Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass Nominated for Grammy Award®

By -

Mass producer Steven Epstein also nominated in separate category

"... a solid recording, delicate when it needs to be but also displaying biting social commentary with power and authority. This will undoubtedly become a classic recording in terms of anyone’s Bernstein music library." - Interchanging Idioms

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers, conducted by BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Classical Album of the Year.” Released on the Naxos label on August 25, 2009, this two-disc set was only the fourth audio recording ever produced of Mass. It received a second nomination in the category of “Producer of the Year, Classical” for Steven Epstein, who produced the Mass album. Marin Alsop is also the conductor on the recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic which received a separate nomination in the category of “Best Classical Contemporary Composition.” Winners will be announced at The Grammy Awards event in Los Angeles scheduled for Sunday, January 31, 2010.

In recent years, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra resumed its illustrious recording history under Music Director Marin Alsop. In June 2006, the BSO collaborated with then-Music Director Designate Marin Alsop and violinist Joshua Bell to record John Corigliano's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, "The Red Violin" released on the Sony/BMG Classical label in September 2007. The BSO and Maestra Alsop have also partnered with the Naxos label to record a three-disc Dvorák symphony cycle. The first disc, which includes Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" and Symphonic Variations, was released in February 2008; subsequent discs will feature symphonies Nos. 6-8. Most recently, the BSO recorded works by George Gershwin with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet that will be released on the Decca label in Spring 2010.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has won and been nominated for several Grammy Awards over its more than 20-year recording history. The BSO won its first Grammy Award in 1987 for a Sony Classical recording of cello concertos by Barber and Britten with soloist Yo-Yo Ma under the direction of then-Music Director David Zinman. The BSO's release of The New York Album, recorded under the direction of David Zinman and again featuring Yo-Yo Ma, won two Grammy Awards in 1994. The Baltimore Symphony’s extensive discography also includes three recordings released in 1997: a London recording featuring symphonic dance works of Leonard Bernstein; an Erato Disques recording of the piano concertos of George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel, featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud; and a Grammy-nominated London recording of violin concertos by Samuel Barber and William Walton with violinist Joshua Bell. The Orchestra’s last Grammy nomination was in 1999 for its recording of Bernstein's Serenade and Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Baltimore-born violin phenomenon Hilary Hahn as soloist, conducted by David Zinman.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Acclaimed Fauré Quartett returns to Deutsche Grammophon with their first recording of Brahms

By -
Image
The Fauré Quartett continues to add authoritative recordings to the chamber music catalog with their new recording of two Brahms quartets, available from Deutsche Grammophon on January 12, 2010. These large, some say symphonic, works test the limits of technical and musical capabilities, and the Fauré Quartett once again proves why they are one of the most acclaimed ensembles performing today. Within a short period of time the Fauré Quartett has conquered the great concert halls of London , Paris , Berlin , Amsterdam , Brussels , Geneva , Hamburg , Frankfurt, Milan , Buenos Aires , Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. “They attract superlatives wherever they go,” wrote The Strad following a concert at London ’s Wigmore Hall, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung praised them for a performance that “brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before”. The Fauré Quartett strives to achieve a unique sound for Brahms (as indeed for every work)
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more