By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
Los Angeles Newspaper Group

I never get too excited about the Grammys, in part because I choose to spend my money on other pursuits, but I found this morning’s announcements about the 2015 Grammy nominations to have at least one note of irony. John Adams’ City Noir was nominated in two categories this year — Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Classical Album — thanks to a Nonesuch recording by David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony.

What’s ironic, of course, is that Adams’ work was written for Gustavo Dudamel’s inaugural concert as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2099 (Adams serves as the Phil’s Creative Chair). A live recording of that concert is available but apparently the nominators were more impressed with Robertson’s studio effort last year.

Dudamel and the Phil will reprise City Noir on March 12 and 13, 2015 at Walt Disney Concert Hall and then play it as part of tour to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo during the following two weeks.

Read all the 2015 Grammy nominations HERE. The classical nominations are categories 72 through 81.
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(c) Copyright 2014, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.