{"id":207016,"date":"2023-11-14T09:52:27","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T14:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=207016"},"modified":"2023-11-14T13:17:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T18:17:56","slug":"uconns-fuchs-earns-grammy-nomination-for-latest-album-cloud-slant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/11\/uconns-fuchs-earns-grammy-nomination-for-latest-album-cloud-slant\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn\u2019s Fuchs Earns Grammy Nomination for Latest Album, \u2018Cloud Slant\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Composer Kenneth Fuchs\u2019 latest album, \u201cCloud Slant,\u201d<\/a> continues to earn accolades four months after its July release, the latest a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year, Classical.<\/p>\n

As executive producer of the album that features conductor John Wilson and the prestigious Sinfonia of London, Fuchs, professor of composition<\/a> in UConn\u2019s music department<\/a>, says the prospect of earning a second Grammy is an exciting one.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Fuchs earned the award for Best Classical Compendium for his album, \u201cPiano Concerto, \u2018Spiritualist\u2019\/Poems of Life\/Glacier\/Rush,\u201d<\/a> recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra for Naxos Records. This is his fifth Grammy nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am profoundly grateful to the voting members of the Recording Academy who supported \u2018Cloud Slant,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cSeveral hundred classical music recordings were submitted by record labels in both the United States and Europe to the Recording Academy for Grammy Award consideration in the classical field.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Academy has 12,000 voting members who cast ballots for five nominees in each category.<\/p>\n

For Producer of the Year, Classical, members nominated audio producer Brian Pidgeon for his work on nine albums this year, including \u201cCloud Slant,\u201d which was released by Chandos Records. Fuchs served as executive producer of the album, making him a contender for recognition by the Recording Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI composed all of the music for the album, developed the recording project over four years with John Wilson and Chandos Records, and raised the funds \u2013 over $125,000 \u2013 necessary to bring the album audio life,\u201d Fuchs says. \u201cI join music director John Wilson, the members of the Sinfonia of London, and everyone at Chandos Records in saying how thrilled and honored we are to be included among the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Producer
Producer Brian Pidgeon and UConn music composition professor Kenneth Fuchs at the recording console at St. Augustine\u2019s Church in Kilburn, London. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fuchs says he was taken by Wilson\u2019s talent after hearing his recordings of classic Hollywood film scores and knew the two needed to connect on a project. After meeting in 2018, work began on \u201cCloud Slant.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The album includes such works as \u201cSolitary the Thrush,\u201d a concerto for C and alto flute and orchestra based on a Walt Whitman poem; \u201cPacific Visions,\u201d an eight-minute piece for string orchestra; and \u201cQuiet in the Land,\u201d described as a poem for orchestra.<\/p>\n

The title work is a concerto for orchestra, using for inspiration three canvases by abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, \u201cBlue Fall,\u201d \u201cFlood,\u201d and \u201cCloud Slant\u201d \u2013 a 19-minute ode to a longtime friendship between Fuchs and Frankenthaler whose words of encouragement inspired him to find his musical voice.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first of a two-volume collaboration with Wilson. The second, \u201cLight Year,\u201d will be released by Chandos Records in June 2024 and will debut four new works: \u201cLight Year,\u201d a suite for orchestra after six paintings by Helen Frankenthaler; \u201cEventide,\u201d a concerto for alto saxophone; \u201cBass Trombone Concerto\u201d; and \u201cPoint of Tranquility,\u201d after a Morris Louis painting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled to be the first living American composer whose music John Wilson is recording on two separate volumes. His interpretations with his virtuoso Sinfonia of London are perfect in every way possible,\u201d Fuchs says.<\/p>\n

Among its other accolades, \u201cCloud Slant\u201d was in the top 10 of several classical charts in the United States and United Kingdom and received a coveted \u201cEditor\u2019s Choice\u201d in the October issue of Gramophone. At UConn, the Office of the Vice President for Research<\/a>, Connecticut Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship<\/a>, Global Affairs<\/a>, Office of the Provost<\/a>, and School of Fine Arts<\/a> helped bring the album to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply grateful to all my colleagues at the University of Connecticut for their support of this recording project,\u201d Fuchs says.<\/p>\n

Grammy nominations<\/a> were announced Friday. During the second and final round of voting from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, members will select winners in each category. Also up for Producer of the Year, Classical, are David Frost, Morten Lindberg, Dmitriy Lipay, and Elaine Martone.<\/p>\n

Winners will be announced Sunday, Feb. 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acclaimed recording chosen from among hundreds of submissions for the famed award; winners will be announced in February<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":207037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,2460,1914,2235,2225,2227,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2368],"class_list":["post-207016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-faculty","category-sfa","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 20:37:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207024,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207016\/revisions\/207024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/207037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207016"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=207016"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=207016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}