Classical Grammy Nominees for 2022 Plus Winners

BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL

• Archetypes, Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad & Third Coast Percussion

• Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears, Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax

• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Manfred Honeck, Mendelssohn Choir Of Pittsburgh & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

• Chanticleer Sings Christmas, Chanticleer  WINNER
  

• Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’ Gustavo Dudamel, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Luke McEndarfer, Robert Istad, Grant Gershon, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus, Pacific Chorale & Los Angeles Philharmonic

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL

• Blanton Alspaugh
• Steven Epstein
• David Frost
• Elaine Martone
• Judith Sherman WINNER
  

BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE

• Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives; Harmonielehre, Nashville Symphony Orchestra

• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

• Muhly: Throughline, San Francisco Symphony

• Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Yannick Nézet-Séguin WINNER
  

• Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra; Scriabin: The Poem Of Ecstasy, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

BEST OPERA RECORDING ALBUM

• "Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle,” Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
• “Glass: Akhnaten,” The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus WINNER
  
• “Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen,” London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus & LSO Discovery Voices
• “Little: Soldier Songs,” The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra
• “Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmélites,” The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus, cond. Yannick Nézet-Séguin

BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE

• It’s a Long Way, Jonas Budris, Carrie Cheron, Fiona Gillespie, Nathan Hodgson, Helen Karloski, Enrico Lagasca, Megan Roth, Alissa Ruth Suver & Dana Whiteside; Skylark Vocal Ensemble
• Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’ Leah Crocetto, Mihoko Fujimura, Ryan McKinny, Erin Morley, Tamara Mumford, Simon O’Neill, Morris Robinson & Tamara Wilson; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus & Pacific Chorale  WINNER
  
• Rising w/ The Crossing, International Contemporary Ensemble & Quicksilver; The Crossing
• Schnittke: Choir Concerto; Three Sacred Hymns; Pärt: Seven Magnificat-antiphons, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
• Sheehan: Liturgy Of Saint John Chrysostom, Michael Hawes, Timothy Parsons & Jason Thoms; The Saint Tikhon Choir
• The Singing Guitar, Estelí Gomez; Austin Guitar Quartet, Douglas Harvey, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet & Texas Guitar Quartet; Conspirare

BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

• Adams, John Luther: Lines Made By Walking, Jack Quartet
• Akiho: Seven Pillars, Sandbox Percussion
• Archetypes, Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad & Third Coast Percussion
• Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears, Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax WINNER
  
• Bruits, Imani Winds

BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENT SOLO

• “Alone Together,” Jennifer Koh  WINNER
  
• “An American Mosaic,” Simone Dinnerstein
• “Bach: Sonatas & Partitas,” Augustin Hadelich
• “Beethoven & Brahms: Violin Concertos,” The Knights
• “Mak Bach,” Mak Grgić
• “Of Power,” Curtis Stewart

BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM

• Confessions, Laura Strickling; Joy Schreier

• Dreams Of A New Day – Songs By Black Composers, Will Liverman; Paul Sánchez

• Mythologies, Sangeeta Kaur & Hila Plitmann (Virginie D’avezac De Castera, Lili Haydn, Wouter Kellerman, Nadeem Majdalany, Eru Matsumoto & Emilio D. Miler) WINNER
  

• Schubert: Winterreise, Joyce Didonato; Yannick Nézet-Séguin

• Unexpected Shadows, Jamie Barton; Jake Heggie (Matt Haimovitz)

BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM ALBUM

• American Originals – A New World, A New Canon, Agave & Reginald L. Mobley; Geoffrey Silver, producer

• Berg: Violin Concerto; Seven Early Songs & Three Pieces for Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor; Jack Vad, producer

• Cerrone: The Arching Path, Timo Andres & Ian Rosenbaum; Mike Tierney, producer

• Plays, Chick Corea; Chick Corea & Birnie Kirsh, producers

• Women Warriors – The Voices Of Change, Amy Andersson, Conductor; Amy Andersson, Mark Mattson & Lolita Ritmanis, producers  WINNER
  

BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION

• Akiho: Seven Pillars, Andy Akiho, composer (Sandbox Percussion)

• Andriessen: The Only One, Louis Andriessen, composer (Esa-pekka Salonen, Nora Fischer & Los Angeles Philharmonic)

• Assad, Clarice & Sérgio, Connors, Dillon, Martin & Skidmore: Archetypes, Clarice Assad, Sérgio Assad, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin & David Skidmore, composers (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad & Third Coast Percussion)

• Batiste: Movement 11′, Jon Batiste, composer (Jon Batiste)

• Shaw: Narrow Sea, Caroline Shaw, composer (Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish & Sō Percussion) WINNER

 

Don Carlos in HD

Conductor -Patrick Furrer

Élisabeth de Valois -Sonya Yoncheva

Eboli -Jamie Barton

Don Carlos -Matthew Polenzani

Rodrigue -Etienne Dupuis

Philippe II - Eric Owens

Grand Inquisitor - John Relyea

Production by David McVicar

Saturday we viewed the live HD performance of the French version of Verdi's Don Carlos. This opera seems to be attempting to imitate reality, so perhaps a little reality is required. This is a calendar of historical events related to the life of Philip II of Spain. 

1527 Philip born 1543 Philip marries Maria Manuela of Portugal 1545 Carlos born, Maria Manuela mother 1545 Maria dies 1545 Elisabeth of Valois born 1554 Philip marries Mary I of England [bloody Mary] becoming her co-regent 1556 Philip becomes King of Spain 1558 Mary dies, Philip returns to Spain 1559 Philip marries Elisabeth of Valois 1568 Elisabeth dies 1568 Carlos dies

1570	Philip marries Anna of Austria
1580	Anna dies
1598	Philip dies

From this we see that Carlos and Elisabeth were about the same age and died at about the same time. Philip was already King of Spain for three years before he married Elisabeth of Valois. So it is unlikely that his coronation took place after he married Elisabeth.

The plot begins when Carlos, who believes he will marry Elisabeth, wishes to meet his future wife and tracks her to the Forest of Fontainebleau, France. They meet and fall in love.  By the end of the scene a political agreement has been reached offstage, and Carlos and Elisabeth find that she is to marry Carlos' father Philip.  This is the context for the rest of the opera, so the story doesn't make much sense if this scene is omitted.

I thought this was a brilliantly and beautifully executed performance.  The story felt right, perhaps for the first time.  This is the most I have liked Sonya Yoncheva whose performance shaped the drama.  I never felt a desire to go home early because it was all so fascinating.

Met season 22-23

I prefer a chronological sequence:

HD date

Medea New Production Luigi Cherubini	Sep 27 - Oct 28	10/22/2022
Idomeneo Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Sep 28 - Oct 20
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Dmitri Shostakovich	Sep 29 - Oct 21
Tosca Giacomo Puccini	Oct 4 - Apr 15
Peter Grimes Benjamin Britten	Oct 16 - Nov 12
La Traviata Giuseppe Verdi	Oct 25 - Mar 18	11/5/2022
Don Carlo Giuseppe Verdi	Nov 3 - Dec 3	11/19/2022
Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi	Nov 10 - Dec 29
The Hours New Production Kevin Puts / LIBRETTO BY Greg Pierce	Nov 22 - Dec 15	12/10/2022
Aida Giuseppe Verdi	Dec 2 - May 18
The Magic Flute—Holiday Presentation Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Dec 16 - Jan 6
Fedora New Production Umberto Giordano	Dec 31 - Jan 28	1/14/2023
L’Elisir d’Amore Gaetano Donizetti	Jan 10 - Apr 29
Dialogues des Carmélites Francis Poulenc	Jan 15 - Jan 28
Lohengrin New Production Richard Wagner	Feb 26 - Apr 1	3/18/2023
Norma Vincenzo Bellini	Feb 28 - Mar 25
Falstaff Giuseppe Verdi	Mar 12 - Apr 1
Der Rosenkavalier Richard Strauss	Mar 27 - Apr 20	4/15/2023
Champion New Production TERENCE BLANCHARD / LIBRETTO BY Michael Cristofer	Apr 10 - May 13	4/29/2023
La Bohème Giacomo Puccini	Apr 21 - Jun 9
Don Giovanni New Production Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	May 5 - Jun 2	5/20/2023
Die Zauberflöte New Production Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	May 19 - Jun 10	6/3/2023
Der Fliegende Holländer Richard Wagner	May 30 - Jun 10

Perhaps I'll post some details later.

Maria Ewing (March 27, 1950 - January 9, 2022)

 I saw her very famous Salome, and can only wish I had seen this Carmen.

Lise Davidsen Grieg Songs

Lise Davidsen's Grieg album with fellow Norwegian Leif Ove Andsnes on piano came out yesterday.  I am listening on the Amazon stream.  There are 28 tracks, and so far only two of them are familiar:  Op. 25 - 2. En Svane (The Swan) and Op. 5 - 3. Jeg elsker Dig! (I love you).  This whole album is very beautiful.  This is Lise's sweet voice.  For Wagner and Verdi she shows much heavier singing.

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2021 Opera Year in Review KK Awards

I'm not sure 2021 was any better than 2020.  I am counting only performances that took place this year or films I had never seen before this year.  This was another year aggravated by both COVID and my advancing age.  I still saw some very nice stuff.

Here is the all too short list of operas new to me this year.

• Heggie's Three Decembers, Jan 1, from San Jose *
• Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, Jan 26, from Florence *
• Saariaho's Innocence, July 23, from Aix en Provence *
  
• Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, October 23, from the Met *
• Aucoin's Eurydice, December 18, from the Met *

• BEST NEW OPERA AWARD   It's hard to choose one.  I enjoyed most Heggie's Three Decembers from the San Jose Opera, but this was probably because the lead role was played by the always amazing Susan Graham.  The two modern operas from the Metropolitan Opera did not grab me.  I require musical interest, and not just theater.  Donizetti is famous mostly for his comic operas L’Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale, plus Lucia, of course.  Linda di Chamounix is very beautiful, but perhaps the plot is too dated.  It is opera seria with a happy ending, a genre we don't follow that much.  The award seems to go to Three Decembers. 
  

• BEST OF MOZART, BEETHOVEN, AND WEBER AWARD     My only Mozart was Cosi fan Tutte, November 28, from San Francisco in a lovely modern production, part 2 of their Da Ponte trilogy.  I saw two new versions of Beethoven's Fidelio this year:   Fidelio, Jan 29, from Birmingham England and some years old, and Fidelio, October 15, from San Francisco.  Weber Der Freischütz, Feb 16, from Munich. All four of these operas might be regarded as regie.  The Birmingham Fidelio features a row of washing machines.  Der Freischütz, which we see all too seldom, is in a sky scraper.  Modernizing it loses some of the mystery.  Cosi is in a Country Club which people join to play golf and tennis.  I dearly love Fidelio, but I think the most successful of this group has to be the San Francisco Cosi fan Tutte, and I award to it.

 

• BEST OF WAGNER AWARD  This turned out to be a big year for Wagner for me.  I saw two new Wagner productions:  Tristan und Isolde, August 12, from the Bayerische Staatsoper with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros and Der fliegende Holländer, Sept 37, from Bayreuth with Asmik Grigorian, who does not touch my heart.  She's quite celebrated, but these are my opinions.   Both were regie productions.  I also finally saw the full Ring cycle from the San Francisco Opera:  Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Die Götterdämmerung.  The last two were new for me.  

The concert version of act I of Die Walküre, July 17, also from the Bayerische Staatsoper with Jonas Kaufmann and Lise Davidsen is the final entry.  This last was quite wonderful, but I find it not quite as wonderful as the amazing and surprising Tristan und Isolde, also from Munich.  It is hard to top the combination of Jonas and Anja.  Musically and theatrically they are completely in tune.  I award to that.  Lise may be turning me into a Wagnerian.

 

 

• BEST OF VERDI, MUSSORGSKY AND R. STRAUSS AWARD  The pickings in the late Romantics are pretty slim.  Lise Davidsen makes her only staged opera appearance in a rather odd Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos, Feb 4, from Aix en Province.  I say odd because in this regie production Ariadne doesn't await a god to rescue her; instead she awaits a baby because she is pregnant.  Lise frowned almost constantly.  The singing was wonderful.  Other performances in the running are Verdi Aida, February 18, from Paris and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, October 9, from the Met in a shortened version.  The Aida with Jonas Kaufmann and Sondra Radvanovsky has puppets.  None of these are anything I would want to see again, but I award to Aida.

• BEST VERISMO AWARD  The Verismo operas for this year were Korngold Die Tote Stadt, June 20, from the Bayerische Staatsoper, Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, August 2, from West Edge, and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, August 20, from Chicago.  West Edge was in a poor venue and can't really compete with the other companies.  Verismo operas are modern enough to allow for regie productions with no complaining, at least from me.  The Korngold starred Jonas Kaufmann who is hard to beat in anything.  Pagliacci starred our boy Quinn Kelsen who gave us a marvelous prologue.  The pictured performance was a television show, The Honeymooners, which I am old enough to have seen.  If you hadn't seen it, you would not get the back story.  I award to Pagliacci, for fun.
  

• SINGER OF THE YEAR   This has to go to Jonas Kaufmann, who managed to find a way onto the stage and our screens in spite of everything.  I especially loved him in the reopening of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Act I of Die Walküre with Lise Davidsen, who was glorious.  This is the most I have become emotionally involved with this scene. His fully staged operas were Aida with Sondra Radvanovsky, Die Tote Stadt with Marlis Peterson, Tosca with Anna Netrebko in Salzburg and with Sondra Radvanovsky in Spain, and the triumph that puts him above all others:  Tristan und Isolde with Anja Harteros.  I loved every bit in spite of the fact that it was very much regie.  With such great artists it doesn't seem to matter.

 It was a pretty strange year.  Let's hope for better things in the future.

Eurydice in HD

 

Eurydice................Erin Morley, soprano 
Orpheus.................Joshua Hopkins, baritone 
Orpheus’s Double........Jakub Józef Orlinski, countertenor 
Father..................Nathan Berg, baritone 
Hades...................Barry Banks, tenor 
Little Stone............Stacey Tappan, soprano 
Big Stone...............Ronnita Miller, mezzo 
Loud Stone..............Chad Shelton, tenor 

Conductor...............Yannick Nézet-Séguin 
Director................Mary Zimmerman 

The opera Eurydice by Matthew Aucoin on a libretto by Sarah Ruhl premiered in Los Angeles in 2020. It's based on a play by Sarah Ruhl and is in English. This is the Orpheus myth from the woman's point of view. It's a preferred topic for operas because it's about the power of music even over the gods. Orpheus can lure the gods into releasing Eurydice from hell. 

We are 20 minutes in and they have violated an important rule: there should be an aria, preferably for the soprano, in the first 10 minutes. So far just talky stuff. They tried all recitative operas at the beginning of opera, but it didn't work out. We go to hell and see Eurydice's father who still remembers life before death and how to read and write. He writes to Eurydice and sings about it. This is the closest we've come to an aria so far. 

Eurydice comes out in her bridal dress, and father watches her while he sinks back into the earth. Orpheus and Eurydice sing their vows, kiss and dance. Hades arrives and he has a conversation with Eurydice over the water cooler. He brings her the letter from her father. For me the lyrical bits don't go on nearly long enough. Eurydice goes off with Hades and Orpheus comes looking for her. 

I'm sorry. This just isn't happening for me.

West Side Story 2021

 

	1961	2021
Tony	Richard Beymer (voice:  Jimmy Bryant)	Ansel Elgort
Maria (Bernardo's sister)	Natalie Wood (voice:  Marni Nixon)	Rachel Zegler
Anita (Bernardo's girlfriend)	Rita Moreno (voice:  Betty Wand)	Ariana DeBose
Bernardo (head Shark)	George Chakiris	David Alvarez
Riff (head Jet)	Russ Tamblyn (voice:  Tucker Smith)	Mike Faist
Officer Krupke	William Bramley	Brian d'Arcy James
Lieutenant Schrank	Simon Oakland	Corey Stoll
Doc's shop keeper	Ned Glass as Doc	Rita Moreno as Valentina

These are comparative cast lists for the two movie versions of Bernstein's West Side Story.  The lyrics are by Sondheim.  All the main roles were dubbed in the 1961 movie while none were in the new one.  Voice:  means the name of the person who is actually singing.  I was fascinated to see Rita Moreno sang here but was dubbed in the earlier version.  Curious.  After all, Rita has a Grammy.

If you were paying attention, at the very beginning they are talking about urban renewal in that part of New York City and show a photo of Lincoln Center which opened in 1962.  The film showed street signs from that neighborhood.  So there was a slum there before it was torn down.  I liked all the old cars seen parked in the street.  This is my era, apparently.

I enjoyed this remake and found it very emotional.  The dancing was top quality and very professional, but the same cannot be said for the singing.  Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if the volume was turned up a bit.  The singing wasn't bad, just insignificant.  Live in the theater it would be louder because the cast would be chosen partly for their singing and then amplified. 

There was a lot of untranslated Spanish with quite a lot of "Speak English" remarks.  I only know tiny bits of Spanish.  The story was darker and more violent.

In my review of West Side Story at the Sacramento Music Circus I said, "The way the production looks is how the story is told.  One group runs quickly off the stage and is replaced by another.  'Who are these people?' is a question that should be instantly answered." It was at the Music Circus, but it was not here.  It was no easy trick to tell the two groups apart.  I found this a particular problem.

Tony loses his cool for a moment and changes everything.  This is the heart of the story.  One should see it again.  Don't miss this.  The young man who plays Tony is particularly beautiful.

Cher's West Side Story

Don't forget this:

Salzburg Whitsun 2022

Cecilia Bartoli has announced her Whitsun Festival for 2022.  It's called Siviglia and features a variety of references to Seville.  There is even a flamenco night.  I am hoping for a stream, because it would be wonderful to see Cecilia in Barber of Seville once more.  It looks like a lot of fun.

June	3		Il barbiere di Siviglia		Haus für Mozart
June	4		Piano Matinee · Iberia		Haus für Mozart
June	4		Concert · La Torre del Oro		Haus für Mozart
June	5		Il barbiere di Siviglia		Haus für Mozart
June	5		Flamenco Night · Oda a la flor del naranjo		Felsenreitschule
June	6		Sacred Concert · El siglo de oro		Kollegienkirche
June	6		Gala Concert · Carmencita & Friends		Grosses Festspielhaus

• Gianluca Capuano Conductor
• Maria Agresta Soprano
• Rebeca Olvera Soprano
• Cecilia Bartoli Mezzo-soprano
• Piotr Beczala Tenor
• Plácido Domingo Tenor
• John Osborn Tenor
• Rolando Villazón Tenor
• Ildar Abdrazakov Bass
• María Pagés Dance
• Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco