Classical Music Categories - 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Predictions and Picks

Oh yes... sometimes one album dominates everything across the board in classical music, to where other years is a mixed bag... I see a lot of multiple wins for a multiple recordings this year. This entry will cover the Classical Music categories for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. See the Grammy Awards Live on CBS Sunday, January 31st at 8pm EST. For full interactive coverage visit www.grammy.com.

Best Classical Album

My Prediction & Pick:

Mahler: Symphony No. 8; Adagio From Symphony No. 10
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Ragnar Bohlin, Kevin Fox & Susan McMane, choir directors; Andreas Neubronner, producer;
Peter Laenger, engineer/mixer; Andreas Neubronner, mastering engineer (Laura Claycomb, Anthony Dean Griffey, Katarina Karnéus, Quinn Kelsey, James Morris, Yvonne Naef, Elza van den Heever & Erin Wall; San Francisco Symphony; Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Girls Chorus & San Francisco Symphony Chorus)
[SFS Media]

Tough category, but San Fransisco's Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas have swept in past years. That may hurt or help - either way - Dynamic and breathtaking music.

Best Orchestral Performance

My Prediction & Pick:

Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloé
James Levine, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra; Tanglewood Festival Chorus)
[BSO Classics]

Levine has been around forever, with another solid piece...the Classical music categories are harder to breakthrough than the others and Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony aren't in this category. It's Levine's best chance I think.

Best Opera Recording

My Prediction & Pick:

Shostakovich: The Nose
Valery Gergiev, conductor; Andrei Popov, Sergei Semishkur & Vladislav Sulimsky; James Mallinson, producer (Orchestra Of The Mariinsky Theatre; Chorus Of The Mariinsky Theatre)
[Mariinsky]

If I were a betting man...this is the only one of the bunch nominated in the Best Classical Album category and this recording has many mentions throughout the Grammy ballot this year. It may be it's chance to get the gold...and I think it will.

Best Choral Performance

My Prediction & Pick:

Mahler: Symphony No. 8; Adagio From Symphony No. 10
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Ragnar Bohlin, Kevin Fox & Susan McMane, choir directors
(Laura Claycomb, Anthony Dean Griffey, Elza van den Heever, Katarina Karnéus, Quinn Kelsey, James Morris, Yvonne Naef & Erin Wall; San Francisco Symphony; Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Symphony Chorus & San Francisco Girls Chorus)
[SFS Media]

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra)

Bartók: 3 Concertos
Pierre Boulez, conductor (Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Neil Percy, Tamara Stefanovich & Nigel Thomas; Berliner Philharmoniker & London Symphony Orchestra)
[Deutsche Grammophon]

Boulez is another well-deserved Grammy favorite year after year...after year... after year.

Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra)

My Prediction & Pick:

Journey To The New World
Sharon Isbin (Joan Baez & Mark O'Connor)
[Sony Classical]

Best Chamber Music Performance

My Prediction:

Intimate Letters
Emerson String Quartet
[Deutsche Grammophon]

Tighter category than when I first thought, but again Grammy is familiar with the artist...gives them a very good edge.

My Pick:

Schumann/Bartók: The Berlin Recital
Martha Argerich & Gidon Kremer
[EMI Classics]

I loved the dramatic feel of this work...

Best Small Ensemble Performance

My Prediction & Pick:

Vivaldi: Concertos
Daniel Hope & Anne Sofie von Otter; Chamber Orchestra Of Europe (Kristian Bezuidenhout)
[Deutsche Grammophon]

Best Classical Vocal Performance

My Prediction:

Bach
Anne Sofie von Otter (Lars Ulrik Mortensen; Anders J. Dahlin, Jakob Bloch Jespersen, Tomas Medici & Karin Roman; Concerto Copenhagen)
[Deutsche Grammophon]

My Pick:

Verismo Arias
Renée Fleming (Marco Armiliato; Jonas Kaufmann; Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano Giuseppi Verdi; Coro Sinfonica Di Milano Giuseppi Verdi)
[Decca]

Poor Juan Diego Flórez - this is a battle of the divas and this poor soul is the only guy in the field. He may come up the crowned prince and while I love Renee Fleming, Anne Sofie von Otter (pictured) appears on multiple Grammy nominated albums this year. I think that gives her a one-or-two upper on the others.

Best Classical Contemporary Composition

My Prediction & Pick:

Higdon, Jennifer: Percussion Concerto
Jennifer Higdon (Marin Alsop)
Track from: Alsop Conducts MacMillan, Ad
[London Philharmonic Orchestra]

Best Classical Crossover Album

My Prediction & Pick:

The Melody Of Rhythm
Leonard Slatkin, conductor; Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
[E1 Music]

&

Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs Of Joy And Peace
Yo-Yo Ma
(Odair Assad, Sergio Assad, Chris Botti, Dave Brubeck, Matt Brubeck, John Clayton, Paquito d'Rivera, Renée Fleming, Diana Krall, Alison Krauss, Natalie McMaster, Edgar Meyer, Cristina Pato, Joshua Redman, Jake Shimabukuro, Silk Road Ensemble, James Taylor, Chris Thile, Wu Tong, Alon Yavnai & Amelia Zirin-Brown)
[Sony Classical]

OK! OK! I picked two for both. Crap! I don't know...this is tough... It will be either, but would also be a damn good tie! :>))

The Stalker Blues

The Stalker Blues

Trade trade go away
Never ever return to me
Never darken my door again
Leave me the hell alone; set me free

You're simply, very simply: No Good!
Now I see you never were, really
I gave in like you knew I would
Fear was my given theory

Men like you don't care
You are just toxic
Taking from within me
Urges are what make you tick

You think your body is enough
Feel like you're all that
Doin' me - forced: in a rush
I deserve better, as a matter of fact

Showing up at my place
Disturbing the peace
All up in my face
Next time, I'm calling the police

You threaten merely by your presence
You're obsessive, callous and cruel
Making faces, tongue flickering lies with a vengeance
Thinking I must be some kind of fool

Brief encounters are all we had, and you know it
Just a few seem to come to mind in this fable
You have illusions about us; you can't deny it
Wanting me to play your game of happy couple

In truth, I have been nothing more than a depository
I wonder in angst when you will leave me alone
I barely sleep, with one eye fixed open - firmly
Knife under bed, wooden spoon in tow; one ear to phone

Why do you cause so much drama, confusion and strife?
Wither into the murky depths of cloud funk you rode in on
I need to move on and up and forward, get on with my life
Not be mired down, depressed, agonized and withdrawn

As you grab my hair with big hands; you touch - rashly
I scold you to go on, get on... as if to the dog you are
Do you think I consider you friend now, let alone family?
The more you follow the more I hide away near and far

It's over, you messed it up; I'm droppin' you like a bad habit
Just go, go on...get out; would you just go away?
Disappear...; you pushed and I have reached my limit
Just leave me alone; that is my wish for today.

Antonio Cassone

Copyright 2009 © Antonio Cassone
All Rights Reserved - Antonio Cassone

Falling

Sometimes I feel like I am falling

It’s a dark, cold and quiet place

Clawing and clinging to the nothingness of air

At a rapid and intense pace



Endless, it seems, as I try to analyze

Why this is happening to me

And why I don’t just let it be

Just accept this and fall, feeling free



Forget that, I just can’t be

I refuse to be fearful and crippled

My heart aching and soul riddled

I tire of feeling stuck in a rut, in the middle



Eyes wide open now, I search and seek

For a light, that I may or may not find

Twisting and turning, body thrusting on a wind

Carefree of what is truly on my mind



Sometimes I hear your soothing voice calling

And even though I feel I am failing at the race

Grabbing and grasping to the hopefulness out there

Receiving your forgiveness and abundance of grace


Copyright ©2009 Antonio Cassone - All Rights Reserved

December 2009 Feature at Photography by Cassone is Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller THIRD straight year!

I am always honored to feature Paul Miller's Designs and Decorations. For the past three years, this is how my Photography by Cassone websites have ushered in the holidays. Miller's work garnered him my Feature of the Year award just last year. Along with assistance by his partner, Bob Drews, and some handcrafted masterpieces by his father, David Paul Miller...it is Paul Miller's ability to arrange and put the impractical in a practical and themed layout; whether it is a Christmas tree, a table setting or a simple gathering of a variety of trinkets...it is his and Drews placement of such that make what they do so special. The next several blogs will include some of the photography I did of their work, along with a special slideshow here of one of the edits of a photo.

Be sure to check out Photography by Cassone's new YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/photographybycassone- Subscribe! It's free! (Thank YOU!)

"Blizzard"
Handpainted/crafted by David Paul Miller
Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller
Assisted by Bob Drews
Photo & Special Effects by Antonio Cassone
(2009)
*December 2009 Photography by Cassone Feature




"Home for the Holidays"
Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller
Assisted by Bob Drews
Photo by Antonio Cassone
(2009)
*December 2009 Photography by Cassone Feature

"Nectar on a Pine"
Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller
Assisted by Bob Drews
Photo by Antonio Cassone
(2009)
*December 2009 Photography by Cassone Feature

"Bar Set Version 1"
Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller
Assisted by Bob Drews
Photo by Antonio Cassone
(2009)
*December 2009 Photography by Cassone Feature

"Bar Set Version 2"
Designs & Decorations by Paul Miller
Assisted by Bob Drews
Photo by Antonio Cassone
(2009)
*December 2009 Photography by Cassone Feature

The Lady Fancy - Photography by Cassone's November 2009 Feature

I know, I know - I am a little behind. Like the tomato who strayed from the pack, I am trying to play catch up...ha! Get it? LOL.

The Lady Fancy was my monthly feature back in November. Here are a few select photos from the shoot, which took place at their 1940s show back in August. Enjoy!

Cassone2007's YouTube Channel Invitational

Happy Holidays! Season's Greetings!

I invite you to check out my YouTube channel, watch a few webisodes and perhaps Subscribe.

I promise I will also check out your channel and Sub you too.

This is an online, networking event...which you can do from the comfort of home.

Check out http://www.youtube.com/cassone2007

Please Rate, Comment, Subscribe & Share - Thank You!

Highlights from the channel include some of my photography, poetry, the online reality series Getting Ready NOW in it's 9th season, the 2009 Cassone Channel Honors, and two new series Spotlight Showcase and In Memoriam.

There is a little something for everyone.

I look forward to sharing and watching your works of art as well.

Best wishes,Cassone

Prepared Awareness (Excerpt 1 of 5 from "The Naked Window: Exposed/Revelations")

My memoir series continued with a combo of books (seasons) 3 & 4 in The Naked Window: Exposed/Revelations. Remember the premise: What if your life were a made-for-television drama series (or, in my case made-for-cable)? It is where the books are referred to as seasons and the chapters are episodes ...from my life story. Here I bring to you a passage from Season 3, Episode 1 Prepared Awareness.

~

So, one stormy Saturday afternoon the beginning of October that year, as I sat in Tiger's lavish apartment overlooking Grand Circus Park...I had a moment. It came crashing down on me quick and in fierce fashion. Tiger was cooking another fabulous meal in the kitchen and I was in the bedroom looking out the window, suddenly it dawned on me that my father was definitely going to die and very soon. I felt so childlike. I wanted so much to be a kid again.

As difficult as my childhood was, as much as I felt belittled and put into a petrified state on that yellow school bus and all the pent up sexuality and hands touching me when I didn't want them to and wanting to touch when I couldn't; in that instant I wished for it all again. Even though I really was ready, I didn't feel ready for that bitter truth. Sure, my mother would be somewhat okay financially. He made sure she would, but I would still have to be the one. Be the man of the house. Can you imagine how I felt in that one moment in time?

Crippled.

Devoid of any kind of wit.

I was so glad that Tiger didn't walk in on me and disturb the moment. True friends have a way of knowing when to give you your moment. Lord knows, my father had passed the baton of manhood to me years ago. It happened one spring morning when he was going through man-o-pause, as I like to call it. Oh, for days he was really giving Mom a hard time and even though, at first, it was from years of pent up frustration, but as much as my mother could have been a hindrance she was a blessing - especially to him.

They had a very strange and strong love for and with one another. It is a love that I have envied in my adult life - to be that into one another, at that level of intensity and it not be based on sex. It was purely spiritual and very emotional for both. They would laugh, cry, yell, cry and laugh during a fierce argument or an intensified conversation, but it always ended in laughter. My God, it was like watching a dance seeing the two of them. So, when things started to go in another direction for a bit when I was like sixteen, I didn't like it.

The fire had happened, so there was that added pressure and you already know my mother didn't work, so a lot of the financial burden rested on his lap. However, he enabled that behavior and my mother did keep our home together, paid all the bills, took care of his business, saw that his clothes were cleaned, cooked memorable meals. Sure, I was given a lot of tasks to do, but she made sure between the two of us he wasn't bothered by much of the house issues. And as time went on and she got out of her funk, she got better at being a wife and mother. That's the woman I wished my siblings would have witnessed coming into her own.

So, this one particular Sunday, we were all preparing dinner in the kitchen and my dad was getting a little out of hand with disrespectful comments to my mother and she'd fire back, but after while he just went on and on. I just sat there wanting to punch his lights out. Hey, she had her flaws, but he was talking about my mother! So, I asked him what his problem was. Well, he wasn't having any of that and before I knew it we were toe to toe in the kitchen ready to box. My mother was beside herself, trying to break us up. Honey, we ended up in the pantry and I wasn't giving in.

I told him I was too big to whip, so now what? He didn't need to talk to her like that when he helped to make her who she was. He needed to get over whatever uphill battle he felt the need to be battling at the time. I told him maybe pimpin' some prostitute might put his house in order, if he was thinking about steppin' out on Mom, "then do it and be done with it, but you better never let her find out about it." We were choking each other, practically wrestling - neither willing to let go.

"That's the problem, I can't...I won't do that." He said he had always been faithful to her. There was no physical release for him. There was no getting past her comments anymore and the romance just wasn't where it was before. Then we were just standing there in the pantry talking about their relationship like I was a sex therapist. My mother was disgusted and said she was disappointed in both of us.

"You, Tony, I can actually kind of understand, but you..." With one look she left the room and the wuss was back. He went right after her and they worked out whatever the hell that was about. I often wondered about my father trying to get with some younger chick. I mean this was right on the heels of Aunt Priscilla and her little discovery from hell, so it was on the subconscious at least. I just stood there bewildered and once I composed myself, I finished peeling the potatoes.

About an hour or so later, my Dad and I were on the front porch laughing and carrying on, comparing boxing scorecards. He said I was his son, indeed. He would stick up for his mother, too. He said he bet I thought he had lost his mind. I thought I had disrespected him. He told me, far from it - I gained his respect. See, where he came from it was almost commonplace to go a few rounds in the garage with Uncle Steve, who practically raised my dad and uncles after my grandfather had a crippling stroke and eventually died. Then we went on joking and talking about the Detroit Tiger's game. It was weird and delightful all at once and he was okay towards my mother after that.

So, fast forward to Tiger's bedroom October 1995, I stood there quietly crying to myself that my father would be gone soon and I would have to prepare myself for that fact. It's not like I didn't know. I mean he had been sick for such a long time, but it just came crashing down on me right then and there. What was I going to do? I certainly wouldn't be able to chase my theatrical dreams without his support. At the time, my mother was very supportive, but there was a little something holding her back. He, on the other hand, was all the way in my corner. He wanted me to fulfill things he only dreamt of doing on the stage. Too bad he wasn't able to share in the little success I was having at the time.

So, as time went on over the next week and a half I carried on. I watched my mother labor over taking care of him. When he was coherent he spoke gibberish most of the time and we would get a nervous laugh or two on his behalf. Her lady friends, Mary, Irene and Genevieve were all great sounding boards. My brother, Sean, started to come over more and more and that was good to see and good for me to have a sibling on my side. I went to work. I went to rehearsal. I even had a date with Blue. And I had a date with Ken.

They were great for the body and emotionally it was nice to just lay in bed with a man, any man and both did their best to provide a chest to lay my head upon.

Usually, sex with them was fast, hectic and raunchy to the hilt - which was fabulous, Mary, but then - at that time - they just provided much needed tenderness. It was very natural and not what I expected from either of my booty call, (expletive deleted for this post) buddies. They both told me I was much more to them than that. I had personality. I was deep. Intense. I told Blue I didn't need any more responsibility right then. He told me, as he caressed my shoulders ever so gently.

"Just go with it. Be prepared. Be aware and you will know what to do next. It will just come to you, man."

Like my mother said, help - whether financially or fundamentally - comes from the sources we least suspect and Blue's mere utterance helped me tremendously.

My eyes were wide open and I was seeing the forest for the trees for the very first time.

I was becoming...

_________________________________

The Naked Window: Exposed/Revelations 2-in-1 combo is available at Amazon CLICK HERE and other fine online retailers.