At the Grammy Awards in New York City on January 28, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra won Best Orchestral Performance for its recording Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio, led by Manfred Honeck. The Shostakovich recording also won the award for Best Engineered Album, Classical. The Nashville Symphony’s Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto & Oboe Concerto, led by Giancarlo Guerrero, won two awards: Best Classical Compendium and Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Concerto, with soloist Roberto Díaz. The Houston Symphony won Best Opera Recording for Berg: Wozzeck led by Hans Graf, with soloists and choruses from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the Houston Grand Opera Children’s Chorus. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Death & the Maiden with Patricia Kopatchinskaja won Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Sony Classical’s 25-disc Leonard Bernstein—The Composer won Best Historical Album; pianist Daniil Trifonov’s Transcendental won Best Classical Instrumental Solo; and Bryars: The Fifth Century with PRISM Quartet and The Crossing, won Best Choral Performance. Soprano Barbara Hannigan won best classical solo vocal album for Crazy Girl Crazy, featuring music by Berg, Berio, and Gershwin with the Amsterdam-based Ludwig Orchestra, which she conducted.
Posted January 29, 2018
