The Recording Academy has announced the nominations for the 68th GRAMMY Awards®, and PENTATONE is proud to be recognized for its role in Chris Cerrone: Don’t Look Down, performed by Sandbox Percussion which has been nominated in three categories: Best Classical Composition, Best Classical Compendium, and Best Engineered, Classical. This nomination celebrates the artistry and collaboration that brought this remarkable recording to life. PENTATONE’s Managing Director, Sean Hickey, shares his thoughts about the recording:
“We congratulate the brilliant composer Christopher Cerrone and the incredible Sandbox Percussion for their GRAMMY nominations in Compendium, for Chris’ in Composition and for the engineering team in the Engineering category. All of us at PENTATONE were taken with this wonderful recording from the outset, and for the fruitful collaboration we have enjoyed with both composer and ensemble.
It was a dark winter day during the emergence from the pandemic when I first heard Cerrone’s Don’t Look Down in a concert at the Interlochen Arts Academy, a piece that kicks off with the urgent and breathy sound of a bicycle pump. I wrote to the composer the next day and not long after met him and Ian from Sandbox in Brooklyn, to discuss a potential album over burritos in Sunset Park. Chris and Sandbox have enjoyed a deep and long association, something that is immediately evident on their PENTATONE release, and I think it elevates both the composer’s craft and the percussion ensemble as an ensemble on equal footing with the string quartet. I encourage all to listen and enjoy this wide palette of colors and thrilling juxtapositions, in this spectacularly rich recording.
We also congratulate Blanton Alspaugh and the team at Soundmirror for their nomination in Engineering. We have had the pleasure of working with Blanton and his colleagues many times over the years, and it’s especially satisfying that our first release with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra – where my career began ages ago and with whom we have deepened our collaboration – features Blanton as producer.”
