Maciej Dziekiewicz:

>If any of you knows anything about the circumstances in which Penderecki
>has recently recieved a Grammy Award for his Violin Concerto written for
>Anne Sophie Mutter, I'd be greatfull to learn how did he manage to do
>that.

A significant reason for the success of this recording was an extended
interview last Autumn with Anne Sophie Mutter on the news program All
Things Considered, on National Public Radio, which is broadcast throughout
the U.S.  Mutter very engagingly spoke about rehearsing the work with
Penderecki, who wrote the work for her and who took her advice concerning
some difficult passages, as I recall.  She made the work sound exciting.
Lengthy excerpts of the work were played on the program.  In consequence
of this broadcast many people were motivated to purchase the recording,
including myself.

More recently there was a similar broadcast review, on the same program,
of a recording called Lassus, choral works of Orlando di Lasso,  sung by
the Hilliard Ensemble, in which the commentator (forget his name) remarked
on the chromaticism of these 16th Century works.  I was surprised, when I
bought this recording, to discover that the choir consisted of only four
singers;  I might have known that, but I didn't.

As it happens, the day after the second broadcast, Lassus was the #2 best
selling recording at Amazon.com.  If there were more broadcasts of this
sort, the situation of classical music in America would change
significantly, I think.

Jim Tobin