News | You Are (Variations) CD awarded WQXR-Gramophone prize

December 2, 2006

The Master Chorale's latest CD is one of three recordings honored with the WQXR Gramophone American Award for 2006. Released on the Nonesuch label, the recording includes two works by Steve Reich: the You Are (Variations) premiere at Disney Hall in October 2004 with Grant Gershon conducting, and Cello Counterpoint (2003) performed by Maya Beiser.

Additional recordings awarded are:

Peter Lieberson’s Rilke Songs, The Six Realms, and Horn Concerto — performed by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano; Peter Serkin, piano; William Purvis, horn; Michaela Fukacova, cello; Donald Palma and Justin Brown, conductors; and the Odense Symphony Orchestra. A Bridge Records release.

Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre — performed by Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Andalucian Dogs; Erik Friedlander, cello; Gordon Gottlieb and Eric Poland, percussion; Todd Palmer, clarinet; and Tara Helen O’Connor, flute. A Deutsche Grammophon release.

The WQXR Gramophone American Awards, a new collaboration between America’s most listened-to classical music radio station and Britain’s pre-eminent classical recordings magazine, were created to honor the year’s recording achievements in American music and by American artists and to honor those who have made an outstanding contribution to the world of classical music. The awards, in their inaugural year, were announced simultaneously on September 28th with the 2006 Gramophone Awards, by Gramophone Editor-in-Chief James Jolly at the magazine’s annual awards event in London, and on the air on 96.3 FM WQXR, New York.

WQXR was founded in 1936 and was the nation's first commercial classical music radio station. It is owned and operated by The New York Times Company and now attracts nearly a million listeners each week.