Pianist Piotr Anderszewski has won Recording of the Year at this year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards.Anderszewski was presented with his award at a ceremony on 12 April at London’s Kings Place, attended by celebrities and leading figures from the classical music world including pianist Alfred Brendel, composer and broadcaster Michael Berkeley and Radio 3 presenter Suzy Klein.
Radio 4’s James Naughtie and editor of BBC Music Magazine, Oliver Condy, presented the event.
Anderszewski’s recording also won the Instrumental Award – voted for by BBC Music Magazine readers. The Polish-born musician spent years studying the music of Schumann before recording his disc, which brings together some of the composer’s late piano works and music he wrote for pedal piano, arranged by Anderszewski.
The awards ceremony included performances from the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year, pianist Francesco Piemontesi, Vocal category winner, countertenor Andreas Scholl and chamber choir Tenebrae, who won the Choral category this year for their recording of Victoria’s Requiem.
The Orchestral Award went to pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier for their recording of Ravel Piano Concertos and works by Debussy and Massenet – in a performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
And in a category which was voted for by readers for the first time this year, Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra won the DVD Award for their recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, directed by Paul Smaczny.
In addition to the awards voted for by readers, there were also a number of awards chosen by the BBC Music Magazine Awards jury. The award for a Premiere Recording was won by Ryan Wigglesworth’s recording of Harrison Birtwistle’s Night’s Black Bird with the Halle. Paul McCreesh’s recording of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts took the award for Technical Excellence.
Full details of the winners are listed below – and you can hear excerpts from all the recordings here. On that page you’ll also find links to buy all the winning recordings from Amazon and at specially reduced prices on iTunes.
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2012 – winners
Instrumental & Recording of the Year Schumann Humareske; Studies for the pedal piano; Gesänge der Frühe Piotr Anderszewski (piano) Virgin
Opera Handel Agrippina Sunhae Im, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Bejun Mehta, Marcos Fink, Neal Davies, Dominique Visse, Daniel Schmutzhard; Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin/René Jacobs Harmonia Mundi
Orchestral Ravel, Debussy & Massenet Ravel: Piano Concertos; Debussy: Fantasie; Massenet: Deux Impromptus, Toccata, Deux Pièces pour piano, Valse folle Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano); BBC Symphony Orchestra/Yan Pascal Tortelier Chandos
Choral Victoria Requiem Mass 1605; Lobo: Versus est in luctum; Lamentations Tenebrae/Nigel Short Signum
Chamber Mozart String Quartets, K157, 458 & 589 Jerusalem Quartet Harmonia Mundi
Vocal O Solitude Songs and arias by Purcell Andreas Scholl (countertenor); Accademia Bizantia/Stefano Montanari Decca
DVD Mahler Symphony No. 9 Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado; dir. Paul Smaczny Accentus Music
JURY AWARD WINNERS
Newcomer Award Recital Handel: Suite in B flat major; Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel; JS Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat, Fantasy and Fugue in G minor (transcr. Liszt); Liszt: Vallée D’Obermann from Années de Pèlerinage Francesco Piemontesi (piano) Avanti Classics
Technical Excellence Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts Robert Murray (tenor); Gabrieli Consort and Players, Wrocław Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra, Chetham’s School of Music Brass Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Signum Winged Lion
Premiere Recording Harrison Birtwistle Night’s Black Bird; The Shadow of Night; The Cry of Anubis Owen Slade (tuba); The Hallé/Ryan Wigglesworth NMC
DVD Documentary Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Directed by Peter Raymony & Michèle Hozer Drakes Avenue Pictures
Visit our Awards page to hear clips from all the winning recordings