NEWS AND LINK: Dudamel, L.A. Phil win 2012 Grammy Award

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have won a 2012 Grammy for "Best Orchestral Performance" for their performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 4, which was recorded by Deutsche Grammaphon (DGG) live in Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Phil's "Brahms Unbound" festival last spring.

The award was Dudamel's first Grammy. It's the second Grammy in which the Phil has been involved. In 1986, the orchestra's recording of Lutoslawski's Symphony No. 3 (led by Esa-Pekka Salonen) won the award for "Best Contemporary Composition." As a Phil spokesperson noted, "The awardee was Lutoslawski as it was a composition award, but the recording was done by the LA Phil."

Dudamel and the Phil beat out Andrew Davis and the BBC Philharmonic's recording of English composer York Bowen's Symphony Nos. 1 & 2; Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra playing Haydn's Symphonies 104, 88 and 101; Marek Janowskiu and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin playing Hans Werner Henze's Symphony Nos. 3-5; and Jirí Belohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing the six symphonies of Bohuslav Martinu.

The Phil's Brahms Symphony No. 4 is available download from iTunes but not (at this point) on a CD.

The 2012 Grammy for "Best Opera Performance" went to the Metropolitan Opera for its Sony Classical recording of Dr. Atomic by John Adams, who is the L.A. Phil's Creative Chair. Adams wrote the opera in 2005 and the Met first presented it last year.

Information: www.grammy.com

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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.