The Classical Grammy Winners for 2011

It's been a busy day – this afternoon, I managed to write the ending of my novel, a music appreciation thriller called "The Doomsday Symphony" (all except for filling in three chapters of back-story during the course of it - only about 8,000 more words to go) and the Grammy Winners were announced this evening. Alas, Beethoven's Symphony No. 39 was not a winner... (okay, you'll have to check the link – it's a fictional account of the first rehearsal for the most recent symphony Beethoven composed since he died).

Anyway, rather than sitting through the awards program on TV, here's a list of the winners of the Classical Division for the 2010 GRAMMY AWARDS which were posted on-line even before the show began, Sunday February 13th, 2011:

95. Best Engineered Album, Classical – An Engineer's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)
A TIE –
Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony; Deus Ex Machina -- Mark Donahue, John Hill & Dirk Sobotka, engineers (Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony Orchestra) [Naxos]

and

Porter, Quincy: Complete Viola Works
Leslie Ann Jones, Kory Kruckenberg, Brandie Lane & David Sabee, engineers (Eliesha Nelson & John McLaughlin Williams) [Dorian Sono Luminus]
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96. Producer Of The Year, Classical – A Producer's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)

David Frost
Britten's Orchestra (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)
Chambers, Evan: The Old Burying Ground (Kenneth Kiesler & The University Of Michigan Symphony Orchestra)
Dorman, Avner: Concertos For Mandolin, Piccolo, Piano And Concerto Grosso (Andrew Cyr, Eliran Avni, Mindy Kaufman, Avi Avital & Metropolis Ensemble)
The 5 Browns In Hollywood (5 Browns)
Mackey, Steven: Dreamhouse (Gil Rose, Rinde Eckert, Catch Electric Guitar Quartet, Synergy Vocals & Boston Modern Orchestra Project)
Meeting Of The Spirits (Matt Haimovitz)
Two Roads To Exile (ARC Ensemble)

- - - - - - -
97. Best Classical Album – Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s) if other than the Artist.

Verdi: Requiem - Riccardo Muti, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus master; Christopher Alder, producer; David Frost, Tom Lazarus & Christopher Willis, engineers/mixers (Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Barbara Frittoli & Mario Zeffiri; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus) [CSO Resound]

- - - - -
98. Best Orchestral Performance – Award to the Conductor and to the Orchestra.

Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony; Deus Ex Machina - Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Terrence Wilson; Nashville Symphony) [Naxos]

- - - - - - -
99. Best Opera Recording – Award to the Conductor, Album Producer(s) and Principal Soloists.

Saariaho: L'Amour De Loin - Kent Nagano, conductor; Daniel Belcher, Ekaterina Lekhina & Marie-Ange Todorovitch; Martin Sauer, producer (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Rundfunkchor Berlin) [Harmonia Mundi]

- - - - -
100. Best Choral Performance – Award to the Choral Conductor, and to the Orchestra Conductor if an Orchestra is on the recording, and to the Choral Director or Chorus Master if applicable.

Verdi: Requiem - Riccardo Muti, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus master (Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Barbara Frittoli & Mario Zeffiri; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus) [CSO Resound]

- - - - -
101. Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) – Award to the Instrumental Soloist(s) and to the Conductor.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 24 - Mitsuko Uchida (The Cleveland Orchestra) [Decca]

- - - - -
102. Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) – Award to the Instrumental Soloist.

Messiaen: Livre Du Saint-Sacrement - Paul Jacobs [Naxos]

- - - - -
103. Best Chamber Music Performance – Award to the Artists.

Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Parker Quartet [Naxos]

- - - - -
104. Best Small Ensemble Performance – Award to the Ensemble (and to the Conductor.)

Dinastia Borja - Jordi Savall, conductor; Hespèrion XXI & La Capella Reial De Catalunya (Pascal Bertin, Daniele Carnovich, Lior Elmalich, Montserrat Figueras, Driss El Maloumi, Marc Mauillon, Lluís Vilamajó & Furio Zanasi; Pascal Bertin, Daniele Carnovich, Josep Piera & Francisco Rojas) [Alia Vox]

- - - - -
105. Best Classical Vocal Performance – Award to the Vocal Soloist(s).

Sacrificium - Cecilia Bartoli (Giovanni Antonini; Il Giardino Armonico) [Decca]

- - - - - –

106. Best Classical Contemporary Composition – A Composer's Award. (For a contemporary classical composition composed within the last 25 years, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year.) Award to the librettist, if applicable.

Daugherty, Michael: Deus Ex Machina - Michael Daugherty (Giancarlo Guerrero) Track from: Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony [Naxos]

- - - - -
107. Best Classical Crossover Album -- Award to the Artist(s) and/or to the Conductor.

Tin, Christopher: Calling All Dawns - Lucas Richman, conductor (Sussan Deyhim, Lia, Kaori Omura, Dulce Pontes, Jia Ruhan, Aoi Tada & Frederica von Stade; Anonymous 4 & Soweto Gospel Choir; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) [Tin Works Publishing]

= = = = =

A big night for composer Michael Daugherty (3 Grammys) and for Naxos (5 Grammys).

Congratulations to all the winners -- and to those who may not have won but were still nominated!

- Dick Strawser