The veteran of classical music magazines, the Gramophone, has announced its shortlist of candidates to what many consider the “Oscars” of the classical music recording industry – The Gramophone award.
As one can expect, there is a significant representation of British artists, composers and records labels in the shortlist, but some of the categories are genuinely competitive.
The Gramophone awards, presented since the late 70’s, are separated into 10 categories, the shortlist names 6 candidates to win each. From the 10 category winners, one is chosen as “Record of the year”.
Tough Competition
It seems that the most competitive category this year is the instrumental category, which includes some remarkable releases such as Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and Moonlight sonatas, performed by Murray Perahia, a recording which received our own accolades when released. Perahia has won 9 Gramophone awards in his career, including one last year. Could he win the 10th award this year? Also in the list, Arcadi Volodos plays Brahms Op, 76, 117 and 118 (Sony), another Brahms recital by Nelson Freire (Decca), an interesting triple CD Messiaen recital by Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Pentatone), Stravinsky music for two pianos, played by Hamelin and Andsnes (Hyperion) and a period-inspired piano recital by Alexander Melnikov, played on 4 different instruments from the period of which the pieces were composed.
The Concerto category includes well-received releases of Bartok two Violin concertos, performed by Christian Tetzlaff and Hannu Lintu, a wonderful Prokofiev Violin Concertos release by Lisa Batiashvili and Daniel Barenboim and Mozart piano concertos played and conducted by Piotr Anderszewski. The Gramophone staff has nominated Bavouzet performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in the Concerto category, although, as we have mentioned on our review of the album, the highlight of this release (Chandos) was the Per-Gynt suite, with the Concerto turned out less successful.
Turning to the Orchestral Category, we meet some clear candidates to take home the prize – Nezet-Seguim refreshing Mendelssohn Symphony cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (DG), and Teodor Currentzis chilling performance of Tchaikovsky Pathetique Symphony (Sony). It’s worth mentioning that in our opinion, the best deserving of a prize here is Francois-Xaviar Roth’s complete performance of Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe” (HM).
Other highlights from the shortlist include a release with a rare quality of Debussy chamber music, as we reviewed here, and Dvorak chamber music with another multiple Gramophone Award winner, the Pavel Haas Quartet, joined by pianist Boris Giltburg for the Piano Quintet (Supraphon).
The Gramophone award winner will be revealed on August 31, and the official ceremony will be held on September 13, where the recording of the year will be announced.
For the full shortlist, see the Gramophone Magazine website.
