Live from LA, Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto edged out George Crumb's The Winds Of Destiny, Avro Pärt's In Principio, Roberto Sierra's Missa Latina 'Pro Pace' and Boston-based composer Yehudi Wyner's fantastic Piano Concerto "Chiavi In Mano" for the 52nd Annual Grammy Award in the BEST Classical Contemporary Composition category.
Lady Gaga (left)
Other notable classical music winners included David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion, The Emerson String Quartet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra's recording of Ravel's Daphnis Et Chloé (James Levine conducting). That work was on the BSO program this week.
I was disappointed that Ursula Oppens' recording of Elliott Carter's piano music did not win in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance. It's a great CD. Check out my review of Oppens, concert of these works at Boston Conservatory... http://deconstructing-jim.blogspot.com/2008/10/concert-review-carters-complete-piano.html
Kudos to Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Pink, who all performed their hit songs with vast amounts of cleavage. Wardrobe malfunctions were miraculously avoided. Singing in tune was optional, especially if autotune software was enabled.
The Grammy is an industry award granted by the Recording Academy. Voting is granted to about 18 thousand dues paying members who are "professionals with creative or technical credits on six commercially released tracks (or their equivalent). These may include vocalists, conductors, arrangers, and other fields directly related to the creative or technical process of producing recordings."
Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!
Link: http://www.grammy.com/
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