GRAMOPHONE REVEAL TOP THREE RECORDINGS IN 11 CATEGORIES FOR THE
GRAMOPHONE CLASSICAL MUSIC AWARDS 2024
- 33 recordings now compete to win their category as well as prestigious Recording of the Year accolade
- Winners to be announced at glittering ceremony on Wednesday 2 October at London’s De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, alongside special awards including Artist of the Year and Lifetime Achievement
Gramophone today [6 September 2024] reveals the top three recordings in each category of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2024. Widely acknowledged as the Oscars of classical music, the Awards celebrate exceptional recordings of the past year and acknowledge artists, ensembles and record labels that have made outstanding contributions to the classical recording industry.
Six nominated recordings in each category were revealed in Gramophone’s special digital magazine on 23 August. Now narrowed to a shortlist of three, one will be named as the winner in each of the 11 categories to be announced on 2 October, and a single recording among those winners will go on to win the coveted Recording of the Year.
Star pianist Yunchan Lim – the youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition – is nominated twice in the Piano category (sponsored by Kawai), firstly for his performance of Liszt’s complete Transcendental Études from the semi-final of the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition, and for his debut on Decca of Chopin Études. He’s joined in the category by Piotr Anderszewski for his recording of works by Bartók, Janáček and Szymanowski.
Former Artist of the Year Isabelle Faust is nominated in two categories in the 2024 Awards – her first nomination is in the Chamber category (sponsored by Wigmore Hall), where her recording of Schumann’s Piano Quartet and Quintet with Anne Katherina Schreiber, Antoine Tamestit, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov is up against violist Timothy Ridout’s ‘A Lionel Tertis Celebration’ and Sol Gabetta’s recording of Mendelssohn cello sonatas with Bertrand Chamayou. Faust is also nominated in the Concerto category for her performance of Britten’s Violin Concerto with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, alongside Yuja Wang’s recording of Rachmaninov piano concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter Jablonski and Elisabeth Brauß’s interpretation of Bacewicz’s piano concertos.
Tenor Cyrille Dubois – who won the Song category last year – is once again nominated, this time for his recording of melodies and songs by Louis Beydt, up against baritone Konstantin Krimmel’s recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and soprano Carolyn Sampson’s ‘But I Like to Sing…’ album on BIS. Michael Spyres is nominated in the Voice and Ensemble category for the third year in a row, this time for his ‘In the Shadows’ album with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset; 2023 Artist of the Year Véronique Gens is also nominated for her ‘Paysage’ album with Munich Radio Orchestra and Hervé Niquet, and Jonathan Tetelman’s ‘The Great Puccini’ with Prague Philharmonia under Carlo Rizzi completes the category.
British composers dominate this year’s Choral category, with Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli Consort and Players’ recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius facing competition from the London Mozart Players and Crouch End Festival Chorus’ landmark recording of Parry’s Prometheus Unbound and Delius’s Mass of Life from Sir Mark Elder and the Bergen Philharmonic. British orchestras also lead the nominations for the Orchestral category (sponsored by Lark Insurance), with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s recording of works by Vaughan Williams listed against the Sinfonia of London’s recording of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, completed with the Czech Philharmonic and its recording of Smetana’s Má vlast.
In the Opera category (sponsored by Mascarade Opera), the Wiener Staatsoper’s recording of Wagner’s Parsifal featuring Jonas Kaufmann and Elīna Garanča is up against the DVD recording of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová featuring Corrine Winters and David Butt Philip, as well as Bertin’s Fausto in another nomination for Les Talens Lyriques. Two recordings of Bach feature in the Instrumental category – organist Sietze de Vries’ DVD ‘Bach’s Missing Pages’, and Benjamin Alard’s eighth volume of Bach’s complete works for keyboard. Violinist Hilary Hahn completes the category with her recording of solo violin sonatas by Ysaÿe.
Works by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho recorded by Orchestre Philharmonie de Radio France are nominated in the Contemporary category (sponsored by PRS/PPL) with orchestral works by Unsuk Chin from Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle and Sakari Oramo, as well as Seppo Pohjola’s string quartets 5-7 from The New Helsinki Quartet. In the Early category, Les Arts Florissants’ album of Italian madrigals by Schütz faces competition from Cut Circle’s recording of Josquin’s motets and chansons and Cappella Pratensis’ performance of Obrecht’s Missa Maria zart.
The full shortlist can be found below.
The winners will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony on Wednesday 2 October at London’s De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms. Other awards to be announced on the night include Artist of the Year (sponsored by Classic FM), Young Artist of the Year (sponsored by Classeek), Lifetime Achievement, Label of the Year, Concept Album and Orchestra of the Year – the only award to be decided by public vote. Voting for Orchestra of the Year remains open until midnight on 8 September via the Gramophone website. The awards ceremony will also feature exclusive performances from some of this year’s award winners and is sponsored by Presto Music.
Martin Cullingford, Editor of Gramophone, said: “This year’s shortlisted recordings reflect just what an extraordinarily exciting, vibrant and creative sector classical music is today. It’s wonderful to see albums by musicians whose achievements we’ve celebrated for a number of years sitting side-by-side with some of the most thrilling and thoughtful artists just beginning their recording careers. Every one of these superb recordings more than justifies their place in our shortlist, and your time and attention as a listener, and collectively they couldn’t offer a more impressive celebration of everything that is most compelling about the art form.”
More information on the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2024 can be found on Gramophone’s website.
Full Shortlist
CHAMBER (sponsored by Wigmore Hall)
- MENDELSSOHN Cello Sonatas – Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou (Sony)
- SCHUMANN Piano Quartet and Quintet – Isabelle Faust, Anne Katherina Schreiber, Antoine Tamestit, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexander Melnikov (Harmonia Mundi)
- ‘A LIONEL TERTIS CELEBRATION’ – Timothy Ridout (Harmonia Mundi)
CHORAL
- DELIUS Mass of Life – Bergen Philharmonic, Sir Mark Elder (LAWO)
- ELGAR The Dream of Gerontius – Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh (Signum)
- PARRY Prometheus Unbound – London Mozart Players (Chandos)
CONCERTO
- BACEWICZ Piano Concertos – Peter Jablonski, Elisabeth Brauß, Finnish RSNO, Nicholos Collon (Ondine)
- BRITTEN Violin Concerto – Isabelle Faust, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůša (Harmonia Mundi)
- RACHMANINOV Piano Concertos, Paganini Rhapsody – Yuja Wang, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel (Deutsche Grammophon)
CONTEMPORARY (sponsored by PRS/PPL)
- UNSUK CHIN Orchestral Works – Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle, Myung-Whun Chung, Sakari Oramo (Berliner Philharmoniker)
- POHJOLA String Quartets 5-7 – Uusi Helsinki Kvartetti (Alba)
- SAARIAHO Maan Varjot, Chateau de l’ame, True Fire, Offrande – Olivier Latry, Orchestre Philharmonie de Radio France (Radio France)
EARLY
- JOSQUIN Motets & chansons – Cut Circle, Jesse Rodin (Musique en Wallonie)
- OBRECHT Missa Maria zart – Cappella Pratensis, Stratton Bull (Challenge)
- SCHÜTZ Italian Madrigals – Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew (Harmonia Mundi)
INSTRUMENTAL
- BACH Complete Works for Keyboard, Vol. 8: Kothen, 1717-1723 – Benjamin Alard (Harmonia Mundi)
- BACH Bach’s Missing Pages – Sietze de Vries (Fugue State Films; DVD)
- YSAŸE Solo Violin Sonatas – Hilary Hahn (Deutsche Grammophon)
OPERA (sponsored by Mascarade Opera)
- BERTIN Fausto – Karine Deshayes, Karina Gauvin, Ante Jerkunica, Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir, Christophe Rousset (Bru Zane)
- JANÁČEK Káťa Kabanová – Corinne Winters, Evelyn Herlitzius, David Butt Philip, Vienna Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša (Unitel; DVD)
- WAGNER Parsifal – Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Elīna Garanča, Wiener Staatsoper, Philippe Jordan (Sony)
ORCHESTRAL (sponsored by Lark Insurance)
- RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé – Sinfonia of London, John Wilson (Chandos)
- SMETANA Má vlast – Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone)
- VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Job, Old King Cole & The Running Set – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze (Onyx)
PIANO (sponsored by Kawai)
- BARTÓK Bagatelles SZYMANOWSKI Mazurkas JANÁČEK On an Overgrown Path – Piotr Anderszewski (Warner)
- CHOPIN Études – Yunchan Lim (Decca)
- LISZT Transcendental Études – Yunchan Lim
SONG
- BEYDTS Melodies & songs – Cyrille Dubois, Tristan Raës (Aparte)
- SCHUBERT Die schöne Müllerin – Konstantin Krimmel, Daniel Heide (Alpha)
- ‘BUT I LIKE TO SING…’ – Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton, Jack Liebeck (BIS)
VOICE AND ENSEMBLE
- PUCCINI “The Great Puccini” – Jonathan Tetelman, Prague Philharmonia, Carlo Rizzi (Deutsche Grammophon)
- ‘IN THE SHADOWS’ – Michael Spyres, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset (Erato)
- ‘PAYSAGE’ – Véronique Gens, Munich Radio Orchestra, Hervé Niquet (Alpha)
About the Gramophone Classical Music Awards
The annual Gramophone Classical Music Awards, the world’s most influential classical recorded-music prizes, were launched in 1977 by Gramophone magazine (founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie, with last year marking its centenary). The Awards celebrate their 46th anniversary this year. Gramophone is available internationally and publishes a bespoke edition of the magazine for North America. Gramophone’s full, searchable archive of magazines from 1923 to the latest issue is available digitally for iPad and other tablet devices, smartphone or computer. Gramophone’s weekly podcasts have recently passed their 900,000th download.