chord on the piano for Diaghilev, the alarmed im-presario asked, “But how long will it last, this chord?”To which the composer responded proudly, “To the end,my dear.”)

After the Adolescents finish their dance, “The Adorationof the Earth” continues with a series of pagan rituals.

The first of these is a mock abduction, in which a youngbride is carried off by her future husband’s clan, to theaccompaniment of this frantic, sharply punctuatedmusic, which is followed by a group of Round dances,whose heavy ostinato figure almost suggests a dirge. Therounds give way to a series of games between the rivaltribes, heralded by thumping drums and belching trom-bones. As the games reach their frantic conclusion, thevillage Wise Man arrives and, to the accompaniment ofsome eerie, ethereal harmonies, devoutly kisses theearth, which has already begun to bloom. After the earthhas been duly consecrated by the Wise Man, a frenzieddance of celebration follows, and in the midst of fero-ciously clashing cross-rhythms and ever-mounting ex-citement, Part I comes to an end.

Although the phrase does not appear in the publishedscore or in Roerich’s original scenario, Stravinsky oftenreferred to the introduction to Part II — “The Sacrifice”— as “The Pagan Night.” The harmonic language is ap-propriately somber and mysterious, while the orchestralcolors are suitably dark. The aptly named “MysteriousCircles of the Adolescents” begins with a winding, folk-like melody in the flute, beneath which the strings —now divided into 13 parts — provide a delicately sinis-ter accompaniment. Amuted horn call suddenly inter-rupts the meditation, after which an acceleration in thetempo leads to “The Glorification of the Chosen One,”which begins with 11 heavy chords, followed by a fran-

tic eruption of jagged, rapidly changing meters.Crescendos in the timpani and bass drum, followed byblaring fanfares in the woodwind and brass, herald the“Evocation of the Ancestors.”

While the “Ritual of the Ancestors” begins with a gen-tly undulating rhythm that the composer, in lateryears, referred to facetiously as a “tempo di hoochie-koochie,” the music soon becomes ponderous andprimeval, with the four horns blaring the theme. Thestage now clears for the “Ritual Dance of the ChosenOne,” in which the selected virgin will dance herself todeath. The music of the Ancestor ritual trails off tonothing, and, with a final menacing flourish in thebass clarinet, the Sacrifice begins.

The “Ritual Dance” is not only the most violent, elabo-rate and lengthiest episode in the score, but it is also themost rhythmically complex. Meters change with an as-tonishing frequency, and yet the music maintains an in-exorable momentum and forward thrust. And it was inthis maelstrom in which rhythm was simultaneously re-duced to its most barbaric level and reaches a level of so-phistication which it had never before achieved, thatStravinsky’s great revolution reached its climax.

Stravinsky was able to ignore the vilification which fol-lowed The Rite of Spring’s tumultuous premiere andwas almost as indifferent to the huge success it enjoyed

at its first concert performance at the Casino de Paris ayear later. The ovation which followed the final chordquickly turned into a demonstration, with the shockedcomposer hoisted onto the shoulders of members of theaudience and thus conveyed in triumph through thestreets of Paris.

Although The Rite of Spring was one of the major liberat-ing forces in musical history — and all modern music,including popular music from jazz to Rock, owes it anincalculable debt — the composer himself, who neversuffered from an excess of modesty, uncharacteristicallyminimized his own role in the production of his master-piece. From its inception in his sleep — “I had dreamed ascene,” he insisted, “in which a chosen sacrificial virgindances herself to death” — to the actual composition,which was dashed off in what was also uncharacteristichaste, there was a certain inevitability in The Rite ofSpring, a mysterious, driving compulsion which made itmore a force of nature than an act of will. “I was guidedby no system whatever in Le Sacre du printemps,” Stravin-sky confessed. “I had only my ear to help me; I heardand I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through whichle Sacre passed.”

THE FIREBIRD SUITE (1919 VERSION)

The course of 20th-century music might have been per-manently altered had it not been for the storied lethargyof Anatol Liadov, who was, with the possible exceptionof Gioacchino Rossini, the laziest composer who hasever lived. It was Liadov, a gifted but erratic miniaturist,whom Sergei Diaghilev selected to compose the musicfor a new ballet that was to be introduced during the1909 Paris season of his Ballets Russes. When the famousimpresario heard that work on the new composition wasprogressing at a snail’s pace (upon being asked how thepiece was going, Liadov is alleged to have reported withpride to a mutual friend that he had just bought themusic paper), Diaghilev fired Liadov from the projectand assigned The Firebird to an unknown and untriedcomposer named Igor Stravinsky.

Although the premiere was eventually delayed untilJune of 1910, the first performance of the ballet created asensation and made its young composer famousovernight. More than a half century later, Stravinskywould recall the events of that history-making eveningwith something less than wide-eyed enthusiasm:

“The first night audience glittered indeed, but the factthat it was heavily perfumed is more vivid in my mem-ory; the grayly elegant London audience, when I cameto know it later, seemed almost deodorized in compari-

son. I sat in Diaghilev's box where, at intermissions,artists, dowagers, aged Egerias of the ballet, ‘intellectu-als,’ balletomanes, appeared. I met for the first timeProust, Giraudoux, Paul Morand, Alexis St. Leger,Claudel, though I cannot remember whether at the pre-miere or at subsequent performances. At one of the lat-ter I also met Sarah Bernhardt. She was thickly veiled,sitting in a wheelchair in her private box, and seemedterribly apprehensive lest anyone should recognize her.After a month of such society, I was happy to retire to asleepy village in Brittany.”

The most graphic and visual of Stravinsky's early bal-lets, The Firebird’s musical structure closely follows thescenario that Diaghilev's choreographer, Michel Fokine,adapted from various Russian folk tales. With an or-chestra which was drastically reduced from the opulent1911 original to help facilitate performances by moretraditional ensembles, the Suite that the composerarranged in 1919 recounts some of the major events ofthe ballet.

To the unsettled musings of the lower strings, the cur-tain rises on a scene of total darkness. Eventually, highmountaintops and cliffs can be discerned and, in theirmidst, the Palace of the evil ogre Kastcheï. Surround-ing the palace is a high stone wall made up of warriorswho were foolish enough to try to steal the goldenfruit that grows in Kastcheï’s garden. To an agitated

string figure, the garden is suddenly illuminated bythe Firebird, who is followed by the Tsarevich Ivan inhot pursuit.

The Firebird flies off and the Prince is about to departwhen he sees a group of beautiful young princessesplaying in the garden with Kastcheï’s golden apples.They continue to dance to the music of the ballet'smercurial scherzo until the fairest of them all, the aptlynamed Princess Unearthly Beauty, finally appears.

As if on cue, the revolting Kastcheï now appears withhis monstrous retainers. The Prince is seized, and afterbeing questioned at some length by Kastcheï, is sum-marily sentenced to death. Being nobody's fool (at leastby the standards of handsome young Princes), Ivansomehow manages to remember the magic feather in histunic, takes it out and waves it. The Firebird appears andcasts a spell over Kastcheï and his court, all of whom areforced to dance — to the famous and barbaric InfernalDance— until they collapse, exhausted.

To the equally celebrated Berceuse, the ballet’s loveliestsingle moment, the Firebird now mimes a lullaby.

As Ivan and Princess Unearthly Beauty are about toleave, the Firebird directs them to a tree stump in thegarden which contains an enormous egg. Ivan is told tosmash it on the ground, which he promptly does, where-upon Kastcheï and all his followers, humpty-dumpty-like, literally fall apart. With the evil spell broken, thepetrified warriors return to human form and the rest ofthe princesses are liberated. Finally, as Kastcheï’s palaceturns into a cathedral, Ivan and Princess UnearthlyBeauty are married to the strains of a resplendent pro-cessional cast in seven-four time.

While some of the rhythmic experiments that Stravin-sky undertook in The Firebird clearly pointed the wayto his great rhythmic revolution, The Rite of Spring, itwas the ballet’s indebtedness to the manners of 19th-century Russian music that have made it the com-poser’s most popular work. Once, at a fashionabledinner party, Stravinsky was thanked by an effusivegrande dame for writing her favorite piece. “ButMadame,” he tried to explain, “I did not writeScheherazade.” Not to be put off, the woman replied,“Oh, all of you composers are so modest.”

© Jim Svejda

We are at a new golden age in sound recording. Since the early days of the art ofrecording, the industry has striven for realism; the improvements of the LP, stereo, anddigital technology have each represented great steps forward. Now we are entering theera of ddiissccrreettee ssuurrrroouunndd ssoouunndd playback in the home. Virtual Reality Recording (VR2)represents Delos’ commitment to this new medium.

In terms of recording technology, each VR2 recording begins as a set of multiple stereo

program pairs which are mixed into normal two-channel stereo for current CD release,and archived for later mixdown into surround sound. While actual audio consumercarriers of discrete surround are now in development, this stereo CD can be heard insurround through Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound decoders, which are at the heart ofmany home theater systems, as well as via Delos’ series of discrete DVD releases. Lis-ten, and you will hear the difference.

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John Eargle describes VR 2 and Surround Sound™

PERSONNEL FOR THIS RECORDING

MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CON-DUCTORJames DePreistThe Jean Vollum Music Directorand Conductor Chair

ASSOCIATE CONDUCTORNorman LeydenThe Tom & Gretchen Holce As-sociate Conductor Chair

RESIDENT CONDUCTORMurry SidlinThe Harold & Arlene SchnitzerResident Conductor Chair

VIOLIN IMichael Foxman, Janet & Richard Geary Concertmaster Chair

Peter Frajola, Del M. Smith &Maria Stanley Smith AssociateConcertmaster ChairPaloma Griffin, Acting Harold & Jane Pollin Assistant Concertmaster Chair

Kathryn GrayAida Baker **Eileen DeissClarisse AtchersonMary Ann Coggins KazaDeborah SingerMarlene MajovskiJonathan DubayRonald BlessingerDavid BrubakerMarty JenningsKathleen Follett *Robin Cook *Tina Alexander *

VIOLIN IIChong-Chien Tan, Acting Truman Collins, Sr., Principal Second Violin Chair

Dolores D’Aigle, Assistant Principal

Ginger IlesLynne FinchDaniel Ge FengMichael Sigell **Julie Coleman, Friends of the Oregon Symphony Centennial Young Musician Chair

Leah FrajolaEileen LandeLisa HansenAnn Leeder-BeesleyDenise HuizengaMargaret Bichteler *Dawn Carter *

VIOLAJoël Belgique, Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund Principal Viola Chair

Charles Noble, Assistant Principal

Martha WarringtonPatricia MillerBrian QuinceyConnie WhelanStephen PriceAnna SchaumPeggy SwaffordNancy Lochner

CELLONaomi Blumberg, Acting Principal Cello Mr. & Mrs. Edmund Hayes, Jr. Principal Cello Chair

(Nancy Ives, Mr. & Mrs. Ed-mund Hayes, Jr. Principal CelloChair – Ms. Ives joined the Ore-gon Symphony after the record-ing)David Socolofsky, Assistant PrincipalNaomi Blumberg

Timothy ScottBridget KellyStephanie McDougalKenneth FinchGayle Budd-O’GradyDeloris PlumPansy ChangJohn Hubbard *

BASSFrank Diliberto, PrincipalKenneth Baldwin, Assistant Principal

Tommy ThompsonJeffrey JohnsonDonald HermannsGeoffrey Osika *William OftstadJason Schooler

FLUTEDawn Weiss, Bruce & Judy Thesenga Principal Flute

ChairMartha Herby, Acting PrincipalGeorgeanne Ries *Carla WilsonKristin Halay ***Jennifer George ***

PICCOLOCarla WilsonKristen Halay ***

OBOEFrederick Korman, PrincipalKaren Wagner **Katherine Cooper ***Harris OremLarry Brezicka ***Frank Avril ***ENGLISH HORNHarris OremFrank Avril ***

CLARINETYoshinori Nakao, PrincipalCheri Ann EgbersTodd KuhnsMike Anderson ***Jennifer Nelson ***

E FLAT/BASS CLARINETTodd KuhnsJennifer Nelson ***

BASSOONMark Eubanks, PrincipalRobert NagleeJuan de GomarCONTRABASSOONJuan de GomarPhil Gottling ***Janice Richardson ***

HORNJohn Cox, PrincipalJoseph Berger, Associate Principal

Lawrence Johnson, Assistant Principal

Mary GrantBarton ParkerKevin Calvert ***Ed McManus ***Dave Kruse ***Carol Williams ***Joseph Berger 1st tubenCarol Williams, 2nd tuben ***

TRUMPETFred Sautter, PrincipalSally Nelson Kuhns, Assistant PrincipalDavid Bamonte, Musicians of the Oregon SymphonyRichard Thornburg Trumpet Chair

Steve Conrow ***Craig Gibson ***Bruce Crisp ***

TROMBONENiel Hatler *, Acting PrincipalRobert TaylorAlan Pierce

BASS TROMBONEAlan PierceTUBAJaTtik Clark, PrincipalDarrel Johnson ***

KEYBOARD (PIANO AND CELESTE)Katherine George, PrincipalMerle Lotz *

HARPJennifer Craig, PrincipalDenise Fujikawa ***

TIMPANIPaul Salvatore, PrincipalRachael Dobrow ***

PERCUSSIONNiel DePonte, PrincipalSteve LawrenceChristine PerryGordon Rencher ***

LIBRARIANRobert Olivia

ASSISTANT LIBRARIANJoy Fabos

PERSONNEL MANAGERMary Ann Coggins Kaza

STAGE MANAGERBob McClung

* acting** sabbatical*** extra musician

Music Director of the Oregon Symphony since 1980, James DePreist justcompleted four years as Music Director of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic.Born in Philadelphia in 1936, he studied composition with Vincent Per-sichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory and obtained Bachelor of Scienceand Master of Arts degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1962,while on a State Department tour in Bangkok, he contracted polio but recov-ered sufficiently to win a first prize in the 1964 Dimitri Mitropoulos Interna-tional Conducting Competition. He was selected by Leonard Bernstein to bean assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic for the 1965-66 season.

DePreist made his highly acclaimed European debut with the RotterdamPhilharmonic in 1969. In the same year he was awarded a Martha BairdRockefeller grant. Concerts soon followed in Stockholm, Amsterdam,Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Belgium, and Italy. In 1971 Antal Dorati chose De-Preist to become his Associate Conductor with the National Symphony Or-chestra in Washington, D.C. In 1976 DePreist became Music Director of theQuebec Symphony, Canada’s oldest orchestra, where he remained until1983. In 1980 he was named Music Director and Conductor of the OregonSymphony, which two years later he guided into the ranks of the majorUnited States orchestras. He recently extended his contract with the Ore-gon Symphony through the 2004-2005 season.

Ovation critic Paul Turok wrote of Bravura (DE 3070), DePreist’s firstrecording with the Oregon Symphony: “In less than a decade, James De-Preist has built an orchestra of regional significance into one worthy of na-tional, and perhaps even international, attention…” This widely acclaimeddisc was followed by five others, which have clearly established the OregonSymphony and James DePreist as major additions to the recording arena.

Much in demand as a guest conductor, DePreist pursues a distinguished ca-reer in America and abroad, regularly performing with the major Americanorchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphonyand the New York Philharmonic. In 1997 he made an impressive subscrip-tion concert debut with the Boston Symphony and was immediately re-en-gaged to appear with the Boston Symphony at the 1998 Tanglewood MusicFestival and then to conduct the orchestra for the Festival’s closing concertsin the summer of 1999. He also conducted the opening concert for the 50thAnniversary season of the Aspen Music Festival and 1999’s opening WolfTrap concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Abroad recent and future en-gagements include appearances in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Helsinki, Prague,Vienna, England, France and Australia. In the spring of 1998 he led the

Monte-Carlo Philharmonic on a second United States tour.

From 1991 to 1994 DePreist recorded extensively in Sweden for BIS with theRoyal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Malmö Symphony, where he servedas Chief Conductor. In addition, he made an internationally acclaimed se-ries of recordings of Shostakovich symphonies with the Helsinki Philhar-monic on the Delos label. In 1994 he undertook a series of recordings withthe Monte-Carlo Philharmonic. His recorded repertoire now includes 35compact discs, with at least three new discs scheduled for release within thenext two years.

James DePreist has been awarded 13 honorary doctorates and is the authorof two books of poetry. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy ofArts and Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and is a recipi-ent of the Insignia of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland andthe Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco. DePreist is thenephew of the legendary contralto Marian Anderson.

The Oregon Symphony is the oldest orchestra in the west and the sixtholdest major orchestra in the United States. Founded as the Portland Sym-phony in 1896, and renamed the Oregon Symphony in 1967, it has grown tobe one of the finest major orchestras in the nation. Ovation critic Paul Turokwrote of Bravura (DE 3070), the Oregon Symphony’s first recording underJames DePreist: “In less than a decade, James DePreist has built an orches-tra of regional significance into one worthy of national, and perhaps eveninternational, attention...” In press commentary on Bravura and subsequentrecordings, the Symphony has been ranked “first-class” by Gramophone and“a virtuoso ensemble” by The Washington Post.

The Oregon Symphony has the highest per capita subscription attendanceof any major orchestra in the United States, and serves its entire region withan innovative touring program. In 1996 it used the touring model to launcha local series of free neighborhood parks concerts and educational outreachevents funded through the Regional Arts and Culture Council by the city ofPortland. In May of 1997 the orchestra was featured on PBS’ Newshourwith Jim Lehrer; a 90-minute television special produced by CBS affiliateKOIN Channel 6 in honor of the Symphony’s Centennial featured a per-formance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and was awarded a North-west Regional Emmy in June of 1997.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

OTHER DELOS RECORDINGS FEATURING JAMES DEPREIST AND THE OREGON SYMPHONY

BRAVURA • RESPIGHI: Roman Festivals• STRAUSS: Don Juan • LUTOSLAWSKI:Concerto for Orchestra • Recording ofDistinction, Ovation • DE 3070 (DDD)

TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 Overture • Hamlet• The Tempest • “… unquestionably themost successful modern recording.”Gramophone • DE 3081 (DDD)

RACHMANINOFF: The Sea and the Gulls(Étude-Tableau Op. 39 No. 2, orch.Respighi) • Symphony No. 2 • Vocalise •Recording of Distinction, Ovation • DE 3071 (DDD)

RESPIGHI’S ROME – Fountains of Rome •Pines of Rome • Roman Festivals • DE 3287 (DDD)

KORNGOLD: The Sea Hawk • Symphonyin F-Sharp • DE 3234 (DDD)

AMERICAN CONTRASTS – BenjaminLees: Passacaglia for Orchestra • VincentPersichetti: Symphony No. 4 • MichaelDaugherty: Philadelphia Stories for Orchestra: Sundown on South Street;Hell's Angels • DE 3291 (DDD)

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 11 TheYear 1905 • DE 3329 (DDD)

SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 • SymphonyNo. 7 • Recorded Live • DE 3334 (DDD)

WALTON: Suite from Henry V, Cello Concerto, Violin & Piano Sonata •RANDS: Tre Canzoni senza Parole • Mark Kosower, cello; Herbert Greenberg,violin; Ann Schein, piano • DE 3342 (DDD)

TRAGIC LOVERS –WAGNER: Prelude andLiebestod from Tristan und Isolde •BERLIOZ: Romeo et Juliette, Op. 17 - II.Scene d’amour • TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeoand Juliet Fantasy-Overture • DE 3369(DDD)