15th August 2016

Awards, Gramophone Awards 2016: Finalists

by Chris O'Reilly

Gramophone Awards 2016: Finalists The 2016 Gramophone Awards are now just a month away, and we're pleased to present the top three discs which will be battling it out in each of the 12 categories.

Baroque Instrumental

"If one’s reflexive default at the prospect of an organ recording – even an exquisitely curated Bach one – is one of dispassionate or nonchalant resistance, this recording is as likely to turn ears as any made...Suzuki offers beautifully turned, reflective and buoyant readings."

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC

"She can play with grace and beauty – at the opening of ‘The Carrying of the Cross’, for instance...There are also many subtleties of articulation and timing, almost as if there are words and pauses lying behind the notes."

Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC

"Phantasm's playing brims with imaginative fantasy and dance-like momentum…a pleasing broadening of textures is injected into this beguiling survey by the additional tenor violist Emily Ashton and organist Daniel Hyde in some denser six-part sets."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Baroque Vocal

"Another intriguing and excellently performed project from Butt and his Dunedin Consort...As usual the forces are small-scale, save for two lusty congregational hymns (adorned with enjoyably headstrong organ improvisations). The Magnificat itself is exciting, fresh and faultlessly paced."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"If a keen sense of the interpretative moment is the hallmark of ensemble performance at its best, then this new Monteverdi instalment from Les Arts Florissants deserves to be held up as such...One is torn between regret that there is to be only one further volume, and anticipation at what it might bring."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Daucé invokes the privilege of creative licence with the interpolation of numerous extracts from operas by Italians invited to Paris by Cardinal Mazarin during the early years of the Sun King’s reign... A rotating team of up to 52 musicians traverse the musical spectrum from whispered intimacy to jovial ceremony."

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Chamber

"Astonishingly accurate and coordinated accounts ...[In the Lyric Suite's Finale] the Emersons leave you longing for what might have been...Wellesz suits Renée Fleming down to her fingertips. She is woven between the lines of the original quartet version."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC

"The Artemis give us a Brahms of and for our time…[they have] taste and sense in abundance, and we could count ourselves very lucky to hear nowadays a performance of the C minor Symphony that matched this recording for its urgency and discretion of response."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Choral

"Davis’s handling of the multi-movement structure of Bliss’s poetic anthology, which ranges from the deeply personal to the collective, is sensitively paced and shaped...This new recording is a revelation for its clarity (notably of the composer's vivid orchestral palette and imaginative choral writing), coherence and sheer emotional intensity."

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"This is a stunning recording in so many respects. Attention to dynamic detail, especially the hushed quality of the Magnificat, brings out the ethereal, not to say numinous character of this highly original miniature...while moments of more characteristic Anglican prayerfulness are shaped by Layton and the Trinity choir with true, intimate poetry."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"A profoundly musical performance of clarity and intelligence. Technically, too, it’s a formidable achievement...Excellent performances throughout from orchestra, soloists and choruses – rarely have the lush textures of Schoenberg’s late-Romantic cantata sounded this fresh."

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Concerto

"These are urgently communicative, potentially transformative accounts…played with almost intimidating dexterity and polish, not to mention impeccable intonation [Frang’s] music-making still manages to project an impression of honesty and naturalness."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"The opening bars tell you this is going to be a good ‘Pag Rhap’. As things turn out, it is a great one, up there with the very best...While Trifonov revels in the pianistic gymnastics, he is also alert to the moments of mischief...Trifonov and Nézet-Séguin do seem genuinely to be a meeting of musical minds."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Contemporary

"It is a richly theatrical journey...[Hannigan's] vehemence and passion suggest she thinks justice is finally being done to a woman who never did get much chance to tell her side of the story...The Danish composer’s sound world is a mass of glinting detail."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"The writing is characteristic in its insistent mix of glitter and grit, new (American) colours added to an eclectic pick of the 20th-century bran tub…if Vladimir Jurowski's punchy performances were indeed captured live with only minimal patching, they are all three remarkably accomplished."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Angel Fighter owes as much to terse commentaries from choir and instruments as to extended dialogues between admirable singers, and Atherton couples scrupulous attention to detail with exemplary alertness to the steadily unfolding shape of the whole."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Early Music

"These ensembles make the case for instrumental participation in this repertory as compellingly as Gothic Voices did for all-vocal performance…this is one of the most satisfying 15th-century recordings I've heard in a while: specialist repertory that doesn't deserve to be."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"This sonorous ensemble, combined with Cave's unhurried tempi, create a wonderfully melancholic sound world. Their interpretations of the post-Josquin generation of continental composers, Gombert and Clemens specifically, are among the finest on disc."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"The Western Wynde Mass nicely contrasts with The Tallis Scholars’ recording, being incisive and brisk where Peter Phillips’s reading is smoother and more leisurely. Parrott is perhaps more persuasive in conveying its pacing...the sound recording successively juggles a wide range of distributions, from harpsichord to choir."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Instrumental

"There is, if you care to rationalise, a Russian depth of sound and eloquence of phrasing, tempered by Germanic intellectual grasp...Levit’s musical personality is as integrated and mature as his technique. And both of these are placed at the service of the music’s glory rather than his own."

Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Revelatory performances of breathtaking beauty and incomparable power. Most striking, perhaps, is their unforced naturalness...Everything flows with the inevitability of speech, precisely articulated, direct and unmistakably sincere...No one who loves French music or exquisite piano-playing will want to miss this."

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"He shares with Horowitz an ability to conjure up landscapes and narratives within these sonatas, so vividly and intensely are they etched."

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Opera

"Serjan is a vibrant, fearless Lisa...Hers is a voice with plenty of ‘blade’ when required, yet she can shade it beautifully...[Didyk] surprises with his baritonal depths here as Herman, as well as a ringing top...Diadkova’s Countess happily relies more on secure vocal technique than scary histrionics and Oksana Volkova is a rich-voiced Polina."

Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"A well-engineered modern account of the work...But it’s also an excellent achievement on its own terms....[the cast] sing powerfully, reliably and impressively. Christina Vasileva’s soprano is up to the challenge of Francesca...Fabrice Bollon conducts the score with a sure touch and is particularly adept at bringing out its moments of beauty."

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC

Orchestral

"[Morlot] opts for a woolier and more pliant (for which don't read softcore) mode of attack. Intuition tells me that Dutilleux would have gravitated towards [this] approach…veins of orchestra perspective are opened up [and Morlot] evokes the thrill of ears discovering orchestral vistas and architecture in the moment."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Barenboim’s long association with, and love for, Elgar has effectively made it part of his musical DNA...And because he is a master he has somehow communicated all of that, both in practical and spiritual terms, to an orchestra for whom it is relatively unfamiliar. That is the really startling achievement here and it manifests itself in playing that is as exciting as it is nuanced."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Powerful and beautifully crafted, this recording – the first from the relationship between DG and the Boston Symphony under Nelsons – is a hugely impressive sign of just what this ensemble/maestro partnership may go on to achieve."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Recital

"Flamboyance and intelligence don’t always go hand in hand, though Max Emanuel Cencic possesses both qualities in spades...a recital of superb cogency that has claims to being his finest album to date...Il Pomo d’Oro are on fine form, too, and Emelyanychev, volatile, sensuous and keenly intense, is impressive."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Karg holds vocal finesse and expressive intensity in near-ideal equipoise. Singing with style, grace and fiery temperament, she brings each of these distraught heroines excitingly, individually alive, while the superb players of Arcangelo - not least the dulcet clarinets - are true dramatic partners rather than mere accompanists."

Available Format: CD

Solo Vocal

"Berner relishes [the Bagatelles'] quirkiness, explosive energy and rarefied lyricism...Güra’s mellifluous tenor has lost none of the freshness of a decade and more ago. He sings An die ferne Geliebte with a wondering, confiding intimacy, punctuated by surges of excited urgency."

Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"A beautifully formed recital shining different lights on a central theme. It is distinguished by Coote’s thorough absorption in the stylistic character of each song...Johnson’s piano accompaniments are, as ever, wonderfully apt and complementary to the voice."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

"Gens, as one might expect, is exceptional in this repertoire. Most of the songs are about erotic anticipation and tristesse, and her dark, slightly smoky tone adds to the sensuality of it all. She sings as much off the text as the line, but nothing is nudged or forced in an overtly interventionist way."

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive

Chris grew up in London and studied cello from the age of 5. He never did enough practice to get really good at it, but caught a passion for Classical music which would stick with him forever. He has wide ranging musical tastes, still plays Chamber music and particularly loves Mahler.

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Awards, Gramophone Awards 2016: Finalists

Baroque Instrumental

Baroque Vocal

Chamber

Choral

Concerto

Contemporary

Early Music

Instrumental

Opera

Orchestral

Recital

Solo Vocal

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