logo for the 2019 GRAMMY Awards
Regular readers should know by now that the annual GRAMMY award nominations constitute “my annual reality check.” I take it for granted that GRAMMYs have more to do with commercial success (or, in the age of reduced expectations, at least commercial viability), while my own focus has always been on the listening experience. However, as I worked my way through those categories that touched on articles I had written, I came away with the impression that, at the very least, my attention (if not my total satisfaction) had been directed at more nominated items than in the past. Here, then, are my reflections on the relevant categories:
31. Best Improvised Jazz Solo
SOME OF THAT SUNSHINE
Regina Carter, soloist
Track from: Some Of That Sunshine (Karrin Allyson)
DON'T FENCE ME IN
John Daversa, soloist
Track from: American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom (John Daversa Big Band Featuring DACA Artists)
Fred Hersch, soloists
DE-DAH
Brad Mehldau, soloist
Track from: Seymour Reads The Constitution! (Brad Mehldau Trio)
CADENAS
Miguel Zenón, soloist
Track from: Yo Soy La Tradición (Miguel Zenón Featuring Spektral Quartet)
Ironically, the GRAMMY judges neglected to cite the Fred Hersch album from which the track of Thelonious Monk’s “We See” was taken. The one released is entitled Live in Europe; and, in my collection at least, it is the second Hersch album to include the piece. In my book any intelligent account of a Monk tune is a must-listen experience; and Hersch’s trio account (with Hersch on piano) is as rhetorically compelling as it is intelligent.
32. Best Jazz Vocal Album
MY MOOD IS YOU
Freddy Cole
THE QUESTIONS
Kurt Elling
Kate McGarry With Keith Ganz & Gary Versace
IF YOU REALLY WANT
Raul Midón With The Metropole Orkest Conducted By Vince Mendoza
THE WINDOW
Cécile McLorin Salvant
For the most part I am not big on jazz vocal performances. I count myself lucky when either Music Choice or SiriusXM plays a selection of a vocalist who has a basic awareness of pitch, and I rarely expect much more. As can be seen above, my only listening experience comes from another trio album; and, while McGarry has an unmistakably distinctive voice, I was most impressed by her ability to perform as a “team player.” Having said that, however, I would say that I do not expect to return to further listening of this album with any great frequency.
33. Best Jazz Instrumental Album
DIAMOND CUT
Tia Fuller
Fred Hersch Trio
SEYMOUR READS THE CONSTITUTION!
Brad Mehldau Trio
STILL DREAMING
Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade
The Wayne Shorter Quartet
Here at least the GRAMMY judges remembered to give the title of the Hersch album, which allows me to reinforce my previous shout-out. Emanon is another matter. This is not so much an album as a graphic novel inspired by Shorter’s music. Mind you, the music is sufficient to keep the serious jazz listener absorbed without worrying about any visual stimuli; but, as experiments go, this one yielded unexpected (by me at least) satisfying results. To be fair, though, I was particularly drawn to the ways in which Shorter’s quartet played so well in a partnership with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
68. Best Historical Album
ANY OTHER WAY
Rob Bowman, Douglas Mcgowan, Rob Sevier & Ken Shipley, compilation producers; Jeff Lipton, mastering engineer (Jackie Shane)
AT THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE TONIGHT...
Martin Hawkins, compilation producer; Christian Zwarg, mastering engineer (Various Artists)
BATTLEGROUND KOREA: SONGS AND SOUNDS OF AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN WAR
Hugo Keesing, compilation producer; Christian Zwarg, mastering engineer (Various Artists)
Robert Russ, compilation producer; Andreas K. Meyer & Rebekah Wineman, mastering engineers (Oscar Levant)
VOICES OF MISSISSIPPI: ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS DOCUMENTED BY WILLIAM FERRIS
William Ferris, April Ledbetter & Steven Lance Ledbetter, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Various Artists)
The Levant collection is the only contender in this list to be grounded solidly in the “classical” repertoire. However, Levant’s repertoire was so rich that (with only one exception) I ended up writing about this collection one CD at a time. However, because Levant was at his finest in his interpretation of the music of George Gershwin, the above hyperlink points to my account of the Gershwin CD in the collection.
73. Best Engineered Album, Classical
Mark Donahue & Dirk Sobotka, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Michael Christie, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu, Sasha Cooke, Edwards Parks, Jessica E. Jones & Santa Fe Opera Orchestra)
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 3; STRAUSS: HORN CONCERTO NO. 1
Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
JOHN WILLIAMS AT THE MOVIES
Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers; Keith O. Johnson, mastering engineer (Jerry Junkin & Dallas Winds)
LIQUID MELANCHOLY - CLARINET MUSIC OF JAMES M. STEPHENSON
Bill Maylone & Mary Mazurek, engineers; Bill Maylone, mastering engineer (John Bruce Yeh)
SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 11
Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra)
VISIONS AND VARIATIONS
Tom Caulfield, engineer; Jesse Lewis, mastering engineer (A Far Cry)
I think this is the first time I have written about a nominee for engineering. As readers will guess, I listened to this album for the opera, rather than the engineering. Nevertheless, Bates is particularly skilled at interleaving his electronica sources (which, whenever possible, he tends to play himself) with the performances of instrumentalists and vocalists. Thus, the fact that the engineering team could provide a well-integrated account of that mix of resources definitely deserves credit.
74. Producer Of The Year, Classical
BLANTON ALSPAUGH
- Arnesen: Infinity - Choral Works (Joel Rinsema & Kantorei)
- Aspects Of America (Carlos Kalmar & Oregon Symphony)
- Chesnokov: Teach Me Thy Statutes (Vladimir Gorbik & PaTRAM Institute Male Choir)
- Gordon, R.: The House Without A Christmas Tree (Bradley Moore, Elisabeth Leone, Maximillian Macias, Megan Mikailovna Samarin, Patricia Schuman, Lauren Snouffer, Heidi Stober, Daniel Belcher, Houston Gran Opera Juvenile Chorus & Houston Grand Opera Orchestra)
- Haydn: The Creation (Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Betsy Cook Weber, Houston Symphony & Houston Symphony Chorus)
- Heggie: Great Scott (Patrick Summers, Manuel Palazzo, Mark Hancock, Michael Mayes, Rodell Rosel, Kevin Burdette, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nathan Gunn, Frederica von Stade, Ailyn Pérez, Joyce DiDonato, Dallas Opera Chorus & Orchestra)
- Music Of Fauré, Buide & Zemlinsky (Trio Séléné)
- Paterson: Three Way - A Trio Of One-Act Operas (Dean Williamson, Daniele Pastin, Courtney Ruckman, Eliza Bonet, Melisa Bonetti, Jordan Rutter, Samuel Levine, Wes Mason, Matthew Treviño & Nashville Opera Orchestra)
- Vaughan Williams: Piano Concerto; Oboe Concerto; Serenade To Music; Flos Campi (Peter Oundjian & Toronto Symphony Orchestra)
DAVID FROST
- Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Volume 7 (Jonathan Biss)
- Mirror In Mirror (Anne Akiko Meyers, Kristjan Järvi & Philharmonia Orchestra)
- Mozart: Idomeneo (James Levine, Alan Opie, Matthew Polenzani, Alice Coote, Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus)
- Presentiment (Orion Weiss)
- Strauss, R.: Der Rosenkavalier (Sebastian Weigle, Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Erin Morley, Günther Groissböck, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus)
ELIZABETH OSTROW
- Bates: The (R)evolution Of Steve Jobs (Michael Christie, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu, Sasha Cooke, Edwards Parks, Jessica E. Jones & Santa Fe Opera Orchestra)
- The Road Home (Joshua Habermann & Santa Fe Desert Chorale)
JUDITH SHERMAN
- Beethoven Unbound (Llŷr Williams)
- Black Manhattan Volume 3 (Rick Benjamin & Paragon Ragtime Orchestra)
- Bolcom: Piano Music (Various Artists)
- Del Tredici: March To Tonality (Mark Peskanov & Various Artists)
- Love Comes In At The Eye (Timothy Jones, Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, Jeffrey Sykes, Anthony Ross, Carol Cook, Beth Rapier & Stephanie Jutt)
- Meltzer: Variations On A Summer Day & Piano Quartet (Abigail Fischer, Jayce Ogren & Sequitur)
- Mendelssohn: Complete Works For Cello And Piano (Marcy Rosen & Lydia Artymiw)
- New Music For Violin And Piano (Julie Rosenfeld & Peter Miyamoto)
- Reich: Pulse/Quartet (Colin Currie Group & International Contemporary Ensemble)
DIRK SOBOTKA
- Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
- Lippencott: Frontier Symphony (Jeff Lippencott & Ligonier Festival Orchestra)
- Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (Thierry Fischer, Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Utah Symphony)
- Music Of The Americas (Andrés Orozco-Estrada & Houston Symphony)
Since this award is also about production, I feel that, while this was a case in which I was familiar with more of the nominees than usual, the capture of a live performance of Bates’ opera makes that recording my favorite of those that I encountered over this past year.
75. Best Orchestral Performance
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 3; STRAUSS: HORN CONCERTO NO. 1
Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
NIELSEN: SYMPHONY NO. 3 & SYMPHONY NO. 4
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor (Seattle Symphony)
RUGGLES, STUCKY & HARBISON: ORCHESTRAL WORKS
David Alan Miller, conductor (National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic)
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)
SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 11
Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
This was a case in which I only encountered one of the nominees and found that, for the most part, it did not rise to the level of orchestral interpretations of Schumann that I had previously encountered.
76. Best Opera Recording
ADAMS: DOCTOR ATOMIC
John Adams, conductor; Aubrey Allicock, Julia Bullock, Gerald Finley & Brindley Sherratt; Friedemann Engelbrecht, producer (BBC Symphony Orchestra; BBC Singers)
Michael Christie, conductor; Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edwards Parks, Garrett Sorenson & Wei Wu; Elizabeth Ostrow, producer (The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra)
LULLY: ALCESTE
Christophe Rousset, conductor; Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro & Judith Van Wanroij; Maximilien Ciup, producer (Les Talens Lyriques; Choeur De Chambre De Namur)
STRAUSS, R.: DER ROSENKAVALIER
Sebastian Weigle, conductor; Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Günther Groissböck & Erin Morley; David Frost, producer (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
Constantine Orbelian, conductor; Francesco Demuro, Dmitri Hvorostovsky & Nadine Sierra; Vilius Keras & Aleksandra Keriene, producers (Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra; Men Of The Kaunas State Choir)
Readers probably know that I rarely get enthusiastic about the music of Giuseppe Verdi. They might therefore assume that this was some sort of “sympathy gesture” for Hvorostovsky, who died ten days after I filed my review of this recording. It is not. Whatever my opinions of Hvorostovsky may have been, what most attracted and sustained my attention was Sierra’s jaw-dropping account of Gilda, as intensely expressive as it was technically precise. On this recording Sierra set a new standard for how “Caro nome” deserves to be sung.
81. Best Classical Compendium
FUCHS: PIANO CONCERTO 'SPIRITUALIST'; POEMS OF LIFE; GLACIER; RUSH
JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Tim Handley, producer
GOLD
The King's Singers; Nigel Short, producer
Simon Rattle, conductor; Christoph Franke, producer
JOHN WILLIAMS AT THE MOVIES
Jerry Junkin, conductor; Donald J. McKinney, producer
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: PIANO CONCERTO; OBOE CONCERTO; SERENADE TO MUSIC; FLOS CAMPI
Peter Oundjian, conductor; Blanton Alspaugh, producer
Much as I admire Rattle and his admiration of Adams, there was little in this collection that attracted or sustained my listening attention.
82. Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Mason Bates, composer; Mark Campbell, librettist (Michael Christie, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu, Sasha Cooke, Edwards Parks, Jessica E. Jones & Santa Fe Opera Orchestra)
DU YUN: AIR GLOW
Du Yun, composer (International Contemporary Ensemble)
Jake Heggie, composer; Terrence McNally, librettist (Patrick Summers, Manuel Palazzo, Mark Hancock, Michael Mayes, Rodell Rosel, Kevin Burdette, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nathan Gunn, Frederica von Stade, Ailyn Pérez, Joyce DiDonato, Dallas Opera Chorus & Orchestra)
KERNIS: VIOLIN CONCERTO
Aaron Jay Kernis, composer (James Ehnes, Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
MAZZOLI: VESPERS FOR VIOLIN
Missy Mazzoli, composer (Olivia De Prato)
For all of my admiration of Bates and the impressive efforts to bring his opera to a recording, I have to say that Heggie and his colleagues also deserve recognition. This was my first encounter with his venture into comedy. DiDonato’s command of the leading role fit right into the comedic spirit that punctuates the score. This is definitely a recording that deserves “return visits” on a regular basis.
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