Remembering Solti

Grammy has its sentimental favorites, and augury in the classical categories probably best begins there.

Georg Solti has won 30, more than any other artist in any category. And his sudden death in September, weeks before his 80th birthday, can only add to his favored status, and to the probable votes for his unusually warm and, as always, wonderfully sung second recording of Wagner’s comic opera, “Die Meistersinger,” which has been nominated for both best classical album and best opera recording.

But Solti has strong competition in both categories.

For best classical album there is the Emerson Quartet’s celebrated set of the Beethoven String Quartets, brilliantly aggressive and captivatingly played. Given Solti, however, the voters are more likely to make it a shoo-in--appropriately, I think--for best chamber music performance, where it is also nominated.

Look to a possible dark horse, however, in the best album and best orchestra performance categories--Charles Mackerras’ bracing early-music approach to Brahms’ four symphonies. These revelatory performances, lighter in weight and livelier than we are used to, get my vote in both categories.

And for best opera recording, I favor the first release in ages of the great nationalist Russian opera, Glinka’s “Ruslan und Lyudmila,” Valery Gergiev impressively conducting his Kirov Opera forces.

Last year, a contemporary American composer, John Corigliano, was a big winner, with his works gaining three Grammys. This year, three John Adams recordings have been nominated. But the strongest contender is the Ensemble Modern’s boldly virtuosic recording of the Chamber Symphony and other works, nominated for best small ensemble performance; it is the dazzler of that field.

As for best classical contemporary composition, I think this is a good year to pay attention to Aaron Jay Kernis. His dark Second Symphony is a young composer’s ambitiously bold statement about the horrors of war.

The finest instrumental offerings come from pianists. Richard Goode’s humanistic playing of Mozart piano concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is the standout among best instrumental soloist(s) performance (with orchestra); the crystal-clear Schumann from recent Gilmore Award winner Leif Ove Andsnes looms over the best instrumental soloist performance (without orchestra) category. Cecilia Bartoli is almost inevitable winner of best classical vocal performance.