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Since James DePreist became the director of conducting and orchestral studies at Juilliard this fall, many New Yorkers are getting better acquainted with his career and accomplishments. Any survey of his work would put his recordings near front and center. During his tenure as music director of the Oregon Symphony from 1980-2003, and now as that orchestra's laureate music director, he has made a steady string of recordings ranging from standard to offbeat fare.
The very fact that DePreist has even made CDs is in itself remarkable given the decline in recordings by American orchestras due to high labor costs. But in 2000 the Oregon Symphony received a $1 million grant to underwrite recordings from Gretchen Brooks, an appreciative patron of the orchestra. As a result, the conductor marked the final five years of his tenure with at least two recording sessions per year on Delos, for which he was granted complete artistic freedom. Several discs in the series reveal his strong commitment to Nordic and Russian repertoire, including two recent CDs featuring symphonies of Shostakovich and Sibelius. The former composer's Symphony No. 11 ("The Year 1905") is an underappreciated work, a tense, theatrical depiction of the prerevolutionary events of 1905, when Czar Nicholas II opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians demonstrating in St. Petersburg, and the unrest that followed. DePreist recorded the work in 1993 with the Helsinki Philharmonic, where he was principal guest conductor, but in this version (Delos DE 3329), leading his Oregonians, he betters himself: Somber passages are even more ruminative and the quasi-Russian revolutionary songs are packed with fervor. Two other symphonic favorites of DePreist are Sibelius's Symphonies Nos. 2 and 7. Like the Shostakovich, the Second Symphony is rich in nationalistic sentiment, and in this Oregon Symphony recording (Delos DE 3334) the heroic tone of the Finale comes through particularly well. DePreist also turns up the drama in the weird Seventh Symphony, with its dark wind sonorities, muted string writing, folk-like themes, and stirring nationalism.
More than many conductors, DePreist is willing to conduct pieces that are foreign to most audiences. This is especially true in the case of American composer Vincent Persichetti, a respected pedagogue who taught at Juilliard from 1947 to 1987 and who was DePreist's composition teacher at the Philadelphia Conservatory. DePreist recorded Persichetti's Night Dances with the Juilliard Orchestra in 1989 (New World Records 80396-2), the third installment of the Juilliard American Recording Institute series. On American Contrasts, a 2003 disc with the Oregon Symphony (Delos DE 3291), DePreist makes a strong case for the composer's Fourth Symphony. The work is paired with other American scores by Benjamin Lee and Michael Daugherty. Not surprisingly for a conductor who has championed much Shostakovich, DePreist also has a strong interest in former Soviet composers like Sofia Gubaidulina and Giya Kancheli, both recognized as Shostakovich's spiritual and stylistic progeny. (A related article is on Page 5.) DePreist brings the right amount of otherworldliness to Gubaidulina's Offertorium (BIS CD-566), a 35-minute violin concerto steeped in religious exaltation, here performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and soloist Oleh Krysa, while in Kancheli's symphonies (Ondine ODE 829-2), he heightens the trademark clashes of loud and soft, dissonance and consonance. On this disc, the Helsinki Philharmonic, where DePreist has been a principal guest conductor, plays admirably. Still, if it's more standard fare you're looking for, DePreist's pairing of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Firebird Suite with the Oregon Symphony (Delos DE 3278) is not to be missed. It's bright, visceral music making that packs a punch from start to finish. Here's hoping for further recordings by this adventurous conductor.Mention this column at the Juilliard Bookstore to receive a 5-percent discount on this month's featured recordings. (In-store purchases only.)Brian Wise is a producer at WNYC radio and writes about music for The New York Times, Time Out New York, Opera News, and other publications.
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