The St Louis Symphony, led by SSO’s chief conductor wins Best Orchestral Performance.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor David Robertson was celebrating today after his recording of American composer John Adams’ symphonic work City Noir, was named Best Orchestral Performance at the 57^th annual Grammy Awards.

The disc, released by Nonesuch Records and featuring saxophonist Timothy McAllister accompanied by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, was crowned the winner of the top orchestral gong of the awards at a ceremony held earlier today at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

Robertson took time out of rehearsal with the SSO at the Sydney Opera House today, where he is preparing the orchestra for the first installment this Wednesday of their complete cycle of Schumann symphonies, to discuss the win. “The Grammy is a wonderful recognition of the long-term work we’ve done in St Louis and I’m so proud of everyone who was part of this project,” Robertson said. “I couldn’t be happier than to share this honour with all of the musicians.”

Despite being a premiere performance of a new work, Robertson’s award-winning recording beat off stiff competition in the very American-centric category. Of the five nominees for Best Orchestral Performance only one, Simon Rattle’s Schumann Symphonies box set performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker, hailed from outside the US. 

While a healthy spread of international labels were represented among the nominees, American recordings continued to dominate as the winners in the other classical music categories. Boston Early Music Festival’s recording of Charpentier’s La Descente D’Orphée Aux Enfers was named Best Opera Recording; guitarist Jason Vieaux’s latest album released by Cleveland based label Azica Records won the Best Classical Instrumental Solo Award; New York label Bridge Records’ album of eccentric American composer Harry Partch’s music, Plectra and Percussion Dances won the Best Classical Compendium Award; and Cantaloupe Music’s recording of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, performed by Seattle Symphony Orchestra took home the Best Contemporary Classical Composition Award.

However there was some good news for French and German labels: Harmonia Mundi’s disc The Sacred Spirit of Russia by Texan vocal group Conspirare was named Best Choral Performance; Swedish mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter’s album, Douce France released by French label Naïve won the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album; and The Hilary Hahn Encores, released by Deutsche Grammophone took home the Best Chamber Music Award.

A full list of the nominees can be found on the Grammy Awards website.