String players among this year’s nominations include Joshua Bell, James Ehnes, Christina Day Martinson and the Kronos, Aizuri, and Danish quartets
The Grammy nominations were announced on Friday morning, with several string performances among the classical contenders.
Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet were nominated in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category for their album Landfall, a elegiac cycle of songs that show how human memory can be stronger than catastrophe.
It competes with the Aizuri Quartet’s debut album Blueprinting, featuring five contemporary American composers; the Danish String Quartet’s album of Beethoven, Shostakovich and Bach; and Visions and Variations, an album of works by Britten, Prokofiev and the contemporary composer Ethan Wood performed by the American chamber orchestra A Far Cry.
Christina Day Martinson has been nominated in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category for her recording of Biber’s Mystery Sonatas. She is in good company with Joshua Bell, who has been nominated for his recording of two Bruch works: the Scottish Fantasy and the Violin Concerto No 1.
The composer Missy Mazzoli is a contender for the Best Contemporary Classical Composition award, with her violinistic twist on the traditional late afternoon prayer service, the Vespers, as featured in a new video by director James Darrah.
Meanwhile, the recording of Aaron Kernis’s new Violin Concerto, featuring James Ehnes, has been nominated twice: in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Classical Instrumental Solo categories.
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on February 10, 2019 at Staples Center, Los Angeles.
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