GRAMMYs Roundup- Classical

The Best Classicl Album field is dominated by distinguished opera recordings and a pair of fine contemporary-music programs.

The Best Classical Album field is dominated by distinguished opera recordings and a pair of fine contemporary-music programs. Three-time GRAMMY winner Lorin Maazel led the New York Philharmonic in On The Transmigration Of Souls, composer John Adams' solemn, meditative memorial to the events of September 11. British conductor Sir Colin Davis, whose 10 GRAMMY Awards include two for a 2001 opera recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, leads the same ensemble in another dramatic classic, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes . Three-time GRAMMY-winner Robert Spano led his celebrated Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in composer Jennifer Higdon's rousing City Scape and Concerto For Orchestra. Conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn earned a nod for leading the Nashville Symphony in the Symphony No. 1; Piano Concerto; Holiday Overture by the distinguished American composer Elliott Carter. And René Jacobs led the early-music ensemble Concerto Köln in a performance of Le Nozze Di Figaro that made Mozart's 1786 opera sound fresh and new.

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Both the Maazel and Spano efforts mentioned above also earned nominations in the Best Orchestral Performance category. Conductor David Lloyd-Jones was cited for his recording of British composer Arnold Bax's lush, atmospheric Symphony No. 7 and tone poem Tintagel with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The same orchestra collaborated with veteran José Serebrier to remind listeners of the charming, melodic music of Russian composer Alexander Glazunov with a recording of his Symphony No 5 and ballet The Seasons . Rounding out the category, conductor Jirí Belohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra made a persuasive case for the distinctive music of Bohuslav Martinu, performing his Symphonies Nos 3 and 4.

Three conductors shared honors in the BEST OPERA RECORDING category. Not only was René Jacobs cited for his recording of Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro, but also for a rarity: Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda. Another early-music specialist, Emmanuelle Haïm, earned nods for two recordings of pioneering operas, one of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orféo, the other of Henry Purcell's Dido And Aeneas; both recordings feature Haïm's period-instruments group, Le Concert d'Astrée. The final nomination went to conductor Antoni Ros Marbà and the Orquestra Simfònica Del Gran Teatre Del Liceu for a recording of Xavier Montsalvatge's adaptation of the "Puss In Boots" fable, El Gato Con Botas .

Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra garnered yet another nomination, in the Best Choral Performace category, for a recording of Hector Berlioz's grandiloquent Requiem. Four other contenders for the award hail from former Eastern bloc countries. Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki's St. Luke Passion received a stirring reading by conductor Antoni Wit and the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. Stephen Cleobury led his venerable Choir Of King's College, Cambridge, in Sergei Rachmaninov's somber Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom. Renowned vocalist Paul Hillier mounted the podium to lead the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in a selection of works by composers from the former Soviet Union on Baltic Voices 2. And Valentin Silvestrov's achingly personal Requiem For Larissa received a sensitive reading by conductor Volodymyr Sirenko and the National Symphony Orchestra Of Ukraine.

In addition to their nomination for Best Classical Album, the Nashville Symphony's recording of Elliott Carter's Piano Concerto also earned a Best Instrumental nomination for their steely-fingered soloist, Mark Wait. The young British violinist Daniel Hope shed new light on another 20th century classic, Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, which he paired with the increasingly appreciated Violin Concerto of Benjamin Britten. Pianist Peter Donohoe applied his skills to another undervalued modern work, the Piano Concerto of British composer Arthur Bliss. Violist Kim Kashkashian illuminated the ruminative …And Then I Was In Time Again by Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian, while four-time GRAMMY winner Anne-Sophie Mutter reveled in the luxurious romance of a Violin Concerto written especially for her by her husband, the distinguished composer-conductor André Previn, as well as the high spirits of Leonard Bernstein's Serenade.

The category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance featured a diverse array of styles this year. Guitarist David Russell turned his attention south of the border for a dazzling collection of Latin-American music, Aire Latino. The exacting French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard brought both precision and poetry to Claude Debussy's Images and Études, while fellow pianist Mikhail Pletnev mixed virtuosity and vigor in Robert Schumann's Études Symphoniques, Arabeske and other pieces. Six-time GRAMMY-winner Vladimir Ashkenazy applied his considerable insights to the Piano Sonata No. 2, Five Preludes and other works by his countryman, Dmitri Shostakovich. Finally, violinist Thomas Zehetmair offered a dazzling display in the daunting Sonatas For Violin Solo by Belgian virtuoso Eugene Ysaye.

Pletnev also shared a nomination in the category of BEST CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE with his fellow pianist, tempestuous 1999 GRAMMY winner Martha Argerich, for their performance of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella and Maurice Ravel's Ma Mère L'Oye. England's Maggini Quartet continued a stellar British-music series with the String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3 by Frank Bridge. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes unraveled the knotty textures of Béla Bartók's Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 , while another violin-and-piano combo, Leila Josefowicz and John Novacek, took a spin with John Adams' Road Movies. Turning the clock back to the 14th century, the Hilliard Ensemble provided an illuminating disc of Motets by French composer Guillaume de Machaut.

The category of Best Small Ensemble Performance (With or Withput Conductor) brought a fascinating mix of ancient and modern music. Conductor Jeff Von Der Schmidt and Southwest Chamber Music earned a nod for their second disc devoted to the Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 2 of Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, a sequel to last year's GRAMMY-winning introductory volume. Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, a two-time GRAMMY winner, led a group of friends in Yehudi Wyner's The Mirror and Passover Offering, powerful music based on the composer's Jewish heritage. Three remaining nominees presented overlooked music from ages past. Violinist Reinhard Goebel led Musica Antiqua Köln in German Baroque maverick Heinrich Biber's Harmonia Artificiosa. Bill Ives led the early-music consort Fretwork in With A Merrie Noyse, compiling music by the 17th century British composer Orlando Gibbons. And Jeanne Lamon conducted her Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau's Le Temple De La Gloire.

Some of the world's most glorious voices made up the ballot for Best Classical Vocal Performance. The powerful Finnish soprano Karita Mattila demonstrated her way with gentler, more intimate music on Grieg And Sibelius Songs. Esteemed for her insightful performances of Baroque masterpieces, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson presented a dramatic collection of Handel's Arias . Another mezzo, Susan Graham , cut to the quirky heart of composer Charles Ives in a program of his Songs. Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff applied his dark, booming voice to songs by Schubert, Schumann and others on A Romantic Songbook. Joining that starry array was a pair of lesser-known talents, soprano Angela Maria Blasi and mezzo Stella Doufexis, who performed the lush Orchestral Songs of composer Joseph Marx.

Each of the nominees for Best Classical Contemporary Composition — John Adams' On The Transmigration Of Souls, Jennifer Higdon's Concerto For Orchestra, Tigran Mansurian's …And Then I Was In Time Again, André Previn's Violin Concerto and Valentin Silvestrov's Requiem For Larissa — was also honored in at least one other category. In addition to proving that contemporary music is alive and thriving, that fact also demonstrates that the music is being championed by some of the world's most distinguished and skilled performers — a very healthy sign indeed.

Finally, the field of Best Classical Crossover Album honored a group of nominees whose works were motivated by a genuine sense of musical adventure. Cuba Percussion and Klazz Brothers set familiar classical tunes dancing to a Latin beat on Classic Meets Cuba; meanwhile, on East Meets West, violinist Daniel Hope paired classical impressions of the East (such as Ravel's Tzigane and Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances ) with two ragas by Ravi Shankar. William Stromberg conducted the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's swashbuckling film score for The Adventures Of Robin Hood. On LAGQ's Guitar Heroes, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet paid homage to its youthful heroes, extending beyond classical music to include such celebrated pickers as jazzer Pat Metheny and Yes guitarist Steve Howe. And in one of the most innovative pairings of all, contemporary British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage turned music by jazz guitarist John Scofield into an impressive new concerto, Scorched.