The nominees for the 2024 Orchestral Award

Thomas Adès

Dante
Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel
Nonesuch 7559790616

Reviewed June 2023

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil took us on a trip to hell and back in this thrilling account of Thomas Adès’s three-movement epic, drawn from the music for his 2021 ballet based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Heady textures and great imagination abounds in this live premiere recording.

Shostakovich

Symphonies Nos 8-10
Berlin Philharmonic/Kirill Petrenko
Berlin Phil BPHR220421

Reviewed May 2023

‘Sample these performances at any point and you’d probably be powerfully impressed,’ said our review. Indeed there were plenty of impressive moments in this immersive survey of three Shostakovich symphonies from Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Phil. The original review also called the performances here ‘unusually vivid’, and played with the utmost conviction.

Delius • Elgar • Howells • RVW

Orchestral Works
Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
Chandos CHSA 5291

Reviewed April 2023

A selection box of English works led by a ‘stunning benchmark’ recording of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, John Wilson and his brilliant Sinfonia of London musicians proved themselves right at home in this repertoire. Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro was another highlight, along with the ‘magnificent’ sound quality.

Vote for the winner of this year's Orchestral Award

Voting will be open from Tuesday 23 January.

Orchestral Award

Thomas Adès Dante
Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 8-10
Delius • Elgar • Howells • RVW Orchestral Works