NEW YORK - Under rigorous security, with 600 police officers ringing Madison Square Garden last night, the 39th annual Grammy Awards took place for the first time in a large-scale arena. The security was prompted partly by a visit from Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won an award for best spoken-word album before jetting back to Washington for a state dinner. There was no landslide consensus, but winning three trophies each - and suggesting that class wins out over attitude at these heavily hyped ceremonies - were gentleman rocker Eric Clapton (record of the year for "Change the World"), soul producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (who produced "Change the World"), and the Beatles, whose pastiche single, "Free as a Bird," obviously touched a nostalgic nerve.

Clapton was supremely deferential, avoiding empty boasting and twice praising R&B legend Curtis Mayfield. Though Mayfield's "New World Order" album was shut out of a Grammy, Clapton called it his favorite disc of the year.

Babyface, also a class act, spent more time praising Stevie Wonder, who presented him a trophy, than talking about himself. Without a doubt, Babyface (who later revealed he's producing a song for the next Rolling Stones album) and Clapton had to be the most selfless Grammy winners in quite a while.

This was a true share-the-wealth night. In addition to the three triple winners, there were six double winners. They were Montreal songbird Celine Dion (who took home album of the year for the 8 million-selling "Falling Into You"), new-breed rocker Beck (best alternative music performance and a surprise winner of best male rock performance for "Where It's At"), rap group the Fugees (best rap album for "The Score"), rocker Sheryl Crow (best female rock vocal for "If It Makes You Happy"), and country singers LeAnn Rimes and Vince Gill.

Some will say these Grammys were safe and middle of the road, but the choice of 14-year-old Rimes as best new artist was a surprise. Rimes, who broke into the business as a Patsy Cline soundalike, became the youngest person ever to win a Grammy and the first country act to win best new artist.

Grammy voters did embrace a number of safe, predictable choices. Older perennials Tony Bennett and the Chieftains won, and so did younger perennial Toni Braxton (the female pop vocal Grammy for the boudoir ballad "Unbreak My Heart")

Others were folk eminence Pete Seeger (yes, hard to believe after his half-century career) and rockers the Dave Matthews Band. Seeger won for best traditional folk album ("Pete"), then declared without a trace of crankiness, "Fame brings more problems than I like." The Matthews Band won best rock performance by a duo or group for "So Much to Say." Said Matthews: "I was surprised we were even nominated."

The three trophies awarded the Beatles were more than they had ever won in a single year. None of the Beatles showed up, but the video director of "Free as a Bird," Joe Pytka, recalled the secrecy surrounding the song, which was written by John Lennon, then finished by the other Beatles nearly two decades later. Pytka said he was never given a copy of the tune, but had to go to a London studio to hear it, which made it very difficult to construct a video for it.

Former Harvard Square singer Tracy Chapman won best rock song for "Give Me One Reason." She's a proven Grammy favorite - remember her three awards in 1988? - and she bested such rising newcomers as Garbage ("Stupid Girl") and Jakob Dylan's Wallflowers ("6th Avenue Heartache").

Boston's Tracy Bonham was up for best alternative music performance, but lost to Beck's "Odelay," which also beat out tracks by Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., and Tori Amos. It was a decision that Bonham applauded. "I couldn't agree more," she said backstage. "I love Beck."

During pre-telecast ceremonies, Mrs. Clinton, who won for the spoken-word album of her bestselling book, "It Takes a Village," walked up to the podium in an emerald-green brocade Oscar de la Renta gown, then spoke with reporters afterward.

"I was very surprised to win," she said. "I didn't even know Grammys were given to tone-deaf people like me. Anyone who saw me on Rosie O'Donnell's show a few weeks ago knows what I'm talking about." Clinton talked about the importance of the arts in "sustaining the American spirit." People should know, she said, that "the arts are not a luxury, but a necessity."

In a hotly contested rock category, Sheryl Crow won best rock album for her self-titled album. It hasn't sold as well as her last disc, "Tuesday Night Music Club," but Crow declared, "The game's not over. My last record took three and a half years to take off."

As for the night's stage performances, the most memorable were a medley from "The Waiting to Exhale" soundtrack (with Aretha Franklin joining Whitney Houston) and songs by Smashing Pumpkins and Bruce Springsteen. But none was more touching than Stephen Marley & the I-Threes' tribute to reggae kingpin Bob Marley.