Tag: Grammy Awards

The National wins Grammy for ‘Sleep Well Beast’

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The homegrown band The National has won a Grammy Award for “Best Alternative Music Album” in early awards at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, broadcast Sunday night from New York’s Madison Square Garden. The brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner thanked the Recording Academy via Twitter for the honor.

Hear NPR’s recording of “Sleep Well Beast” here.

Both the CSO and composer Zhou Tian, pictured, were nominated for the Concertos for Orchestra album and Zhou Tian’s composition on that disc. Photo provided/CSO

Among the other nominees with Cincinnati ties, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra did not win its first Grammy with maestro Louis Langrée, although it was nominated for two for its album recorded live in Music Hall, Concertos for Orchestra. The classical awards always trickle out during the day. After learning that the Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra won the Grammy for Best Orchestra Performance (Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Barber Adagio) as well as Best Engineered Album: Classical, Langree tweeted his “warm congratulations.”

Neither did Cincinnati-born jazz icon Fred Hersch make a win this year. But all agreed that they were thrilled to receive the recognition.

This just in: Grammy nominations tap CSO, The National and Fred Hersch

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The CSO has been nominated for two Grammy Awards

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is up for two Grammy Awards for its groundbreaking album recorded live in Music Hall, Concertos for Orchestra. The orchestra, led by Louis Langrée, was nominated today for Best Orchestral Performance, as well as Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Zhou Tian’s score, which he called “a love letter” for the CSO.

Jazz pianist Fred Hersch is nominated — twice — for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his latest album, Open Book, a lush, ravishing collection of solo piano improvisations. And his tune “Whisper Not” on the same album is nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo.

The National, the band whose members grew up in Cincy, is up for Best Alternative Music Album for Sleep Well Beast.

Of note to opera lovers, the great Siberian baritone who just died, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, was also nominated for Sviridov: Russia Cast Adrift with the St. Petersburg State Symphony, for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. See the complete list here.

The Grammys will air live on CBS from Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, Jan. 28.

 

Do the Grammy Awards matter? CSO’s ‘Hallowed Ground’ gets mention

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Louis Langrée and Maya Angelou in one of her final public appearances
Louis Langrée and Maya Angelou in one of her final public appearances for a live recording in Cincinnati’s Music Hall

In the Grammy Award nominations announced on Friday, the Cincinnati Symphony’s “Hallowed Ground” album with Maya Angelou received just one acknowledgment — as part of a list of albums produced by Elaine Martone, who is up for Classical Producer of the Year. Brava to Ms. Martone, part of the former Telarc team that has produced many CSO and Pops albums. The live performance, recorded in Music Hall in Nov. 2013 during Louis Langrée’s inaugural weekend as music director, was one of Angelou’s final pubic appearances before her death just months later.

Also of local note, Jaime Laredo — co-artistic director of the Linton Series — has been nominated with Jennifer Koh, Vinay Parameswaran and Curtis 20/21 Ensemble for a track from composer Anna Clyne’s Prince Of Clouds albume, entitled “Two X Four.”

The CSO was listed in five categories on the early ballot leading up to the 57th Grammy Awards. I took a look at the list of nominees to see which classical ensembles made the cut. It’s remarkable that the Seattle Symphony’s recording of Dutilleux’s Symphony No. 1 received no fewer than SIX nominations.Read More »