Classical Grammies

[John F]

Reported by the NY Times, listed in this order. There must be a hundred categories in all, making it seem that the point of the Grammies is to hand out as many as possible and avoid making large judgments. If the Steve Jobs opera was really the best opera recording in 2018, then the classical record business must be in even more desperate shape than I thought, and that's saying something.

Best Engineered Album, Classical

“Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11” — Shawn Murphy and Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer

Producer of the Year, Classical

Blanton Alspaugh

Best Orchestral Performance

“Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11” — Andris Nelsons, conductor

Best Opera Recording

“Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” — Michael Christie, conductor; Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson and Wei Wu; Elizabeth Ostrow, producer

Best Choral Performance

“Mcloskey: Zealot Canticles” — Donald Nally, conductor

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance

“Anderson, Laurie: Landfall” — Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet

Best Classical Instrumental Solo

“Kernis: Violin Concerto” — James Ehnes; Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

“Songs of Orpheus - Monteverdi, Caccini, D’india & Landi” — Karim Sulayman; Jeannette Sorrell, conductor; Apollo’s Fire, ensembles

Best Classical Compendium

“Fuchs: Piano Concerto ‘spiritualist’; Poems of Life; Glacier; Rush” — Joann Falletta, conductor; Tim Handley, producer

Best Contemporary Classical Composition

“Kernis: Violin Concerto” — Aaron Jay Kernis, composer

[maestrob]

Opera recordings are now mostly issued on DVD, so the field is rather narrow I would imagine. That said, Ned Rorem's new opera was most memorable for me.....



That said, I think the Shostakovich set was quite well recorded in Boston, although I had some small quibbles about the Symphony XI, that had to do with interpretation, not sound quality. Well-done, Andriss Nelsons!