The nominations for the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards have now been revealed, with 21 of the best classical recordings from over the past year chosen by an expert jury.
The discs were selected from the 200 recordings awarded five stars by our critics in the last 12 months. Voting is now open to the public, so you can choose your favourite recordings from seven categories: Orchestral, Instrumental, Chamber, Choral, Vocal, Opera and Concerto.
There were a huge number of Debussy recordings released in 2018 in celebration of the composer’s centenary, and the best of these are reflected in this year’s Awards shortlist. In the Instrumental category, Alexander Melnikov is nominated with his recordings of Book 2 of Debussy’s Préludes and the much-loved La Mer, in which Melnikov is joined by Olga Pashchenko. Melnikov appears again playing Debussy in the Chamber category, alongside other leading musicians including Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras in a selection of late works by the French composer.
Contemporary composer John Adams also appears in two categories in this year’s Awards: he conducts his thrilling Doctor Atomic in the Opera category, and his Naïve and Sentimental Music and Absolute Jest are performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Peter Oundjian in the Orchestral category.
Old classics have been given new life in several of this year’s Awards nominations, including new recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony by MusicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis, and Mahler’s First Symphony by the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra under Adám Fischer.
New discoveries include Michael Collins’s recordings of Crusell’s fabulous clarinet concertos and a set of recordings of ‘Moralizing Songs in the Middle Ages’ from the Sollazzo ensemble in the Choral category.
Rising stars of the classical music world are heralded in this year’s Awards, with 25-year-old composer Owain Park’s choral works performed by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge in the Choral category and 26-year-old guitarist Sean Shibe’s disc SoftLOUD nominated in the Instrumental category, following his entry in the same category last year with his debut album.
Familiar faces in the BBC Music Magazine Awards this year include previous winners Mark Elder, who conducts Rossini’s Semiramide in the Opera category, and the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh, who are nominated in the Choral category with their A Rose Magnificat album.
'Drawing up our shortlist has been, like every year, a huge challenge', says BBC Music Magazine editor Oliver Condy. 'The quality of recordings in all genres throughout 2018 was remarkable. But now the power is in the hands of the music-loving public, and I'm excited to find out who they choose as the ultimate winners!'
In addition to the shortlisted recordings, there are four jury awards – Premiere Recording, Newcomer of the Year, DVD of the Year and Recording of the Year – all of which will be announced at the awards ceremony on 10 April.
The full list of nominees can be seen below, and the public vote is now open at www.classical-music.com/awards. You can also listen to audio clips from all the nominated discs here.
Voting closes on Tuesday 19 February 2019, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Kings Place on Wednesday 10 April. For full details of the nominees and how to vote, go to our Awards page here.
Orchestral
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 MusicAeterna/Teodor Currentzis Sony 88985404352
John Adams Naïve and Sentimental Music; Absolute Jest Doric String Quartet; Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Peter Oundjian Chandos CHSA 5199 (hybrid CD/SACD)
Mahler Symphony No. 1 Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra/Adám Fischer Avi AVI8553390
Concerto
Bartók Violin Concertos Nos 1 and 2 Christian Tetzlaff (violin); Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Hannu Lintu Ondine ODE13172
Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos 2 and 4; excerpts from JS Bach’s Partita in E for solo violin, arr. Rachmaninov Daniil Trifonov (piano); Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin Deutsche Grammophon 483 5335
Crusell Clarinet Concertos, Op. 1 and Op. 11, Grand Concerto, Op. 5, Introduction et air suédois, Op. 12 Michael Collins (clarinet/conductor); Swedish Chamber Orchestra Chandos CHSA 5187 (hybrid CD/SACD)
Opera
Handel Acis and Galatea Soloists; Early Opera Company/Christian Curnyn Chandos CHSA 0404(2) (hybrid CD/SACD)
John Adams Doctor Atomic Soloists; BBC Singers; BBC Symphony Orchestra/John Adams Nonesuch 7559793107
Rossini Semiramide Soloists; Opera Rara Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Sir Mark Elder Opera Rara 9293800572
Choral
A Rose Magnificat Works by Leighton, Tallis, Warlock, White, MacMillan, Sheppard, Park, Wylkynson, Howells, Lane and Martin Gabrieli Consort/Paul McCreesh Signum SIGCD 536
Parle Qui Veut Moralizing Songs of the Middle Ages Sollazzo Ensemble Linn CKD 529
Owain Park Choral works The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge/Stephen Layton Hyperion CDA 68191
Vocal
Mirages Works by Messager, Debussy, Delibes, Delage, Stravinsky, Thomas, Berlioz, Massenet and Koechlin Sabine Devieilhe (soprano); Les Siècles/François-Xavier Roth et al Erato 9029576772
Schumann • Mahler Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 39; Lieder und Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister; Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Florian Boesch (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano) Linn CKD 511
Enfers Works by Rameau, Rebel and Gluck Stéphane Degout (bass-baritone); Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon Harmonia Mundi HMM 902288
Chamber
Bacewicz Piano Quintets Nos 1 & 2; Quartets for Four Violins & Four Cellos Silesian Quartet et al Chandos CHAN 10976
Deux Works by Bartók, Poulenc, Ravel and Dohnányi Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Polina Leschenko (piano) Alpha ALPHA 387
Debussy The Late Works Isabelle Faust (violin), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Xavier de Maistre (harp), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Magali Mosnier (flute), Alexander Melnikov, Javier Perianes, Tanguy De Williencourt (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM 902303
Instrumental
JS Bach Works and transcriptions Vikingur Ólafsson (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 483 5022
SoftLOUD Works by Oswald, MacMillan, Reich, Wolfe, Lang; 17th-century Scottish lute pieces Sean Shibe (guitar) Delphian DCD 34213
Debussy Préludes, Book 2; La mer (transcr. Debussy) Alexander Melnikov (piano), Olga Pashchenko (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM 902302
