Tragic Lovers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 30, 2008 [1] | |||
Venue | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, Oregon | |||
Genre | Classical | |||
Length | 54:22 [2] | |||
Label | Delos | |||
Producer | Executive: Amelia S. Haygood, Carol Rosenberger Recording: Michael Fine, Adam Stern | |||
Oregon Symphony chronology | ||||
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Tragic Lovers is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of James DePreist, released by the record label Delos in 2008. [3] It contains three works inspired by tragic love stories in literature: Richard Wagner's Prelude and "Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde (1865), Hector Berlioz's "Love Scene" from Roméo et Juliette , Op. 17, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet . [4] Amelia Haygood and Carol Rosenberger served as executive producers of the album; the recording producers were Michael Fine and Adam Stern. The album's creation was financially supported by the Gretchen Brooks Recording Fund, which supported two recording sessions per year for each of DePreist's final five years as music director. [2] [5] Tragic Lovers was the orchestra's final recording with DePreist — who left the Oregon Symphony in April 2003 — as conductor [6] and its final contribution to Delos's "Virtual Reality Recording" series.
Compositions from the album have been broadcast on several stations, including Public Radio Exchange, WDAV, New England Public Radio (WFCR) and Northwest Public Radio. WFCR broadcast the Tchaikovsky recording in November 2011 in recognition of DePreist's 75th birthday, and the Berlioz track in February 2013, following DePreist's death. The Classical Music Sentinel published a positive review of the album, comparing it to a three-movement symphony.
Tragic Lovers, released by the record label Delos in 2008, contains three works inspired by tragic love stories in literature: Richard Wagner's Prelude and "Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde , Hector Berlioz's "Love Scene" from Roméo et Juliette , Op. 17, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet . The album contains three tracks, each one comprising a single composition and running more than fifteen minutes in length. [2] Amelia Haygood and Carol Rosenberger served as executive producers; the recording producers were Michael Fine for the Wagner and Berlioz works and Adam Stern for the Tchaikovsky composition. The album was engineered by John Eargle, with Andrés Villalta serving as associate engineer for the Wagner and Berlioz recordings. Editing was completed by Fine (Wagner, Berlioz) and Stern (Tchaikovsky). [2] The album marked the orchestra's final recording with DePreist as conductor and its final contribution to Delos's "Virtual Reality Recording" series. [7]
All three compositions were featured on the Public Radio Exchange program "Compact Discoveries"; the Berlioz and Tchaikovsky recordings aired on an episode titled "Famous Lovers: Romeo & Juliet", and the Wagner recording was part of the following episode, titled "More Famous Lovers". [8] [9] In June 2009, Joe Brant featured the album on his WDAV program "New Classics", which highlights newly released classical music recordings. [4] New England Public Radio (WFCR) aired two tracks from the album: the Tchaikovsky recording was broadcast in November 2011 in recognition of DePreist's 75th birthday, [10] and the Berlioz track aired in November 2010 and again on February 11, 2013, following DePreist's death on February 8. [11] [12] [13] The Berlioz recording also aired on the Northwest Public Radio program "Classical Music with Robin Rilette" on February 1, 2013. [14]
Jean-Yves Duperron of the Classical Music Sentinel appreciated the continuity of the subject matter and compared the album to a three-movement symphony. [15] Referring to the opener as the first movement of this hypothetical symphony, Duperron wrote that Wagner's composition "works perfectly" by setting the tone for the album. He appreciated the Berlioz composition as a "central movement" for its more "pleasant" mood and lighter musical textures, and Tchaikovsky's work as the finale for its dramatic and "tumultuous" qualities. [15] Duperron complimented DePreist and the orchestra for conveying the emotions depicted in each of the compositions "loud and clear", and specifically highlighted the "massive walls of sound" produced by the strings. He also commended Delos for effectively capturing the performances "with clean and powerful dynamics throughout" and concluded the review by quipping: "This perfectly coordinated collection should be part of every collection!" [15]
Track listing adapted from the album's liner notes. [2]
Credits adapted from AllMusic and the album's liner notes. [2] [16]
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.
Sergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and several other European orchestras. Later in life, he taught at Mainz University in Germany and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Roméo et Juliette is a symphonie dramatique, a large-scale choral symphony by French composer Hector Berlioz, which was first performed on 24 November 1839. The libretto was written by Émile Deschamps, and the completed work was assigned the catalogue numbers Op. 17 and H. 79. It is based on Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet; it is regarded as one of Berlioz's finest works, and it is among the most original in form. The score is Berlioz's most comprehensive and detailed programmatic piece.
Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, ČW 39, is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The Tempest and Hamlet as well.
The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland's Cultural District.
Carlos Païta was an Argentine conductor. He was born in Buenos Aires.
James Anderson DePreist was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at The Juilliard School and laureate music director of the Oregon Symphony at the time of his death.
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Carol Rosenberger is a classical pianist. In 1976, Rosenberger was chosen to represent America's women concert artists by the President's National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. She has given performance workshops for young musicians on campuses nationwide. Rosenberger recorded over 30 albums on the Delos Productions, Inc. recording label. Rosenberger's memoir, To Play Again: A Memoir of Musical Survival was published in 2018 by She Writes Press.
Alsatian conductor Charles Munch was one of the most widely recorded symphonic conductors of the twentieth century. Here is a partial list of his recordings.
Désirée Artôt was a Belgian soprano, who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may have coded her name into works such as his First Piano Concerto and the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture. After her 1869 marriage to the Spanish baritone Mariano Padilla y Ramos, she was known as Désirée Artôt de Padilla or Désirée Artôt-Padilla.
Delos Productions is an American record label. Long in Los Angeles but now headquartered in Sonoma, California, it specializes in classical music. The Delos label was founded in 1973 by Amelia S. Haygood (1919–2007), whose stewardship of the company made her a prominent figure in the classical recording industry. She named the label after the Greek island of Delos, the birthplace of the Sun god Apollo, who brought music and healing to the world. The company's current director is Carol Rosenberger, an American pianist who recorded over 30 CDs for Delos in a career spanning more than three decades.
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The Oregon Symphony, based in Portland, Oregon, was founded in 1896 as the Portland Symphony Society; it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and claims to be one of the largest arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest. The Symphony has released nineteen studio albums and one compilation album through the record labels Delos, Koch International Classics, Albany and PentaTone Classics. The first recording, Bravura (1987), was released under the artistic leadership of James DePreist. It received favorable reviews and was the first of three released through Delos. The next two recordings were collections of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
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Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of James DePreist, released by Koch International Classics in 1995. Recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, in September 1994, the album is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and was released in his honor on the following holiday in his name.
Orchestral Works by Tomas Svoboda is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of James DePreist, released by the record label Albany in 2003. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon during three performances in January and June 2000. It contains three works by Tomáš Svoboda, a Czech-American composer who taught at Portland State University for more than 25 years: Overture of the Season, Op. 89; Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, Op. 148; and Symphony No. 1, Op. 20. The album's executive producers were Peter Kermani, Susan Bush, and Mark B. Rulison; Blanton Alspaugh served as the recording producer.
Spirit of the American Range is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label Pentatone on February 10, 2015. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in April 2013 and January 2014. It contains works by three American 20th-century composers: Walter Piston's ballet suite from The Incredible Flutist, George Antheil's "A Jazz Symphony", and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. The recording was the third by the orchestra under Kalmar's leadership, following the highly successful Music for a Time of War (2011) and This England (2012). Spirit of the American Range received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Orchestral Performance, and its producer, Blanton Alspaugh, was nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.