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 Your Chance to VoteEndorsed by five of the UK’s leading music critics, 18 recordings in six categories are presented for public online voting. The nominations represent the best of more than 1,500 recordings reviewed by BBC Music Magazine each year, and feature an eclectic array of household names as well as newcomers to the field. The BBC Music Magazine Awards are the only classical music awards in which the main categories are voted for by the public. Voting is at www.bbcmusicmagazine.com/awards and will remain open until the end of February. The six winning discs will be announced in April, together with five special jury awards. The jury will also award the Disc of the Year selected from the winners of the readers' vote. | ||
Orchestral | ||
 Mahler: Symphony No. 4Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer"One of the most musically satisfying recordings to appear in a long time" |  Bartók: Orchestral MusicHungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltán Kocsis"Every so often you come across a recording that restores your faith… in the art of music-making itself." |  Beethoven: Violin Concerto & RomancesPatricia Kopatchinskaja, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Philippe Herreweghe"Kopatchinskaja’s warmly recorded account of the Beethoven Violin Concerto must be one of the most stimulating and provocative that has ever been committed to disc" |
Opera | ||
 Wagner: LohengrinWDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, NDR Chor & Prager Kammerchor, Semyon Bychkov"Semyon Bychkov conducts a robustly powerful yet airily textured performance" |  Martinu: Music from the opera JulietteMagdalena Kozená, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras"The finest imaginable tribute to Martinu in his anniversary year…utterly unforgettable." |  Shostakovich: The NoseMariinsky Soloists, Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev"The sheer anarchic daring and certainty of Shostakovich’s score holds us in thrall" |
Choral | ||
 Stravinsky: Canticum Sacrum, Agon, & Requiem CanticlesSWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart, SWR SO Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen"Gielen’s subtle balancing of textures and his impeccable pacing of the contrasting movements, not to mention the responsive playing of the orchestra, brings immense rewards" |  Verdi: RequiemAnja Harteros, Sonia Ganassim Rolando Villazon & Rene Pape, Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano"Pappano’s version is firmly founded on the comprehensively excellent contribution of the chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia… the ANSC’s orchestra, too, offers an absolute certainty of definition" |  Telemann: Brockes-PassionRIAS Chamber Choir, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs"The playing and singing are outstanding, in what must be one of the rediscoveries of the year" |
Instrumental | ||
 Abel: The Drexel ManuscriptPaolo Pandolfo (viola da gamba)"The sound is highly intoxicating. Both Pandolfo’s expressivity and technique are beyond praise" |  Beethoven: Piano SonatasMurray Perahia (piano)"A masterly recital, and one whose undemonstrative performances enable the music to speak for itself" |  Beethoven: Diabelli Variations & Bach: PartitaStephen Kovacevich (piano)"Kovacevich brings penetrating insight and a thrilling physical involvement" |
Vocal | ||
 Liszt AbroadRebecca Evans (soprano), Andrew Kennedy (tenor), Matthew Rose (baritone) & Iain Burnside (piano)"Burnside is a faultless guide along this journey… the singing, too, is exemplary" |  Jonas Kaufmann sings Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven & WagnerJonas Kaufmann (tenor), Mahler Chamber Orchestra & Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Claudio Abbado"Jonas Kaufmann is the German tenor we’ve been waiting for…this is ideal singing." |  Tchaikovsky: RomancesChristianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano) & Julius Drake (piano)"Christianne Stotijn is that artist in a thousand whose personality shines through everything she does." |
Chamber | ||
 Schubert: Trout Quintet and other Chamber MusicMartin Helmchen (piano), Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Marie-Elisabeth Hecker (cello) & Aloïs Posch (double bass), Aldo Baerten (flute)"They deliver a more completely satisfactory account of the Trout Quintet than any I have ever heard before" |  Szymanowski: The Complete Music for Violin & PianoAlina Ibragimova (violin) & Cédric Tiberghien (piano)"Ibragimova’s authority is evident throughout" |  Haydn: String QuartetsJerusalem Quartet"This has to be the best Haydn quartet recording released in his anniversary year …an absolute triumph." |
For details of the 2009 awards, click here. | ||
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