What Price a Yannick Grammy win
NewsYannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of Florence Price’s First and Third Symphonies on Deutsche Grammophon won the GRAMMY last night for Best Orchestral Performance.
As usual, none of the classical awards were shown on TV.
Other classical winners were:
Best Opera Recording
Glass: Akhnaten, Karen Kamensek, conductor; J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Zachary James and Dísella Lárusdóttir; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
Best Choral Performance
Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’ Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale
Producer of the Year, Classical
Judith Sherman
Best Engineered Album, Classical
“Chanticleer Sings Christmas,” Leslie Ann Jones, engineer (Chanticleer)
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears,” Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
“Alone Together,” Jennifer Koh
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
“Mythologies,” Sangeeta Kaur and Hila Plitmann (Virginie D’Avezac De Castera, Lili Haydn, Wouter Kellerman, Nadeem Majdalany, Eru Matsumoto and Emilio D. Miler)
Best Classical Compendium
“Women Warriors – The Voices of Change,” Amy Andersson, conductor; Amy Andersson, Mark Mattson and Lolita Ritmanis, producers.
Best Contemporary Classical Composition
“Shaw: Narrow Sea,” Caroline Shaw, composer (Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish and Sō Percussion)
Best Instrumental Composition
“Eberhard,” Lyle Mays, composer (Lyle Mays)
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
“Meta Knight’s Revenge (From ‘Kirby Superstar’),” Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman, arrangers (The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher)
Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals
“To The Edge Of Longing (Edit Version),” Vince Mendoza, Arranger (Vince Mendoza, Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Julia Bullock)
There is an incredible recording of the first performance of Florence prices music in Austria on YouTube with the Nova Orchester Wien and William Garfield Walker. I am playing Violin!
It is a beautiful recording!
Surprise! So many American artists won!
I wonder how many people who cast votes for the winners actually listened to the winning recording, or to any other recordings in the category.
Classical Grammey awards – no one cares.
Well, if they were subscribers to Sirius XM Radio and listened to their “Symphony Hall” channel, they would have had a number of opportunities to hear the Nezet-Seguin/Philly recording of the two Florence Price symphonies (out of three symphonies). But like you, I suspect that not even that is the case.
No! They don’t even do that for Oscar winners. Are you not required to watch all the movies; most people just vote for their friends.
Ooh, I know Yo-yo Ma!
Akhnaten was recorded in 2019!
But not released until late 2021.
The Grammy’s used to be quite globally minded and respected. But in the last years it more and more turns into a US price for US artists (only). It’s not a price for the best recordings anymore, but a price for the best US recordings, recordings with major US shares in it at least. I personally dislike this increasing nationalisation and isolationist mindset that emerges more and more. It’s a sign of our anti-enlightening times.
Yes, but it depends on when the recording is released.
Didn’t Yo-Yo Ma and Emmanuel Ax record the Beethoven sonatas in, say, 1982? And probably win a Grammy back then?
Those two are so dull I don’t know how the judges stayed awake listening to them.
Yep. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
The whole ceremony was live on YouTube and more than 250k people were watching when the classical and opera categories were on. So no need for this depressing take. For the younger generations live TV isn’t as important as you think.
Frankly, I’m 61 and paid barely a moments notice to the live grammys back in the day and don’t remember a soul talking about who won classical categories. I do remember Wynton Marsalis’s needlessly arrogant slap at heavier Hancock over the jazz award in 1982 or so. Did people who listen to classical music ever really take Grammy awards seriously?
There are two types of music directors:
1) Those who program and conduct Price with conviction, making an honest and heartfelt effort at widening the repertoire
2) Those who program and conduct Price “malvolentieri”, out of “political correctness” and mock the composer as inept in private
We know who is who.
Congratulations to Maestro Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Here is a symphony by Price – just excellent American music, well-made, although on this recording the allegros are played too slowly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVYS46ylzFA
A friend worked on the Lyle Mays recording. As for the continual dismissiveness towards Ms. Price, can we now end it? We all understand you do not feel her entitled to recognition; others disagree, and there is no need to keep beating this dead horse.
What is going on here?
Where is Muti on this list? Where is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra?
Muti missed the boat. It would have been a great opportunity to renew Chico Symphony history.
The Price 1st Symphony was premiered by The Chicago Symphony conducted by Frederick Stock, at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1932.
But it IS stupendous and not “released” until the COVID mess. This recording deserves it.
Given that the Dudamel/L.A. recording of Mahler 8 was released as an “Atmos” recording (no CD available), it’s doubtful very many people even know of its existence. It’s on Spotify, but it sounds a bit weird without the Atmos playback equipment (whatever that is). This is not to be confused with Dudamel’s previous Mahler 8 that was released on DVD about a decade previous. That one was a true ‘symphony of a thousand’.
Please elaborate on you reasoning for the headline otherwise it looks like nonsense.
Wow, what a beautiful suit the emperor is wearing!