The winners of the Grammy Awards were announced today and here are the winners of the Classical Division. (The complete list of Classical Nominees was posted here.) There's live-twittering from this year's Grammys, too, which is where I found them posted after 6pmEST.
* * * * * * * *
The Winner for BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM is:
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Chorus; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra) [EuroArts]
* * * * * * * * *
The winner of BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE is
* Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound] (also available for MP3 download)
* * * * * * * * *
The Winner of BEST OPERA RECORDING is:
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra; Los Angeles Opera Chorus) [EuroArts]
* * * * * * * * *
The Winner for BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE is:
* Stravinsky: Symphony Of Psalms - Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; Simon Halsey, chorus master (Berliner Philharmoniker; Rundfunkchor Berlin) Track from: Stravinsky: Symphonies [EMI Classics]
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST(s) PERFORMANCE (WITH ORCHESTRA) is
* Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon] I was sorry this didn't win "Best Album," too, but hey...
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST PERFORMANCE (WITHOUT ORCHESTRA) is:
* Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, & Lutoslawski - Gloria Cheng, pianist [Telarc]
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE is:
* Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 5 - Pacifica Quartet [Naxos] For more on the Pacifica Quartet and their performance of all of Carter's String Quartets, read this post.
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE is:
* Spotless Rose: Hymns To The Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale [Chandos]
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE is:
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan - Hila Plitmann, soprano (JoAnn Falletta; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) [Naxos]
* * * * * * * * *
Winner of the BEST CLASSICAL CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION is:
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan - (JoAnn Falletta, conductor) [Naxos]
* * * * * * * * *
And least but not last, winner of the BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM is:
* Simple Gifts - The King's Singers [Signum Records]
yeah well, these labels need to make their money somehow...
* * * * * * * * *
Other categories include the Best Engingeered Recording, where the winner is:
* Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago - David Frost, Tom Lazarus & Christopher Willis, engineers (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma & Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound]
* * * * * * * * *
The Winner of Producer Of The Year, Classical is:
* David Frost
o Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic)
o Right Through The Bone — Julius Röntgen Chamber Music (ARC Ensemble)
o Schubert: Sonata In D Maj.; Liszt: Don Juan Fantasy (Min Kwon)
o Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Yo-Yo Ma, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Thursday, December 04, 2008
The Classical Grammy Nominees
Speaking of lists – the 2009 Grammy Nominees are out. Usually, if I can find them, I only look at the Classical Division because basically I’m an elitist pig. No longer working for a radio station, it’s of less importance to me, professionally, but even then I was only “into” the concept because, however they’re treated by the general press, the Classical Grammys are the closest thing the Classical Music World has to the Oscars, the Tonys or any other Entertainment Award Show you can watch on TV. Still, there are some here I am excited to see!
So here goes.
The BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM nominees are
* Maria - Cecilia Bartoli; Christopher Raeburn, producer; Wolf-Dieter Karwatky & Philip Siney, engineers/mixers (Adam Fischer; Orchestra La Scintilla) [Decca Records]
* Tarik O'Regan: Threshold Of Night - Craig Hella Johnson, conductor; Blanton Alspaugh, producer; John Newton, engineer/mixer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Company Of Strings; Company Of Voices & Conspirare) [Harmonia Mundi]
* Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn; Sid McLauchlan & Arend Prohmann, producers; Stephan Flock, engineer/mixer (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* Spotless Rose: Hymns To The Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale; Blanton Alspaugh, producer; John Newton, engineer/mixer; Jonathan Cooper, mastering engineer [Chandos]
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Chorus; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra) [EuroArts]
For me, the only possibility is Hilary Hahn's amazing recording of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto.
* * * * * * * * *
For BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE, the nominees are
* Vincent D'Indy: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 - Rumon Gamba, conductor (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) [Chandos] Wow, I didn't even know this one was out -- can't say there are too many D'Indy recordings available! This one includes the "Summer Day in the Mountains (Op.61)" not to be confused with the delightful and more popular "Symphony on a French Mountain Air (Op.25)," plus The Enchanted Forest and Souvenirs. Looking forward to seeing if his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat will be on the next installment.
* Alexander Glazunov: Symphony No. 6, La Mer, Introduction And Dance From Salome - José Serebrier, conductor (Royal Scottish National Orchestra) [Warner Classics & Jazz]
* Prokofiev: Scythian Suite - Alan Gilbert, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Track from: Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago [CSO Resound]
* Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound] (also available for MP3 download)
* Chris Walden: Symphony No. 1, The Four Elements - Chris Walden, conductor (Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra) [Origin Classical]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST OPERA RECORDING nominees are
* Tan Dun: The First Emperor - Tan Dun, conductor; Michelle DeYoung, Plácido Domingo, Elizabeth Futral, Paul Groves, Wu Hsing-Kuo & Hao Jiang Tian; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus) [EMI Classics] The world premiere production from the Met than had been seen 'round the world on their HD Transmissions
* Jean-Baptiste Lully: Psyché - Paul ÓDette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Colin Balzer, Karina Gauvin, Carolyn Sampson & Aaron Sheehan; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra; Boston Early Music Festival Chorus) [CPO]
* Monteverdi: L'Orfeo - Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor; Sara Mingardo, Monica Piccinini, Anna Simboli & Furio Zanasi; Jean-Pierre Loisil, producer (Concerto Italiano) [Naive Classique]
* Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin - Valery Gergiev, conductor; Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky & Ramón Vargas; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus) [Decca] had also been seen on the Met's HD Transmissions
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra; Los Angeles Opera Chorus) [EuroArts]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE Nominees are
* Tarik O'Regan: Threshold Of Night - Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Company Of Strings; Company Of Voices & Conspirare) [Harmonia Mundi]
* Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works - Charles Bruffy, conductor (Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Bach Choir) [Chandos]
* Stravinsky: Symphony Of Psalms - Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; Simon Halsey, chorus master (Berliner Philharmoniker; Rundfunkchor Berlin) Track from: Stravinsky: Symphonies [EMI Classics]
* Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater - Antoni Wit, conductor; Henryk Wojnarowski, chorus master (Jaroslaw Brek, Iwona Hossa & Ewa Marciniec; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; Warsaw Philharmonic Choir) [Naxos]
* Michael Tippett: A Child Of Our Time - Colin Davis, conductor; Joseph Cullen, chorus master (Steve Davislim, Mihoko Fujimura, Matthew Rose & Indra Thomas; London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus) [LSO Live]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST(s) PERFORMANCE (WITH ORCHESTRA) nominees are
* Ernest Bloch/Benjamin Lees:Violin Concertos - John McLaughlin Williams, conductor; Elmar Oliveira (National Symphony Orchestra Of Ukraine) [Artek]
* Lou Harrison: Pipa Concerto - Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Wu Man (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Track from: Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago [CSO Resound]
* Mozart: Piano Concertos 17 & 20 - Leif Ove Andsnes (Norwegian Chamber Orchestra) [EMI Classics] A nice grouping, possibly the lightest and certainly the darkest of Mozart's piano concertos.
* Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 2 & 5 - Charles Dutoit, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet (L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande) [Decca Records]
* Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST PERFORMANCE (WITHOUT ORCHESTRA) nominees are
* In A State Of Jazz - Marc-André Hamelin, pianist [Hyperion]
* Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, & Lutoslawski - Gloria Cheng, pianist [Telarc]
* Red Cliff Capriccio - Wei Li, guzheng [First Impression Music] Here are two firsts -- a guzheng soloist on a Grammy list and a single CD selling for $40...
* Revolutionary - Cameron Carpenter, organist [Telarc]
* Strange Toys - Joan Jeanrenaud, cellist [Talking House Records]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE nominees are
* Brahms: String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51/2, Piano Quintet in F Minor - Stephen Hough; Takács Quartet [Hyperion]
* Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 5 - Pacifica Quartet [Naxos] Just in time for Carter's 100th Birthday on December 11th
* Folk Songs - Trio Mediaeval [ECM New Series]
* Julius Röntgen - Right Through The Bone - ARC Ensemble [RCA Red Seal] Nice title, but the piece is called Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op.100 -- cool, the composer is related to the guy who discovered X-Rays... by the way, whatever happened to all those great new recordings that used to come out of RCA? And where, by the way, on this list is anything new and nominated by Sony?
* Jennifer Higdon: String Poetic - Jennifer Koh, violinist & Reiko Uchida, pianist [Cedille Records] -- so happy to see another work by Jennifer Higdon on the list this year!
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE nominees are
* Divertimenti - Øyvind Gimse, conductor; Trondheim Solistene [2L (Lindberg Lyd)]
* Tan Dun: Pipa Concerto; Hayashi: Viola Concerto; Takemitsu: Nostalgia - Roman Balashov, conductor; Yuri Bashmet; Moscow Soloists (Wu Man) [Onyx Classics] Amazingly, this year there are TWO pipa concertos available! Lou Harrison's is on the CSO Silk Road disc (see above).
* Im Wunderschoenen Monat Mai - Reinbert De Leeuw, conductor; Barbara Sukowa; Schoenberg Ensemble [Winter & Winter] This is a work by the Dutch composer de Leeuw based on the Schubert and Schumann settings of Heinrich Heine's romantic poem.
* Meredith Monk: Impermanence - Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble [ECM New Series]
* Spotless Rose: Hymns To The Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale [Chandos]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE nominees are
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan - Hila Plitmann, soprano (JoAnn Falletta; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) [Naxos]
* Charles Fussell: Wilde - Sanford Sylvan, baritone (Gil Rose; Boston Modern Orchestra Project) [BMOP/sound]
* Gomidas Songs - Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano (Eduard Topchjan; Serouj Kradjian; Chamber Players Of The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra) [Nonesuch Records]
* Maria - Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo soprano (Adam Fischer; Orchestra La Scintilla) [Decca Records]
* Terezín: Theresienstadt - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo soprano (Christian Gerhaher & Daniel Hope; Bengt Forsberg & Gerold Huber) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CLASSICAL CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION nominees are
* Marc-André Dalbavie: Concerto for Flute - (Peter Eötvös, conductor) Track from: Dalbavie/Jarrell/Pintscher: Flute Concertos [EMI Classics]
* Michael Gandolfi: The Garden Of Cosmic Speculation - (Robert Spano, conductor) [Telarc]
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan - (JoAnn Falletta, conductor) [Naxos]
* George Tsontakis: Violin Concerto No. 2 (Douglas Boyd, conductor) [Koch Int'l Classics]
* Chris Walden: Symphony No. 1, The Four Elements - (Chris Walden, conductor) [Origin Classical]
I've heard the Dalbavie (I was not as happy with the Flute Concerto as I was with the far better Violin Concerto); the Tsontakis Concerto, winner of the Graumeyer Prize in 2005, which I liked very much on first hearing; and part of the Gandolfi which I found very uneven, but I think I should wait till I hear the Corigliano before I'd make a comment here. But with all the recent recordings of so many recent works of Elliott Carter, certainly something of the works he'd composed since he turned 90 should qualify?
* * * * * * * * *
And least but not last, the BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM nominees are
* Baroque - Gabriela Montero [EMI Classics]
* Indigo Road - Ronn McFarlane [Dorian Sono Luminus]
* Olde School - East Village Opera Company [Decca Records]
* The Othello Syndrome - Uri Caine Ensemble [Winter & Winter]
* Simple Gifts - The King's Singers [Signum Records]
yeah well, these labels need to make their money somehow...
* * * * * * * * *
Other categories include the Best Engingeered Recording, where the nominees are
* Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique - Fred Vogler, engineer (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* Divertimenti - Morten Lindberg & Hans Peter L'Orange, engineers (Øyvind Gimse & Trondheim Solistene) [2L (Lindberg Lyd)]
* Puccini: La Bohème - Michael Bishop, engineer (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus) [Telarc]
* Respighi: Church Windows, Brazilian Impressions, Rossiniana - John Newton, engineer (JoAnn Falletta & Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) [Naxos]
* Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago - David Frost, Tom Lazarus & Christopher Willis, engineers (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma & Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound]
* * * * * * * * *
The Nominees for Producer Of The Year, Classical, the usual suspects are
* David Frost
o Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic)
o Right Through The Bone — Julius Röntgen Chamber Music (ARC Ensemble)
o Schubert: Sonata In D Maj.; Liszt: Don Juan Fantasy (Min Kwon)
o Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Yo-Yo Ma, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
* David Groves
o Baroque (Gabriela Montero)
o Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Jonathan Biss)
o Polish Spirit (Nigel Kennedy & Jacek Kaspszyk)
o Respighi: Roman Trilogy, Il Tramonto (Antonio Pappano)
o Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Martha Argerich)
* Judith Sherman
o Carter, Elliott: String Quartets Nos. 1 And 5 (Pacifica Quartet)
o Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky And Lutoslawski (Gloria Cheng)
o Reich: Daniel Variations (Grant Gershon, Alan Pierson, Los Angeles Master Chorale & London Sinfonietta)
o Riley, Terry: The Cusp Of Magic (Kronos Quartet & Wu Man)
o String Poetic (Jennifer Koh & Reiko Uchida)
* Robert Woods
o Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Prelude To Khovanshchina (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
o Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Lieutenant Kijé Suite (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
o Puccini: La Bohème (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
o Ravel: Boléro (Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra)
o Revolutionary (Cameron Carpenter)
* Robina G. Young
o Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18, Nos 1-6 (Tokyo String Quartet)
o Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 'Eroica' (Andrew Manze & Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra)
o Birds On Fire (Fretwork)
o Heavenly Harmonies (Stile Antico)
o Scattered Rhymes (Paul Hillier, Orlando Consort & The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir)
* * * * * * * * *
Good luck to all -- congratulations on being nominated, wherever you end up when the winners are announced -- and tune in February 8th, 2009, when the rest of the Grammy Winners will be announced and maybe some token mention of the Classical Winners will be made...
Dr. Dick
So here goes.
The BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM nominees are
* Maria - Cecilia Bartoli; Christopher Raeburn, producer; Wolf-Dieter Karwatky & Philip Siney, engineers/mixers (Adam Fischer; Orchestra La Scintilla) [Decca Records]
* Tarik O'Regan: Threshold Of Night - Craig Hella Johnson, conductor; Blanton Alspaugh, producer; John Newton, engineer/mixer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Company Of Strings; Company Of Voices & Conspirare) [Harmonia Mundi]
* Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn; Sid McLauchlan & Arend Prohmann, producers; Stephan Flock, engineer/mixer (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* Spotless Rose: Hymns To The Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale; Blanton Alspaugh, producer; John Newton, engineer/mixer; Jonathan Cooper, mastering engineer [Chandos]
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Chorus; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra) [EuroArts]
For me, the only possibility is Hilary Hahn's amazing recording of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto.
* * * * * * * * *
For BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE, the nominees are
* Vincent D'Indy: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 - Rumon Gamba, conductor (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) [Chandos] Wow, I didn't even know this one was out -- can't say there are too many D'Indy recordings available! This one includes the "Summer Day in the Mountains (Op.61)" not to be confused with the delightful and more popular "Symphony on a French Mountain Air (Op.25)," plus The Enchanted Forest and Souvenirs. Looking forward to seeing if his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat will be on the next installment.
* Alexander Glazunov: Symphony No. 6, La Mer, Introduction And Dance From Salome - José Serebrier, conductor (Royal Scottish National Orchestra) [Warner Classics & Jazz]
* Prokofiev: Scythian Suite - Alan Gilbert, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Track from: Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago [CSO Resound]
* Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound] (also available for MP3 download)
* Chris Walden: Symphony No. 1, The Four Elements - Chris Walden, conductor (Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra) [Origin Classical]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST OPERA RECORDING nominees are
* Tan Dun: The First Emperor - Tan Dun, conductor; Michelle DeYoung, Plácido Domingo, Elizabeth Futral, Paul Groves, Wu Hsing-Kuo & Hao Jiang Tian; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus) [EMI Classics] The world premiere production from the Met than had been seen 'round the world on their HD Transmissions
* Jean-Baptiste Lully: Psyché - Paul ÓDette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Colin Balzer, Karina Gauvin, Carolyn Sampson & Aaron Sheehan; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra; Boston Early Music Festival Chorus) [CPO]
* Monteverdi: L'Orfeo - Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor; Sara Mingardo, Monica Piccinini, Anna Simboli & Furio Zanasi; Jean-Pierre Loisil, producer (Concerto Italiano) [Naive Classique]
* Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin - Valery Gergiev, conductor; Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky & Ramón Vargas; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus) [Decca] had also been seen on the Met's HD Transmissions
* Kurt Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra; Los Angeles Opera Chorus) [EuroArts]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE Nominees are
* Tarik O'Regan: Threshold Of Night - Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Company Of Strings; Company Of Voices & Conspirare) [Harmonia Mundi]
* Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works - Charles Bruffy, conductor (Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Bach Choir) [Chandos]
* Stravinsky: Symphony Of Psalms - Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; Simon Halsey, chorus master (Berliner Philharmoniker; Rundfunkchor Berlin) Track from: Stravinsky: Symphonies [EMI Classics]
* Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater - Antoni Wit, conductor; Henryk Wojnarowski, chorus master (Jaroslaw Brek, Iwona Hossa & Ewa Marciniec; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; Warsaw Philharmonic Choir) [Naxos]
* Michael Tippett: A Child Of Our Time - Colin Davis, conductor; Joseph Cullen, chorus master (Steve Davislim, Mihoko Fujimura, Matthew Rose & Indra Thomas; London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus) [LSO Live]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST(s) PERFORMANCE (WITH ORCHESTRA) nominees are
* Ernest Bloch/Benjamin Lees:Violin Concertos - John McLaughlin Williams, conductor; Elmar Oliveira (National Symphony Orchestra Of Ukraine) [Artek]
* Lou Harrison: Pipa Concerto - Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Wu Man (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Track from: Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago [CSO Resound]
* Mozart: Piano Concertos 17 & 20 - Leif Ove Andsnes (Norwegian Chamber Orchestra) [EMI Classics] A nice grouping, possibly the lightest and certainly the darkest of Mozart's piano concertos.
* Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 2 & 5 - Charles Dutoit, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet (L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande) [Decca Records]
* Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST INSTRUMENTAL SOLOIST PERFORMANCE (WITHOUT ORCHESTRA) nominees are
* In A State Of Jazz - Marc-André Hamelin, pianist [Hyperion]
* Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, & Lutoslawski - Gloria Cheng, pianist [Telarc]
* Red Cliff Capriccio - Wei Li, guzheng [First Impression Music] Here are two firsts -- a guzheng soloist on a Grammy list and a single CD selling for $40...
* Revolutionary - Cameron Carpenter, organist [Telarc]
* Strange Toys - Joan Jeanrenaud, cellist [Talking House Records]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE nominees are
* Brahms: String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51/2, Piano Quintet in F Minor - Stephen Hough; Takács Quartet [Hyperion]
* Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 5 - Pacifica Quartet [Naxos] Just in time for Carter's 100th Birthday on December 11th
* Folk Songs - Trio Mediaeval [ECM New Series]
* Julius Röntgen - Right Through The Bone - ARC Ensemble [RCA Red Seal] Nice title, but the piece is called Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op.100 -- cool, the composer is related to the guy who discovered X-Rays... by the way, whatever happened to all those great new recordings that used to come out of RCA? And where, by the way, on this list is anything new and nominated by Sony?
* Jennifer Higdon: String Poetic - Jennifer Koh, violinist & Reiko Uchida, pianist [Cedille Records] -- so happy to see another work by Jennifer Higdon on the list this year!
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE nominees are
* Divertimenti - Øyvind Gimse, conductor; Trondheim Solistene [2L (Lindberg Lyd)]
* Tan Dun: Pipa Concerto; Hayashi: Viola Concerto; Takemitsu: Nostalgia - Roman Balashov, conductor; Yuri Bashmet; Moscow Soloists (Wu Man) [Onyx Classics] Amazingly, this year there are TWO pipa concertos available! Lou Harrison's is on the CSO Silk Road disc (see above).
* Im Wunderschoenen Monat Mai - Reinbert De Leeuw, conductor; Barbara Sukowa; Schoenberg Ensemble [Winter & Winter] This is a work by the Dutch composer de Leeuw based on the Schubert and Schumann settings of Heinrich Heine's romantic poem.
* Meredith Monk: Impermanence - Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble [ECM New Series]
* Spotless Rose: Hymns To The Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale [Chandos]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE nominees are
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan - Hila Plitmann, soprano (JoAnn Falletta; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) [Naxos]
* Charles Fussell: Wilde - Sanford Sylvan, baritone (Gil Rose; Boston Modern Orchestra Project) [BMOP/sound]
* Gomidas Songs - Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano (Eduard Topchjan; Serouj Kradjian; Chamber Players Of The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra) [Nonesuch Records]
* Maria - Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo soprano (Adam Fischer; Orchestra La Scintilla) [Decca Records]
* Terezín: Theresienstadt - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo soprano (Christian Gerhaher & Daniel Hope; Bengt Forsberg & Gerold Huber) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* * * * * * * * *
The BEST CLASSICAL CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION nominees are
* Marc-André Dalbavie: Concerto for Flute - (Peter Eötvös, conductor) Track from: Dalbavie/Jarrell/Pintscher: Flute Concertos [EMI Classics]
* Michael Gandolfi: The Garden Of Cosmic Speculation - (Robert Spano, conductor) [Telarc]
* John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan - (JoAnn Falletta, conductor) [Naxos]
* George Tsontakis: Violin Concerto No. 2 (Douglas Boyd, conductor) [Koch Int'l Classics]
* Chris Walden: Symphony No. 1, The Four Elements - (Chris Walden, conductor) [Origin Classical]
I've heard the Dalbavie (I was not as happy with the Flute Concerto as I was with the far better Violin Concerto); the Tsontakis Concerto, winner of the Graumeyer Prize in 2005, which I liked very much on first hearing; and part of the Gandolfi which I found very uneven, but I think I should wait till I hear the Corigliano before I'd make a comment here. But with all the recent recordings of so many recent works of Elliott Carter, certainly something of the works he'd composed since he turned 90 should qualify?
* * * * * * * * *
And least but not last, the BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM nominees are
* Baroque - Gabriela Montero [EMI Classics]
* Indigo Road - Ronn McFarlane [Dorian Sono Luminus]
* Olde School - East Village Opera Company [Decca Records]
* The Othello Syndrome - Uri Caine Ensemble [Winter & Winter]
* Simple Gifts - The King's Singers [Signum Records]
yeah well, these labels need to make their money somehow...
* * * * * * * * *
Other categories include the Best Engingeered Recording, where the nominees are
* Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique - Fred Vogler, engineer (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic) [Deutsche Grammophon]
* Divertimenti - Morten Lindberg & Hans Peter L'Orange, engineers (Øyvind Gimse & Trondheim Solistene) [2L (Lindberg Lyd)]
* Puccini: La Bohème - Michael Bishop, engineer (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus) [Telarc]
* Respighi: Church Windows, Brazilian Impressions, Rossiniana - John Newton, engineer (JoAnn Falletta & Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) [Naxos]
* Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago - David Frost, Tom Lazarus & Christopher Willis, engineers (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma & Chicago Symphony Orchestra) [CSO Resound]
* * * * * * * * *
The Nominees for Producer Of The Year, Classical, the usual suspects are
* David Frost
o Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic)
o Right Through The Bone — Julius Röntgen Chamber Music (ARC Ensemble)
o Schubert: Sonata In D Maj.; Liszt: Don Juan Fantasy (Min Kwon)
o Traditions And Transformations: Sounds Of Silk Road Chicago (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alan Gilbert, Yo-Yo Ma, Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
* David Groves
o Baroque (Gabriela Montero)
o Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Jonathan Biss)
o Polish Spirit (Nigel Kennedy & Jacek Kaspszyk)
o Respighi: Roman Trilogy, Il Tramonto (Antonio Pappano)
o Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Martha Argerich)
* Judith Sherman
o Carter, Elliott: String Quartets Nos. 1 And 5 (Pacifica Quartet)
o Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky And Lutoslawski (Gloria Cheng)
o Reich: Daniel Variations (Grant Gershon, Alan Pierson, Los Angeles Master Chorale & London Sinfonietta)
o Riley, Terry: The Cusp Of Magic (Kronos Quartet & Wu Man)
o String Poetic (Jennifer Koh & Reiko Uchida)
* Robert Woods
o Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Prelude To Khovanshchina (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
o Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Lieutenant Kijé Suite (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
o Puccini: La Bohème (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
o Ravel: Boléro (Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra)
o Revolutionary (Cameron Carpenter)
* Robina G. Young
o Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18, Nos 1-6 (Tokyo String Quartet)
o Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 'Eroica' (Andrew Manze & Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra)
o Birds On Fire (Fretwork)
o Heavenly Harmonies (Stile Antico)
o Scattered Rhymes (Paul Hillier, Orlando Consort & The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir)
* * * * * * * * *
Good luck to all -- congratulations on being nominated, wherever you end up when the winners are announced -- and tune in February 8th, 2009, when the rest of the Grammy Winners will be announced and maybe some token mention of the Classical Winners will be made...
Dr. Dick
Friday, November 28, 2008
On the Making of Lists
Whether you’ve been celebrating Black Friday or just hope to survive the holidays to make it to the New Year, you will have to deal with lists.
In addition to hoping you make Santa’s List of Good Little Boys & Girls, you may be twice-checking those shopping lists, things to get for the kids or your folks, for the neighbors or your friends, your co-workers or Aunt Bea whom you see once a year; grocery lists to stock up on supplies for the next feast on the list, along with lists of all the cookies and other holiday trimmings you’ll need by the time you’ve made the list of guests to invite for the Christmas Party and the list with dates of all the parties you’ve been invited to this busy social season. Not to forget the infamous Christmas Card List...
Though the idea of “10-ness” is often inflatable, one way or another, there are thousands of lists of Top 10 Gift Suggestions from every source imaginable (how I hated doing those every year); lists of Top 10 News Events of the Year, Top 10 People of the Year, Top 10 Football Plays of the Year, Top 10 Grossing Films of the Year (or the Top 10 Grossest Films of the Year), Top 10 Most Memorable Performances of the Year, not to mention countless others including the much anticipated Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists.
In addition to store lists and chore lists, much to-do is often made about other kinds of lists. While not very much is made of books in this country, aside from lists of best selling books from the New York Times or the finalists for England’s Booker Prize during the course of the year (and this year, even the Best of the Booker Prizes), the end of a year is usually awash with Top 10 rankings of the best (and worst) dressed celebrities or the hottest (which for those of my readers who are of a certain age does not refer either to their temperature or their box-office clout). Spinning through some of these last week, I noticed most of the comments about the latter lists were primarily calling into question the pulse of those making these decisions since they had clearly overlooked [insert latest teen heart-throb here].
Those of us in the Classical Music World don’t get a network TV Award Show since the commercial market is too small to be worth the effort or the expense, just a casual passing mention on the Grammy Awards – so uneventful are they, there’s usually only one category that’s not released before the broadcast along with the other minor award categories). Even though the Classical Grammy Awards might be politically suspect one way or another, it is the closest thing we have to the Oscars, the Tony Awards, the Country Music Awards, what-have-you.
[“And this year’s Best Composer of the Year Award goes to... (long dramatic pause, audience noticeably hushed in palpable anticipation: drum-roll please) ...Elliott Carter!” and the crowd goes wild as the studio orchestra breaks out in a well-known passage from his Symphonia...]
Recently, the British magazine Gramophone came up with a cover story for its December Issue ranking the Top 20 Orchestras from around the world – the presence of a Japanese Orchestra kept it from being “from across the Western World” – and immediately, the list of those wondering about the veracity of such a list began growing. How were these orchestras selected, on what basis were they placed in this order, who was making the decisions and evaluations – and more importantly, on what grounds: recent live performances, reading reviews, listening to old recordings? Some even wondered about how an orchestra heard (or recorded) in its own hall might sound to a listener when they’re playing in a different hall on tour. And so on.
Unless the rankings are determined by rigid criteria in various categories like those Top 10 Colleges or Places to Live in the USA, taking into account standard-of-living issues, demographic ratios or other aspects that can be statistically compared, anything as subjective as a “best performance” is going to be suspect, especially when it’s not being determined by the same board of judges who would be traveling around the world listening to every orchestra on the planet (or at least those nominated into, say, the 40 Finalists).
[Now there’s a junket I wouldn’t mind serving on...]
Here is what the Gramophone website said about this issue’s cover story:
= = = = = = =
(Quite frankly, out of all these 20 Orchestras, I’ve heard none of them live in recent years. But I had heard the Philadelphia Orchestra live a few times in the past several years and frankly I would not place it on a Top 20 List simply because I didn’t feel they were playing up to what that level implies, regardless of their past glories. Does an orchestra deserve a spot on a Top List simply because of its reputation? Maybe, however, that will change for them with a new conductor and a hopefully better chapter in the orchestra’s internal life.)
And even then, arguments could be made such lists would be suspect because it might have been a bad day for the performers or the judge was reacting to the conductor and not the performance or the fact they played Berlioz and one judge is noted for hating Berlioz.
Even the micro-points Olympic skating judges, for example, now award by computer cannot seriously overcome personal reactions and preferences over sheer technical analyses. If the winner is not determined by who crosses the finish line first with the fastest speed, how do you determine who’s in first place, much less who’s in twelfth?
How many times have I read about this or that piano competition where the first-place winner is deemed a technical automaton but that the second-place winner was far superior as an interpreter? And that No. 6 was by far the hottest?
It always amused me to read an orchestra’s publicity release that would say they are “among the six topped ranked orchestras in the country.” Ah, that means they’re No. 6. Or there’s the generic blurb, “one of the most acclaimed orchestras in the world” – by whom?
For that matter, can the quality of an orchestra be judged by ticket-sales or salary rankings? Has anyone come up with a statistically accurate ratio to compare what they pay the conductor and the executive director with the principal players and the rank-and-file members of the string section? Is an orchestra going to be better than others because this one has a better benefit package for its musicians, that one has a better “work-place-atmosphere” rating from its musicians, or another one has a hotter young conductor than that one?
Or do we do a televised reality show called “Orchestra!” and have viewers phone in to determine which ensemble gets voted off the stage?
With another crucial box-office season upon us for new movie releases, are we going to see films ranked solely by box-office take or by the quality of the film, the expert interpretations of its actors and the skill with which the director realizes the film’s potential? Is this film deemed a better film because more people, what with the bad economy and the political situation around the world, felt like taking in a let-me-check-my-brain-at-the-door comedy with a hot TV personality in it rather than one that’s a thought-provoking-often-cathartic-view-of-some-of-the-basic-core-issues-that-drive-humanity-in-our-world-today kind of film?
What do you think? You be the judge...
Oh, but one word to the folks at Gramophone. I haven’t seen the list as it will appear in the December issue itself, so maybe it’s been corrected, but the way it was reported on other websites, proff-raeders and fact-checkers somewhere missed that one of the Russian orchestras was called by a name it has not been called since 1991 when Leningrad returned to its pre-Revolutionary name, St. Petersburg. I missed that one myself, just noting “huh, the three Russian orchestras were all placed in a clump, Nos. 14-15-16...” Didn’t even see that one of them was the now out-dated Leningrad Philharmonic...
What does that imply?
As a few e-mails I received noted, apparently others feel more strongly about the impact of such a list’s significance. True, as Mrs. Alving told Pastor Manders in a crucial scene in Ibsen’s Ghosts, arguing against the rigidity of his old-fashioned moral precepts, all she wanted to do was pull at one tiny loose thread and then realized, after the fabric came undone, it was only machine made.
But as imperfect as modern-day clothing can be - another thing I need to add to a list: buy thread to sew the buttons back on a new shirt purchased a few weeks ago that failed to survive its first round through the laundry - it may be better to wear what we have rather than go naked in the world. As Mark Twain said, “naked people have little or no influence on society.”
So perhaps it’s best to bear with it, realizing that all lists are relative, just celebrate the music-making of twenty fine orchestras and be done with it.
Now, where is that list of Top 20 Living Composers?
In addition to hoping you make Santa’s List of Good Little Boys & Girls, you may be twice-checking those shopping lists, things to get for the kids or your folks, for the neighbors or your friends, your co-workers or Aunt Bea whom you see once a year; grocery lists to stock up on supplies for the next feast on the list, along with lists of all the cookies and other holiday trimmings you’ll need by the time you’ve made the list of guests to invite for the Christmas Party and the list with dates of all the parties you’ve been invited to this busy social season. Not to forget the infamous Christmas Card List...
Though the idea of “10-ness” is often inflatable, one way or another, there are thousands of lists of Top 10 Gift Suggestions from every source imaginable (how I hated doing those every year); lists of Top 10 News Events of the Year, Top 10 People of the Year, Top 10 Football Plays of the Year, Top 10 Grossing Films of the Year (or the Top 10 Grossest Films of the Year), Top 10 Most Memorable Performances of the Year, not to mention countless others including the much anticipated Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists.
In addition to store lists and chore lists, much to-do is often made about other kinds of lists. While not very much is made of books in this country, aside from lists of best selling books from the New York Times or the finalists for England’s Booker Prize during the course of the year (and this year, even the Best of the Booker Prizes), the end of a year is usually awash with Top 10 rankings of the best (and worst) dressed celebrities or the hottest (which for those of my readers who are of a certain age does not refer either to their temperature or their box-office clout). Spinning through some of these last week, I noticed most of the comments about the latter lists were primarily calling into question the pulse of those making these decisions since they had clearly overlooked [insert latest teen heart-throb here].
Those of us in the Classical Music World don’t get a network TV Award Show since the commercial market is too small to be worth the effort or the expense, just a casual passing mention on the Grammy Awards – so uneventful are they, there’s usually only one category that’s not released before the broadcast along with the other minor award categories). Even though the Classical Grammy Awards might be politically suspect one way or another, it is the closest thing we have to the Oscars, the Tony Awards, the Country Music Awards, what-have-you.
[“And this year’s Best Composer of the Year Award goes to... (long dramatic pause, audience noticeably hushed in palpable anticipation: drum-roll please) ...Elliott Carter!” and the crowd goes wild as the studio orchestra breaks out in a well-known passage from his Symphonia...]
Recently, the British magazine Gramophone came up with a cover story for its December Issue ranking the Top 20 Orchestras from around the world – the presence of a Japanese Orchestra kept it from being “from across the Western World” – and immediately, the list of those wondering about the veracity of such a list began growing. How were these orchestras selected, on what basis were they placed in this order, who was making the decisions and evaluations – and more importantly, on what grounds: recent live performances, reading reviews, listening to old recordings? Some even wondered about how an orchestra heard (or recorded) in its own hall might sound to a listener when they’re playing in a different hall on tour. And so on.
Unless the rankings are determined by rigid criteria in various categories like those Top 10 Colleges or Places to Live in the USA, taking into account standard-of-living issues, demographic ratios or other aspects that can be statistically compared, anything as subjective as a “best performance” is going to be suspect, especially when it’s not being determined by the same board of judges who would be traveling around the world listening to every orchestra on the planet (or at least those nominated into, say, the 40 Finalists).
[Now there’s a junket I wouldn’t mind serving on...]
Here is what the Gramophone website said about this issue’s cover story:
= = = = = = =
It's a classical title showdown! Swapping gloves for glissandi and punches for prestos, players from around the globe square up for the hotly contested spot of World's Best Symphony Orchestra.
Ranking the heavy hitters is by no means an easy task, but Gramophone has manfully taken the job in hand. Our panel of leading music critics comprised: Rob Cowan, James Inverne, James Jolly (all from Gramophone, UK), Alex Ross (the New Yorker, US), Mark Swed (Los Angeles Times, US), Wilhelm Sinkovicz (Die Presse, Austria), Renaud Machart (Le Monde, France), Manuel Brug (Die Welt, Germany), Thiemo Wind (De Telegraaf, the Netherlands), Zhou Yingjuan (editor, Gramophone China) and Soyeon Nam (editor, Gramophone Korea).
To compare like with like, we have limited ourselves to comparing modern romantic orchestras rather than period bands, but apart from that distinction it's a completely open field. The panel have considered the question from all angles - judging concert performances as well as recording output, contributions to local and national communities and the ability to maintain iconic status in an increasingly competitive contemporary climate.
The results have proven fascinating and will no doubt be as controversial as the question itself. But if nothing else, the task gives us all a chance to celebrate the forerunners of exciting, cutting-edge music-making. And that can't be a bad thing…
= = = = = = =
And so the method behind the rankings has been called into question, generating comments, for example, by Angela at TonicBlotter with other references, including Mark at Deceptively Simple, among others.
(Quite frankly, out of all these 20 Orchestras, I’ve heard none of them live in recent years. But I had heard the Philadelphia Orchestra live a few times in the past several years and frankly I would not place it on a Top 20 List simply because I didn’t feel they were playing up to what that level implies, regardless of their past glories. Does an orchestra deserve a spot on a Top List simply because of its reputation? Maybe, however, that will change for them with a new conductor and a hopefully better chapter in the orchestra’s internal life.)
And even then, arguments could be made such lists would be suspect because it might have been a bad day for the performers or the judge was reacting to the conductor and not the performance or the fact they played Berlioz and one judge is noted for hating Berlioz.
Even the micro-points Olympic skating judges, for example, now award by computer cannot seriously overcome personal reactions and preferences over sheer technical analyses. If the winner is not determined by who crosses the finish line first with the fastest speed, how do you determine who’s in first place, much less who’s in twelfth?
How many times have I read about this or that piano competition where the first-place winner is deemed a technical automaton but that the second-place winner was far superior as an interpreter? And that No. 6 was by far the hottest?
It always amused me to read an orchestra’s publicity release that would say they are “among the six topped ranked orchestras in the country.” Ah, that means they’re No. 6. Or there’s the generic blurb, “one of the most acclaimed orchestras in the world” – by whom?
For that matter, can the quality of an orchestra be judged by ticket-sales or salary rankings? Has anyone come up with a statistically accurate ratio to compare what they pay the conductor and the executive director with the principal players and the rank-and-file members of the string section? Is an orchestra going to be better than others because this one has a better benefit package for its musicians, that one has a better “work-place-atmosphere” rating from its musicians, or another one has a hotter young conductor than that one?
Or do we do a televised reality show called “Orchestra!” and have viewers phone in to determine which ensemble gets voted off the stage?
With another crucial box-office season upon us for new movie releases, are we going to see films ranked solely by box-office take or by the quality of the film, the expert interpretations of its actors and the skill with which the director realizes the film’s potential? Is this film deemed a better film because more people, what with the bad economy and the political situation around the world, felt like taking in a let-me-check-my-brain-at-the-door comedy with a hot TV personality in it rather than one that’s a thought-provoking-often-cathartic-view-of-some-of-the-basic-core-issues-that-drive-humanity-in-our-world-today kind of film?
What do you think? You be the judge...
Oh, but one word to the folks at Gramophone. I haven’t seen the list as it will appear in the December issue itself, so maybe it’s been corrected, but the way it was reported on other websites, proff-raeders and fact-checkers somewhere missed that one of the Russian orchestras was called by a name it has not been called since 1991 when Leningrad returned to its pre-Revolutionary name, St. Petersburg. I missed that one myself, just noting “huh, the three Russian orchestras were all placed in a clump, Nos. 14-15-16...” Didn’t even see that one of them was the now out-dated Leningrad Philharmonic...
What does that imply?
As a few e-mails I received noted, apparently others feel more strongly about the impact of such a list’s significance. True, as Mrs. Alving told Pastor Manders in a crucial scene in Ibsen’s Ghosts, arguing against the rigidity of his old-fashioned moral precepts, all she wanted to do was pull at one tiny loose thread and then realized, after the fabric came undone, it was only machine made.
But as imperfect as modern-day clothing can be - another thing I need to add to a list: buy thread to sew the buttons back on a new shirt purchased a few weeks ago that failed to survive its first round through the laundry - it may be better to wear what we have rather than go naked in the world. As Mark Twain said, “naked people have little or no influence on society.”
So perhaps it’s best to bear with it, realizing that all lists are relative, just celebrate the music-making of twenty fine orchestras and be done with it.
Now, where is that list of Top 20 Living Composers?
Friday, November 21, 2008
It's Friday Update with Dr. Dick
On Wednesday, I posted about the British magazine Gramophone’s “Top-20 Orchestras in the World” and forgot to mention, in a subsequent post prompted by complaints in San Francisco that too much public money was being spent to support the city’s orchestra, that the San Francisco Symphony had placed 13th on that list, just below the East Coast Regulars from New York and Boston. (You can also read reactions from London and NPR.)
Then today, at ArtsJournal, I saw I should also update that reference to Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony, who’s received another significant accolade on another kind of list – this one, a list of the “Best Leaders of 2008” where he is the only musician among a wide variety of public leaders, some business, some political, some in science along with Steven Spielberg and Lance Armstrong and junior officers in the U.S. Military who “are rising in the military ranks with a hard-earned wisdom forged by war,” all inspiring and thought-provoking. Citing President-Elect Obama, these are people who could “help him lead us out of our doldrums.”
Caution, though: this report uses the “M” Word. They refer to Michael Tilson Thomas (usually abbreviated as MTT) as “a musical maverick.”
Speaking of mavericks, that maverick Sarah Palin ;-) ;-) is still in the news, pardoning a turkey in Alaska (not a recently defeated felon and long-term Senator). While you can watch the YouTube video, notice the guy in the background who it turns out is butchering two other turkeys during the filming of this press conference. Niiiiiiiice...
By the way, how would you like to be interrupted at the end of a presentation to be told you’ve just won $75,000? That’s how violinist Gil Shaham found out about his winning the Avery Fisher Award, finishing up a televised recital. Read it here.
Oh, and it’s started snowing again.
Then today, at ArtsJournal, I saw I should also update that reference to Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony, who’s received another significant accolade on another kind of list – this one, a list of the “Best Leaders of 2008” where he is the only musician among a wide variety of public leaders, some business, some political, some in science along with Steven Spielberg and Lance Armstrong and junior officers in the U.S. Military who “are rising in the military ranks with a hard-earned wisdom forged by war,” all inspiring and thought-provoking. Citing President-Elect Obama, these are people who could “help him lead us out of our doldrums.”
Caution, though: this report uses the “M” Word. They refer to Michael Tilson Thomas (usually abbreviated as MTT) as “a musical maverick.”
Speaking of mavericks, that maverick Sarah Palin ;-) ;-) is still in the news, pardoning a turkey in Alaska (not a recently defeated felon and long-term Senator). While you can watch the YouTube video, notice the guy in the background who it turns out is butchering two other turkeys during the filming of this press conference. Niiiiiiiice...
By the way, how would you like to be interrupted at the end of a presentation to be told you’ve just won $75,000? That’s how violinist Gil Shaham found out about his winning the Avery Fisher Award, finishing up a televised recital. Read it here.
Oh, and it’s started snowing again.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Arts and Cars and Economic Issues, Oh My!
Something else I caught over at OboeInsight (it’s not just for oboe players), check out the San Francisco Weekly’s grousing about the city’s support for the San Francisco Symphony and the fact that its Music Director, Michael Tilson Thomas, earns $1.6M in addition to other benefits from, like, producing a PBS TV series, Keeping Score, in which the orchestra plays to a nationwide audience in something comparable to the old Bernstein Young Persons’ Concerts with the New York Philharmonic that introduced a younger generation to great classical music.
(By the way, how many people in my generation, I wonder, were influenced by watching those amazing programs? *\o )
It would seem the orchestra’s concerts are attended primarily by the wealthy elite (really!?) and that the various arts groups in the city have “turned our local culture palaces into sites for air-kiss orgies among the superrich.” Huh...
This is the old “Shoes or Shakespeare” argument when it comes to tough times and the Arts. For most of the Arts in this country, that would be “Most of the Times.”
Now, as I understand it, Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors whose “2006 pay package [was valued] at $10.2 million, up from $5.5 million in 2005” had a base salary of $2.2M which he voluntarily cut back to $1.3M or so. Yet, according to BloggingStocks, his take-home pay for 2007 was $14.4M, up 41% from 2006.
Nice pay cut, don’t you think?
Incidentally, from that same 2007 New York Times article, GM’s CFO “earned $5.2 million in his first year on the job. His predecessor... earned $3.9 million in 2005.”
That same 2007 article also said Ford paid its “chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, more than $28 million in his first four months on the job. Most of that amount came in the form of a hiring bonus and compensation to make up for benefits he forfeited in leaving his previous job at the jet maker Boeing.”
When the union workers grumbled about this, the company gave all employees a $300 bonus (that would be $3H) and the A.U.W hourly workers a $500 bonus. Awwww, isn’t that sweet?!
These CEOs have now been lining up bumper to bumper in Washington begging Congress to hurry up with the Big 3 Auto Makers’ $25B (that’s B as in Beethoven... I mean, Billion) Bail-Out Program. And most people seem to support tax-payers’ money going for that, even though the Wall Street “Credit Stimulus Package” met with considerably less success on Main Street, something about going to bail-out greedy CEOs or something, as I recall.
As for the car makers, I certainly think its bad for the guys who build the cars to lose their jobs (speaking as one of the unemployed), but maybe it would’ve been better if these car makers didn’t con a gullible public into buying those dinosaur-devouring SUV’s and other fuel-inefficient guzzlers that litter our highways and drive-ways today, vehicles which people only began complaining about when gas got closer to $4/gallon.
Now, this economic bail-out is being viewed by many people as an economic necessity because, sure, the American economy spins on the wheels of its industries, considering most Americans do drive cars.
But when it comes to support for the arts, such issues and solutions would be called socialism and we are often told they should be allowed to survive or fail according to the free-market economy our society is based on.
Hmmm...
Fortunately, recession aside, perhaps the drop in oil prices and the subsequent lowering of gas prices to around $2/gallon will mean there will be less “air-kissing among the super-rich” at the gas pumps.
Wouldn't it be nice, then, if some of these super-rich CEOs would do what people like Andrew Carnegie and other industrial philanthropists did in the past: contribute large sums of money to support the arts? Hey, what a novel idea!!
Oh, speaking of novel... I have to get back to work...
(By the way, how many people in my generation, I wonder, were influenced by watching those amazing programs? *\o )
It would seem the orchestra’s concerts are attended primarily by the wealthy elite (really!?) and that the various arts groups in the city have “turned our local culture palaces into sites for air-kiss orgies among the superrich.” Huh...
This is the old “Shoes or Shakespeare” argument when it comes to tough times and the Arts. For most of the Arts in this country, that would be “Most of the Times.”
Now, as I understand it, Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors whose “2006 pay package [was valued] at $10.2 million, up from $5.5 million in 2005” had a base salary of $2.2M which he voluntarily cut back to $1.3M or so. Yet, according to BloggingStocks, his take-home pay for 2007 was $14.4M, up 41% from 2006.
Nice pay cut, don’t you think?
Incidentally, from that same 2007 New York Times article, GM’s CFO “earned $5.2 million in his first year on the job. His predecessor... earned $3.9 million in 2005.”
That same 2007 article also said Ford paid its “chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, more than $28 million in his first four months on the job. Most of that amount came in the form of a hiring bonus and compensation to make up for benefits he forfeited in leaving his previous job at the jet maker Boeing.”
When the union workers grumbled about this, the company gave all employees a $300 bonus (that would be $3H) and the A.U.W hourly workers a $500 bonus. Awwww, isn’t that sweet?!
These CEOs have now been lining up bumper to bumper in Washington begging Congress to hurry up with the Big 3 Auto Makers’ $25B (that’s B as in Beethoven... I mean, Billion) Bail-Out Program. And most people seem to support tax-payers’ money going for that, even though the Wall Street “Credit Stimulus Package” met with considerably less success on Main Street, something about going to bail-out greedy CEOs or something, as I recall.
As for the car makers, I certainly think its bad for the guys who build the cars to lose their jobs (speaking as one of the unemployed), but maybe it would’ve been better if these car makers didn’t con a gullible public into buying those dinosaur-devouring SUV’s and other fuel-inefficient guzzlers that litter our highways and drive-ways today, vehicles which people only began complaining about when gas got closer to $4/gallon.
Now, this economic bail-out is being viewed by many people as an economic necessity because, sure, the American economy spins on the wheels of its industries, considering most Americans do drive cars.
But when it comes to support for the arts, such issues and solutions would be called socialism and we are often told they should be allowed to survive or fail according to the free-market economy our society is based on.
Hmmm...
Fortunately, recession aside, perhaps the drop in oil prices and the subsequent lowering of gas prices to around $2/gallon will mean there will be less “air-kissing among the super-rich” at the gas pumps.
Wouldn't it be nice, then, if some of these super-rich CEOs would do what people like Andrew Carnegie and other industrial philanthropists did in the past: contribute large sums of money to support the arts? Hey, what a novel idea!!
Oh, speaking of novel... I have to get back to work...
The Top 20 Orchestras in the World
Though I never had any interest in sports as a kid (or an adult), I would follow America's Major League Orchestras and their principal players much the way other kids (and adults) would follow its baseball and football teams and their players, with or without trading cards. So while there's no World Series among orchestras (much less a Super Bowl), when somebody comes out with a ranking for the best orchestras in the country or the world, I'm still curious how things stack up.
While tagging Patty over at OboeInsight, I saw this post from yesterday about the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam having been mentioned in the British music magazine Gramophone as the top of the recently announced “Top 20 Orchestras in the World.” The complete list was posted on a German site, Bavarian Radio On-Line, which I found at ArtsJournal. Here’s the complete list (auf Deutsch):
Die 20 Top-Orchester der Welt [The 20 Top Orchestras of the World]
1. Concertgebouw-Orkest, Amsterdam
2. Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin]
3. Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna]
4. London Symphony Orchestra
5. Chicago Symphony Orchestra
6. Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [Bavarian Radio Sym]
7. Cleveland Orchestra
8. Los Angeles Philharmonic
9. Budapest Festival Orchestra
10. Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden [Dresden State Orch]
11. Boston Symphony Orchestra
12. New York Philharmonic
13. San Francisco Symphony
14. Mariinsky Theater Orchestra
15. Russian National Orchestra
16. Leningrad Phillharmonic
17. Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
18. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
19. Saito Kinen Symphony Orchestra [in Japan]
20. Tschechische [Czech] Philharmonie
Note the American Orchestras’ placement in the Top 20:
5. Chicago
7. Cleveland
8. Los Angeles
11. Boston
12. New York Phil
13. San Francisco
18. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
For decades, the Top 5 American Orchestras were (in no particular order) the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony followed by the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.
So who’s missing from this most recent list? Yeah! where’s the Philadelphia Orchestra?! What happened?
Well, for the past several years they’ve been grumbling about playing under their conductor Christoph von Eschenbach so maybe the deterioration from the Golden Age of Ormandy and Muti has been noticed in the wider world? The last few times I heard them playing familiar repertoire under Eschenbach, things had happened that you don’t expect to hear coming from an orchestra the caliber of the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra (in fact, most of them I didn’t expect to hear from the Harrisburg Symphony), so it makes you wonder...
Now, also look how high the Cleveland Orchestra placed – and this, after some of the complaints I’ve read and heard about this orchestra’s problems with its conductor Franz Welser-Möst (and not just the Plain Dealer’s critic, Donald Rosenberg which I blogged about here and here).
I just find that interesting.
While tagging Patty over at OboeInsight, I saw this post from yesterday about the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam having been mentioned in the British music magazine Gramophone as the top of the recently announced “Top 20 Orchestras in the World.” The complete list was posted on a German site, Bavarian Radio On-Line, which I found at ArtsJournal. Here’s the complete list (auf Deutsch):
Die 20 Top-Orchester der Welt [The 20 Top Orchestras of the World]
1. Concertgebouw-Orkest, Amsterdam
2. Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin]
3. Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna]
4. London Symphony Orchestra
5. Chicago Symphony Orchestra
6. Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [Bavarian Radio Sym]
7. Cleveland Orchestra
8. Los Angeles Philharmonic
9. Budapest Festival Orchestra
10. Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden [Dresden State Orch]
11. Boston Symphony Orchestra
12. New York Philharmonic
13. San Francisco Symphony
14. Mariinsky Theater Orchestra
15. Russian National Orchestra
16. Leningrad Phillharmonic
17. Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
18. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
19. Saito Kinen Symphony Orchestra [in Japan]
20. Tschechische [Czech] Philharmonie
Note the American Orchestras’ placement in the Top 20:
5. Chicago
7. Cleveland
8. Los Angeles
11. Boston
12. New York Phil
13. San Francisco
18. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
For decades, the Top 5 American Orchestras were (in no particular order) the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony followed by the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.
So who’s missing from this most recent list? Yeah! where’s the Philadelphia Orchestra?! What happened?
Well, for the past several years they’ve been grumbling about playing under their conductor Christoph von Eschenbach so maybe the deterioration from the Golden Age of Ormandy and Muti has been noticed in the wider world? The last few times I heard them playing familiar repertoire under Eschenbach, things had happened that you don’t expect to hear coming from an orchestra the caliber of the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra (in fact, most of them I didn’t expect to hear from the Harrisburg Symphony), so it makes you wonder...
Now, also look how high the Cleveland Orchestra placed – and this, after some of the complaints I’ve read and heard about this orchestra’s problems with its conductor Franz Welser-Möst (and not just the Plain Dealer’s critic, Donald Rosenberg which I blogged about here and here).
I just find that interesting.
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