Competing recordings of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 split major classical honors at the 2004 Grammy Awards last night in Los Angeles. Michael Tilson Thomas's recording with the San Francisco Symphony (on the orchestra's own label, SFS Media) took the prize for Best Classical Album, while Pierre Boulez's recording with the Vienna Philharmonic won Best Orchestral Performance.
The (U.S.) National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences continued its pattern of favoring well-known, mainstream veterans, honoring performances by Mstislav Rostropovich, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Thomas Quasthoff, Anne Sofie von Otter, the Kronos Quartet (which is certainly well-known, if not as mainstream as, for instance, the Emerson String Quartet) and London's Royal Opera (Covent Garden). Yet no individual artists seemed to dominate the classical Grammies in the way that Georg Solti and Robert Shaw did year after year while they were alive (and even for a couple of years after they died).
The complete list of winners is below; for a list of the classical nominees for the 2004 Grammy Awards, click here.
Best Classical Album
Mahler: Symphony No. 3; Kindertotenlieder
Michael
Tilson Thomas, conductor; Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano;
Andreas Neubronner, producer (Vance George; Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Girls Chorus & Women
of the SFS Chorus; San Francisco Symphony)
[SFS Media]
Best Orchestral Performance
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Pierre Boulez, conductor (Anne Sofie
von Otter, mezzo-soprano; Johannes Prinz & Gerald Wirth; Vienna Boys'
Choir & Women's Chorus of the Vienna Singverein; Vienna Philharmonic)
[Deutsche Grammophon]
Best Opera Recording
Janácek: Jenufa
Bernard Haitink, conductor; Jerry Hadley,
Karita Mattila, Eva Randová, Anja Silja & Jorma Silvasti; Wolfram Graul,
producer (Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Orchestra of the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden)
[Erato]
Best Choral Performance
Sibelius: Cantatas
Paavo Järvi, conductor; Tiia-Ester Loitme &
Ants Soots, chorus masters (Ellerhein Girls' Choir & Estonian National Male
Choir; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra)
[Virgin Classics]
Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)
Britten: Violin Concerto/Walton: Viola Concerto
Mstislav
Rostropovich, conductor; Maxim Vengerov, violin & viola (London Symphony
Orchestra)
[EMI
Classics]
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra)
Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 29, 31, 34, 35 & 49
Emanuel Ax,
piano
[Sony Classical]
Best Chamber Music Performance
Berg: Lyric Suite
Kronos Quartet & Dawn Upshaw,
soprano
[Nonesuch Records]
Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without Conductor)
Chávez: Suite for Double Quartet
(Track from: Chávez: Complete Chamber
Music, Vol. I)
Jeff von der Schmidt, conductor; Southwest Chamber
Music
[Cambria Master Recordings]
Best Classical Vocal Performance
Schubert: Lieder With Orchestra
Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone
& Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (Claudio Abbado; Chamber Orchestra of
Europe)
[Deutsche Grammophon]
Best Classical Contemporary Composition
Argento: Casa Guidi (Track from: Argento: Casa Guidi;
Capriccio for Clarinet and Orchestra, etc.)
Dominick Argento (Frederica von
Stade, mezzo-soprano; Eiji Oue; Minnesota Orchestra)
[Reference Recordings]
Best Classical Crossover Album
"Obrigado Brazil"
Jorge Calandrelli, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello
(Various Artists)
[Sony Classical]
Best Engineered Album, Classical
"Obrigado Brazil"
Richard King & Todd Whitelock, engineers (Yo-Yo
Ma)
[Sony
Classical]
Producer Of The Year, Classical
Steven Epstein
Mendelssohn/Bruch: Violin Concertos (Midori)
"Obrigado
Brazil" (Yo-Yo Ma)
"Paris — La Belle Époque" (Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott)
