We was robbed; no Grammy for the BSO
Gee, wasn't the humiliation of the football season enough? No, our fair city had to see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra lose the 2010 Grammy for Best Classical Album to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
I'd call it a travesty of justice if it weren't for the fact that there was some very starry, solid competition in this category. Still, the BSO's sizzling recording of Bernstein's "Mass" had "winner" all over it, at least in my book. A very tough score to perform, and one that conductor Marin Alsop grasped with all her might, generating from the orchestra, Morgan State University Choir, Peabody Children's Chorus, baritone Jibilant Sykes and the other soloists a powerhouse, deeply moving performance.
Oh, well, if it had to lose, at least it was to a recording of another monumental challenge,
Mahler's Symphony No. 8, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. His cycle of the Mahler symphonies with the SFSO has been justly praised since it was launched several years ago.
And there was a little consolation for the BSO, I suppose, in that the producer for "Mass," Steven Epstein, won a Grammy for Producer of the Year. And it wasn't a total washout for Marin, either -- she conducted the recording of Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto (with the London Philharmonic) that won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
Comments
I wouldn't lose too much sleep over this -- of all the official "awards" given to various aspects of the arts and media, I consider the Grammy to be the most meaningless.
Of course, I argue against the whole concept of "annual award for best..." period, because art isn't measured in months or years, and "best" is so relative and subjective a term as to defy honest assessment.
Of course, I'll contradict myself immediately and say that Bernstein the composer would _never_ stand a chance against Mahler the composer, IMHumO. (Their comparison as conductors is far more open to debate. ;^)
Posted by: Doug Halfen | February 3, 2010 2:50 PM