As already observed, following the GRAMMY Awards constitutes “my annual reality check.” I have almost come to the conclusion that any preference of mine that gets a GRAMMY nod must be due to a mistake in the process of choosing those awards. Nevertheless, at least one preference of mine got a nod this year. The nod was not a particularly strong one, but I shall take what I can get. Here is my annual “review of the bidding,” summarizing the nominees, my preference, and the actual award:
Best Latin Jazz Album
ANTIDOTE
Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band
SORTE!: MUSIC BY JOHN FINBURY
Thalma de Freitas With Vitor Gonçalves, John Patitucci, Chico Pinheiro, Rogerio Boccato & Duduka Da Fonseca
UNA NOCHE CON RUBÉN BLADES
Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis Featuring Rubén Blades
CARIB
David Sánchez
Miguel Zenón
As I previously observed, Latin jazz is not really one of my major specialities. Nevertheless, I have long had a positive interest in Zenón; and, for better or worse, Antidote was not brought to my attention. I certainly would not want to argue against Corea, but I did derive a fair amount of listening pleasure out of listing to Sonero, even if Antidote surpassed it in winning the GRAMMY award.
Best Instrumental Composition
Fred Hersch, composer (Fred Hersch & The WDR Big Band Conducted By Vince Mendoza)
CRUCIBLE FOR CRISIS
Brian Lynch, composer (Brian Lynch Big Band)
LOVE, A BEAUTIFUL FORCE
Vince Mendoza, composer (Vince Mendoza, Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts & Temple University Studio Orchestra)
STAR WARS: GALAXY'S EDGE SYMPHONIC SUITE
John Williams, composer (John Williams)
WALKIN' FUNNY
Christian McBride, composer (Christian McBride)
In this case, however, I feel I have the right to grumble. If Wiiliams’ album was more popular than Begin Again, it had more to do with the Star Wars fan base than with any criteria based on composition! Indeed, while Begin Again was my personal preference, I would say that Williams’ effort was just not in the same league as any of the alternatives. It must have been quite a cash cow for the GRAMMY judges to take so much notice of it!
Best Engineered Album, Classical
AEQUA - ANNA THORVALDSDÓTTIR
Daniel Shores, engineer; Daniel Shores, mastering engineer (International Contemporary Ensemble)
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
RACHMANINOFF - HERMITAGE PIANO TRIO
Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers; Keith O. Johnson, mastering engineer (Hermitage Piano Trio)
RILEY: SUN RINGS
Leslie Ann Jones, engineer; John Kilgore, Judith Sherman & David Harrington, engineers/mixers; Robert C. Ludwig, mastering engineer (Kronos Quartet)
Bob Hanlon & Lawrence Rock, engineers; Ian Good & Lawrence Rock, mastering engineers (Jaap Van Zweden, Francisco J. Núñez, Donald Nally, The Crossing, Young People's Chorus Of NY City & New York Philharmonic)
In this case the award wend to Sun Rings. Readers probably know by now that I am not that big on Julia Wolfe; but this is an award for the technicians, rather than the performers or the composers of the music being performed. My attention had more to do with the production of a recording based on a concert performance (which involved considerable variety in resources) than with my preferences for Terry Riley as a composer!
Producer Of The Year, Classical
BLANTON ALSPAUGH
• Artifacts - The Music Of Michael McGlynn (Charles Bruffy & Kansas City Chorale)
• Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; Fantaisie Sur La Tempête De Shakespeare (Andrew Davis & Toronto Symphony Orchestra)
• Copland: Billy The Kid; Grohg (Leonard Slatkin & Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
• Duruflé: Complete Choral Works (Robert Simpson & Houston Chamber Choir)
• Glass: Symphony No. 5 (Julian Wachner, The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Youth Chorus, Downtown Voices & Novus NY)
• Sander: The Divine Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom (Peter Jermihov & PaTRAM Institute Singers)
• Smith, K.: Canticle (Craig Hella Johnson & Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble)
• Visions Take Flight (Mei-Ann Chen & ROCO)
JAMES GINSBURG
• Project W - Works By Diverse Women Composers (Mei-Ann Chen & Chicago Sinfonietta)
• Silenced Voices (Black Oak Ensemble)
• 20th Century Harpsichord Concertos (Jory Vinikour, Scott Speck & Chicago Philharmonic)
• Twentieth Century Oboe Sonatas (Alex Klein & Phillip Bush)
• Winged Creatures & Other Works For Flute, Clarinet, And Orchestra (Anthony McGill, Demarre McGill, Allen Tinkham & Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra)
MARINA A. LEDIN, VICTOR LEDIN
• Bates: Children Of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem (Steven Smith, Erin R. Freeman, Richmond Symphony & Chorus)
• The Orchestral Organ (Jan Kraybill)
• The Poetry Of Places (Nadia Shpachenko)
• Rachmaninoff - Hermitage Piano Trio (Hermitage Piano Trio)
MORTEN LINDBERG
• Himmelborgen (Elisabeth Holte, Kåre Nordstoga & Uranienborg Vokalensemble)
• Kleiberg: Do You Believe In Heather? (Various Artists)
• Ljos (Fauna Vokalkvintett)
• LUX (Anita Brevik, Trondheimsolistene & Nidarosdomens Jentekor)
• Trachea (Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl & Schola Cantorum)
• Veneliti (Håkon Daniel Nystedt & Oslo Kammerkor)
DIRK SOBOTKA
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
This was my one point of agreement with the judges’ decision to present this award to Alspaugh. Nevertheless, my support may be too slim to matter very much. My primary reason has been the great interest I have taken in Slatkin’s efforts to provide a new generation of recordings of performances of the symphonic music of Aaron Copland. His recordings combine valuable historical insights with compellingly expressive interpretations of the scores. Whether or not any of those virtues involved Alspaugh’s production efforts does not matter very much to me!
Best Orchestral Performance
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
Leonard Slatkin, conductor (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
NORMAN: SUSTAIN
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
TRANSATLANTIC
Louis Langrée, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
WEINBERG: SYMPHONIES NOS. 2 & 21
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, conductor (City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Kremerata Baltica)
This takes us back into the realm of disappointments. The award went to “Sustain;” and I was not particularly happy. To be fair, much of my opinion about Norman goes back to the end of October in 2016, when Gustavo Dudamel brought the Los Angeles Philharmonic to Davies Symphony Hall; and his program included Norman’s “Play.” This was one of the few occasions when I devoted a fair amount of my report on this concert to my discontent with that composition. Copland domain may have been the last century, but Slatkin definitely knew of to keep the music of that century alive and well in the current one; and I have not seen any evidence to Dudamel has a comparable talent in that regard.
Best Opera Recording
BENJAMIN: LESSONS IN LOVE & VIOLENCE
George Benjamin, conductor; Stéphane Degout, Barbara Hannigan, Peter Hoare & Gyula Orendt; James Whitbourn, producer (Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House)
Marc Albrecht, conductor; Christopher Maltman & Eva-Maria Westbroek; François Roussillon, producer (Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra; Chorus Of Dutch National Opera)
CHARPENTIER: LES ARTS FLORISSANTS; LES PLAISIRS DE VERSAILLES
Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Jesse Blumberg, Teresa Wakim & Virginia Warnken; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble; Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble)
PICKER: FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Gil Rose, conductor; John Brancy, Andrew Craig Brown, Gabriel Preisser, Krista River & Edwin Vega; Gil Rose, producer (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Boston Children's Chorus)
WAGNER: LOHENGRIN
Christian Thielemann, conductor; Piotr Beczała, Anja Harteros, Tomasz Konieczny, Waltraud Meier & Georg Zeppenfeld; Eckhard Glauche, producer (Festspielorchester Bayreuth; Festspielchor Bayreuth)
This is a problematic situation. As a subscriber to the San Francisco Opera, I have built up considerable interest in Albrecht’s conducting. I was therefore more than a little curious to see what he would do with Wozzeck. From a musical point of view, I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, mine was a video experience of the Blu-ray recording of the performance, which had been staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski. The bottom line was that the staging was so bad that it undermined Albrecht’s talents in just about any conceivable way. As a result, I really cannot complain about the GRAMMY judges preferring Tobias Picker.
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Yuja Wang
Yolanda Kondonassis; Ward Stare, conductor (The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)
Nicola Benedetti; Cristian Măcelaru, conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra)
THE ORCHESTRAL ORGAN
Jan Kraybill
TORKE: SKY, CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN
Tessa Lark; David Alan Miller, conductor (Albany Symphony)
I may be wrong, but it is hard to shake the suspicion this award had more to do with legitimizing Winton Marsalis in the classical domain than with Benedetti’s talents as a violinist. The fact is that the only candidate that I have not heard in performance or on recording is Kraybill. When all is said and done, my heart still belongs to Wang!
Best Classical Compendium
AMERICAN ORIGINALS 1918
John Morris Russell, conductor; Elaine Martone, producer
LESHNOFF: SYMPHONY NO. 4 'HEICHALOS'; GUITAR CONCERTO; STARBURST
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer
MELTZER: SONGS AND STRUCTURES
Paul Appleby & Natalia Katyukova; Silas Brown & Harold Meltzer, producers
Nadia Shpachenko; Marina A. Ledin & Victor Ledin, producers
SAARIAHO: TRUE FIRE; TRANS; CIEL D'HIVER
Hannu Lintu, conductor; Laura Heikinheimo, producer
I may be wrong; but, given the wording above, it looks as if this award has more to do with the producer than with any of the performers. I seldom give much attention to the role of the producer, prioritizing the connections between performers and composers instead. That said, I have to say that my reaction to The Poetry of Places came down pretty heavily on the negative side; and, in the context of my above comments, “Frank’s Home” reminded me of all the reasons why I had reacted so negatively to Norman’s “Play.” Since that was the first track on the album that won the GRAMMY, I have to wonder whether Norman has an inside track on GRAMMY proceedings!
Best Contemporary Classical Composition
BERMEL: MIGRATION SERIES FOR JAZZ ENSEMBLE & ORCHESTRA
Derek Bermel, composer (Derek Bermel, Ted Nash, David Alan Miller, Juilliard Jazz Orchestra & Albany Symphony Orchestra)
Jennifer Higdon, composer (Yolanda Kondonassis, Ward Stare & The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)
Wynton Marsalis, composer (Nicola Benedetti, Cristian Măcelaru & Philadelphia Orchestra)
NORMAN: SUSTAIN
Andrew Norman, composer (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic)
SHAW: ORANGE
Caroline Shaw, composer (Attacca Quartet)
Julia Wolfe, composer (Jaap Van Zweden, Francisco J. Núñez, Donald Nally, The Crossing, Young People's Chorus Of NY City & New York Philharmonic)
In the context of that last paragraph, I took some comfort that, in this category, the GRAMMY judges preferred Higdon over Norman. Nevertheless, since I have been exposed to all five of these composers in one way or another, the fact is that the only one to have made a deep impression on memory is Wolfe; and that was for much earlier work that was far more compelling than the composition that was “in the running” this year. The question I raised in December when all of the nominees were announced remains the same: “Why does so much ‘contemporary’ music sound like it was composed in the twentieth century?”
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