Until 6th November, we're offering discounts of up to 20% on the category finalists - and will be bringing exclusive interviews with one or two of the winners over the next week...
Recording of the Year, and Instrumental
'Hahn’s unique qualities – her rich, pulsing tone, her technical mastery, her unabashed confidence, her imagination and her ability to present the music as freshminted.... – inclines me towards her recording as the finest currently available.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Chamber
Schumann: Piano Quartet & Piano Quintet
Isabelle Faust (violin), Anne-Katharina Schreiber (violin, Antoine Tamestit (viola), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Alexander Melnikov (piano)
'They meld their ensemble seamlessly and attend to minute details of phrasing and dynamics without losing sight of the shape of each movement.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Choral
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Nicky Spence (Gerontius), Anna Stéphany (The Angel), Andrew Foster-Williams (The Priest/Angel of the Agony), Polish National Youth Choir, Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh
'Even if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Elgarian with special loyalties to a particular interpretation, this CD is brimful of edifying delights and surprises worthy of repeated listening.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Concerto
Britten: Violin Concerto & Chamber Works
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano), Boris Faust (viola), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůša
'Faust digs deep and her tone has a visceral immediacy that goes straight to the heart of the music. She is unafraid and unflinching, and vividly unleashes the passion in these pages with mesmeric power, symbiotically partnered by Jakub Hrůša.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Contemporary
Kaija Saariaho: Maan Varjot, Chateau de l'Ame, True Fire, Offrande
Olivier Latry (organ), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hannu Lintu, Ernest Martínez Izquierdo
'There’s music on this valuable disc that I’ll return to while it reminds me, again, how the organ, her own instrument, could unlock such remarkable thoughts in her.'
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Early Music
'This is clearly a well-honed performance, strongest in delicate moments....This new release is a happy marriage of musicality and musicology.'
Available Format: SACD
Opera
Janáček: Káťa Kabanová (Blu-ray)
Corinne Winters (Kát’a), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kabanicha), David Butt Philip (Boris), Jaroslav Březina (Tichon), Jarmila Balážová (Varvara), Benjamin Hulett (Váňa), Jens Larsen (Dikój); Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Jakub Hrůša, Barrie Kosky
'Winters is utterly remarkable throughout, words and gestures always telling...Despite Kosky’s occasional idiosyncrasies, this is musically overwhelming. You really do need to hear it.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Orchestral
Vaughan Williams: Job, Old King Cole & The Running Set
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
'Scrupulously prepared and boasting some superbly coordinated, infectiously dedicated playing from the RLPO, it’s a thoroughly absorbing interpretation [of Job]...Overall, this is unquestionably a very fine achievement.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Piano
'His Chopin is as flexible and feather-light as it is fluent and fiery, as compelling in its sense of structure as in its relishing of detail. The whole experience radiates joyful, youthful exuberance.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Song
'There’s certainly no shortage of outstanding recordings of this cycle but this new one – considered, refined and beautifully sung, played and recorded – is among the most satisfying and quietly moving to come my way for a long time.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Voice & Ensemble
'What a sound! Tetelman’s tenor possesses gleaming brightness, and his open vowels and excellent Italian diction make him the sunniest-sounding tenor since Luciano Pavarotti.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Concept Album
'The challenge with these deceptively simple pieces is to maintain perfect balance, weight, poise and equilibrium in the music throughout, alongside a clear sense of line and unswerving tempo. Chamayou manages this quite brilliantly in In a Landscape.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Artist of the Year - Carolyn Sampson
Her recent discography also includes Handel's Laudate pueri with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Justin Doyle, Sounds and Sweet Airs - A Shakespeare Songbook (with her regular recital-partner Joseph Middleton and Roderick Williams), and Mater Gloriosa and Magna Peccatrix on Osmo Vänskä's recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Minnesota Orchestra - Sampson took on the latter role at very short notice when the scheduled singer contracted COVID-19.
Young Artist of the Year - Yunchan Lim
Lifetime Achievement - Michael Tilson Thomas
In early December Sony will release an 80-CD set bringing together all of the recordings which Tilson Thomas made for RCA, CBS and Sony Classical between 1973 and 2005, including landmark accounts of works by Gershwin, Stravinsky, Ives, Ruggles, and Tilson Thomas's mentor Bernstein.
Label of the Year - Opera Rara
A new project encompassing Donizetti's entire output of solo songs - almost half of which have never been heard in modern times - will launch this Friday with albums by Lawrence Brownlee and Nicola Alaimo, both with Rizzi at the piano. Look out for our interview with Lawrence Brownlee next week...
Until 6th November we are offering discounts of up to 25% off Opera Rara titles on CD, SACD, & downloads (excluding MP3).
Orchestra of the Year - Czech Philharmonic
