William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience won the Grammy Awards for best classical album, best choral performance, and best classical contemporary composition today.
The classical Grammys were presented in a ceremony this afternoon preceding the main televised awards, which can be seen at 8 p.m. ET on CBS television.
The only other album to win multiple awards was the Emerson String Quartet's recording of the complete Mendelssohn quartets, which won for best chamber music performance and best engineered classical album.
The award for best orchestral performance went to Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra for their recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13. A recording of Verdi's Falstaff by Colin Davis and the London Symphony won for best opera recording; soloists on the album include Michele Pertusi, Carlos Alvarez, and Jane Henschel.
The Ensemble Intercontemporain, led by Pierre Boulez, won in the small ensemble category for a recording of Boulez's Le Marteau San Maître.
Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff won the vocal performance award for a recording of Bach cantatas, beating out Cecilia Bartoli and Rolando Villazón, among others. The Turtle Island String Quartet and the Ying Quartet won in the crossover category for 4 Plus Four.
Naxos producer Tim Handley won the producer of the year award for his work on Songs of Innocence and of Experience and other albums.
It was the second consecutive year that a contemporary work won for best classical album. A year ago, John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls won three awards including the top classical award.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, a choral setting of Blake's poems, was conducted by Leonard Slatkin; soloists include soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris (Bolcom's wife and frequent collaborator), alto Marietta Simpson, and baritone Nmon Ford-Livene. The Michigan State University Children's Choir and the University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Choir, and Contemporary Directions Ensemble also appeared on the recording.
Bolcom is the composer of the operas The Wedding, A View From the Bridge, and McTeague. Also among the composer's many works is the Pulitzer Prize-winnning 12 New Etudes for Piano (1988).
A complete list of classical nominees is below. Winners are in bold.
Best Classical Album
Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Leonard Slatkin, conductor; Jerry Blackstone, William Hammer, Jason Harris,
Christopher Kiver, Carole Ott & Mary Alice Stollak, choir directors; Tim
Handley, producer (Christine Brewer & Joan Morris; University Of Michigan School Of Music Symphony Orchestra)
[Naxos]
Chávez: Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 3
Jeff Von Der Schmidt, conductor; Southwest Chamber Music & Tambuco Percussion Ensemble; Jan Karlin & Matthew Snyder, producers
[Cambria Master Recordings]
Martha Argerich And Friends: Live From The Lugano Festival
Martha Argerich; Ulrich Ruscher, producer
[EMI Classics]
Shostakovich: Sym. No. 13
Mariss Jansons, conductor (Sergei Aleksashkin; Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks;
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks)
[EMI Classics]
Best Opera Recording
Britten: Death In Venice
Richard Hickox, conductor; Michael Chance, Philip Langridge & Alan Opie; Brian Couzens, producer (BBC Singers; City Of London Sinfonia)
[Chandos Records Ltd]
Conradi: Ariadne
Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Barbara Borden, Karina Gauvin, Ellen Hargis, Jan Kobow, Julian Podger, Marek Rzepka, James Taylor & Matthew White; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chorus; Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra)
[CPO]
Strauss, R.: Daphne
Semyon Bychkov, conductor; Johan Botha, Renée Fleming, Anna Larsson, Michael Schade & Kwanchul Youn; Michael Haas, producer (West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (Köln))
[Decca]
Verdi: Falstaff
Sir Colin Davis, conductor; Carlos Alvarez, Bülent Bezdüz, Marina Domashenko, Jane Henschel, Ana Ibarra, Maria Josč Moreno & Michele Pertusi; James Mallinson, producer (London Symphony Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra)
[LSO Live]
Vivaldi: Bajazet
Fabio Biondi, conductor; Patrizia Ciofi, David Daniels, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Elina Garanca, Vivica Genaux & Marijana Mijanovic; Nicolas Bartholomée, producer (Europa Galante)
[Virgin Classics]
Best Choral Performance
Bernstein: Mass
Kent Nagano, conductor; Simon Halsey & Kai-Uwe Jirka, choir directors; Richard Grant & Lynne Morrow, chorus masters (Julian Frischling & Jerry Hadley; Rundfunkchor Berlin, Staats-Und Domchor Berlin & Soloists Of The Pacific Mozart Ensemble; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin)
[Harmonia Mundi]
Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Leonard Slatkin, conductor; Jerry Blackstone, William Hammer, Jason Harris, Christopher Kiver, Carole Ott & Mary Alice Stollak, choir directors (Christine Brewer, Measha Brueggergosman, Ilana Davidson, Nmon Ford, Linda Hohenfeld, Joan Morris, Carmen Pelton, Marietta Simpson & Thomas Young; Michigan State University Children's Choir, University Of Michigan Chamber Choir, University Of Michigan Orpheus Singers, University Of Michigan University Choir & University Musical Society Choral Union; University Of Michigan School Of Music Symphony Orchestra)
[Naxos]
Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna
Stephen Layton, conductor (Polyphony; Britten Sinfonia)
[Hyperion]
Penderecki: A Polish Requiem
Antoni Wit, conductor; Henryk Wojnarowski, chorus master (Izabela Klosinska, Ryszard Minkiewicz, Piotr Nowacki & Jadwiga Rappé; Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir; Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra)
[Naxos]
Concerto For String Quartet And Orchestra
Robert Craft, conductor; Fred Sherry String Quartet (Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble)
Track from: Schoenberg: Concerto For String Quartet And Orchestra
[Naxos]
Eventide
JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Thomas Stacy (London Symphony Orchestra)
Track from: Fuchs: An American Place
[Naxos]
Schumann: Cello Concerto; Bloch: Schelomo
Paavo Järvi, conductor; Truls Mřrk (Orchestre Philharmonique De Radio France)
[Virgin Classics]
Martha Argerich And Friends: Live From The Lugano Festival
Martha Argerich
[EMI Classics]
Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets
Emerson String Quartet
[Deutsche Grammophon]
Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without Conductor)
Ancient Voices Of Children
David Colson, conductor; Tony Arnold, Courtney Hershey Bress, Kathryn Dupuy
Cooper, Mark Foster, Susan Grace, William Hill, John Kinzie, Justin Murray,
David Starobin & Dale Stuckenbruck
Track from: Complete Crumb Edition, Volume Nine
[Bridge Records, Inc.]
Boulez: Le Marteau Sans Maître, Dérive 1 & 2
Pierre Boulez, conductor; Hilary Summers; Ensemble Intercontemporain
[Deutsche Grammophon]
Chávez: Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 3
Jeff Von Der Schmidt, conductor; Southwest Chamber Music & Tambuco Percussion
Ensemble
[Cambria Master Recordings]
Harbison: Mottetti Di Montale
David Hoose, conductor; Janice Felty & Margaret Lattimore; Collage New Music
[Koch International Classics]
O Magnum Mysterium
Nicholas White, conductor; The Tiffany Consort
[MSR Classics]
Best Classical Vocal Performance
Bach: Cantatas
Thomas Quasthoff (Rainer Kussmaul; Members Of The RIAS Chamber Choir; Berlin
Baroque Soloists)
[Deutsche Grammophon]
Christopher Alder
—Bach: Cantatas (Thomas Quasthoff, Rainer Kussmaul, Members Of The RIAS-Kammerchor, Berlin Baroque Soloists)
—Beethoven: Piano Cons. Nos. 2 & 3 (Martha Argerich, Claudio Abbado & Mahler Chamber Orchestra)
—Chopin: Scherzi / Impromptus (Yundi Li)
—Lamento (Magdalena Kožená, Reinhard Goebel & Musica Antiqua Köln)
Steven Epstein
—Brahms: Music For 2 Pianos (Yefim Bronfman & Emanuel Ax)
—Music For Organ, Brass And Timpani (Anthony Newman, Graham Ashton, Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble & Duncan Patton)
—Silk Road Journeys: Beyond The Horizon (Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble)
Michael Fine
—Fuchs: An American Place (JoAnn Falletta & London Symphony Orchestra)
—Ranjbaran: Persian Trilogy (JoAnn Falletta & London Symphony Orchestra)
—Soul Of Tango (Gisčle Ben-Dor, Juanjo Mosalini & Santa Barbara Symphony)
Tim Handley
—Adams: Shaker Loops (Marin Alsop)
—Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Leonard Slatkin, Christine Brewer & Joan Morris)
—Brahms: Sym. No. 1 (Marin Alsop & London Philharmonic Orchestra)
—Daugherty: Philadelphia Stories (Marin Alsop & Evelyn Glennie)
—Glass: Syms. Nos. 2 And 3 (Marin Alsop & Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra)
Thomas C. Moore
—Chausson: Le Roi Arthus (Leon Botstein, Apollo Voices, A. Kennedy, D. McIntyre, G. Sorenson, D. Okulitch, F. Le Roux, S. O'Neill, S. Bullock & A. Schroeder)
—4 + Four (Turtle Island String Quartet With Ying Quartet)
—Mozart: Flute Cons., Sym. No. 41 (Martin Pearlman & Boston Baroque)