6th September 2024

Awards, Gramophone Awards 2024 - The Finalists

by Chris O'Reilly

The three finalists in each of the eleven categories for the 2024 Gramophone Awards (presented in partnership with Presto Music) were announced this morning, with Yunchan Lim's 'flexible and feather-light' Chopin Études, a 'musically overwhelming' Káťa Kabanová from the Wiener Staatsoper and an 'unafraid and unflinching' account of the Britten Violin Concerto from Isabelle Faust among the albums in the running...

The winners will be revealed on Wednesday 2nd October, when details of special prizes including the Lifetime Achievement Award and Recording of the Year will also be unveiled. Until 6th November, we're offering discounts of up to 20% off all of the titles in the running...

Chamber

'We’re privileged with a fine tribute not only to Mendelssohn and those inspired by his example, but to two exceptional players on top form.'

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'All told, it’s a most rewarding programme that gathers together an unusual array of ear-catching pieces in performances that present the music in its best possible light.'

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Choral

'Elder steers a commendably purposeful course through Delius’s giant canvas, elucidating both its frequently dense textures and its adventurous chromatic harmonies with penetrating skill.'

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'Worthy and welcome as earlier recordings are, they pale in energy, in precision and conviction beside the performances here.'

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Concerto

'Bacewicz’s music certainly thrives on its high metabolic rate, its impatience, even, for which this brilliantly executed new album makes no apology.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'Put it this way: anyone drawing up a canon of the finest recordings of the Rachmaninov concertos would be thought odd if they did not include this latest bid.'

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Contemporary

'All six works included here underline what a diligent, imaginative and consistently engaging composer Chin is. Hers is music that deserves the parallel qualities brought to it by this illustrious orchestra.'

Available Format: 2 CDs + Blu-ray

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'Seppo Pohjola (b.1965) is one of the most undeservedly underexposed composers alive and one whose music, never incidental, is always striving both technically and spiritually.'

Available Format: CD

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'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Early Music

'Cut Circle have plenty of revolutionary zeal. But don’t let that put you off: rather than being generalised early-music defamiliarisation, it is joyfully nuanced.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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

'Les Arts Florissants’ elasticity of expression brings out a particularly lucid evocation of rolling waves and ‘sweet harmony’ in the concluding eight-voice ‘Vasto mar, nel cui seno fan soave armonia’.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Instrumental

'The probity of Alard’s interpretations is bolstered by the intelligence of his programming...It’s the sort of music-making that, its intellectual grasp notwithstanding, clearly emanates from the heart.'

Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'Congratulations on such a stimulating enterprise. I wonder how many other players will be brave enough or inspired to tackle such a task.'

Available Format: DVD Video + 2 CDs

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'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Opera (sponsored by Mascarade Opera)

'The performance is a knockout. Rousset conducts with blazing conviction, admirably sustaining the high emotional pitch without once tipping towards melodrama... It’s a terrific set and a major rediscovery.'

Available Formats: 2 CDs + Book, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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

'This is not conducting that draws attention to itself by means of extremes of tempo or hyper-refined textures. For a Parsifal to be led so vividly by the personalities on stage makes a welcome change.'

Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Orchestral (sponsored by Lark Insurance)

'Wilson aims to unite the Apollonian and Dionysian, as perspicacious about matters of sonority and articulation as Roth while operating at higher emotional voltage...No coupling but for my money this is the finest recorded Daphnis for a generation.'

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'I think it’s Bychkov’s ability to relate phrasing to sound that is at the heart of his success here. He plainly relishes the orchestra’s natural blend while celebrating the beauty of its soloists.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Piano

'The level of detail is apt to leave you speechless. For most pianists, attaining that kind of exactitude requires a Faustian bargain in which the soul of the music (if not of the performer) is sacrificed. Not so here.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'This is certainly one of the finest and most compelling performances of the Transcendental Études I have ever heard. Gold Medal, yes, and other awards to follow, I suspect and hope.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Song

'Another superb disc, in short, from a singer and pianist who always seem to think and feel as one. Its rediscoveries may prove significant, too.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'It’s a portrait of an artist who has shown us many faces on those 100 discs but whose voice remains a constant: sweet, flexible, alive to the text. And always intelligent.'

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

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, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'There’s plenty of vocal heroics from Spyres, as one would expect...this is another fine, fascinating album from an unusually interesting and intelligent artist, handsomely recorded.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

'Her soprano is in remarkably good shape, supple and elegant, her diction exemplary and her phrasing exquisite, deftly capturing the mood of each song.'

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive

Chris grew up in London and studied cello from the age of 5. He never did enough practice to get really good at it, but caught a passion for Classical music which would stick with him forever. He has wide ranging musical tastes, still plays Chamber music and particularly loves Mahler.

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Awards, Gramophone Awards 2024 - The Finalists

Chamber

Choral

Concerto

Contemporary

Early Music

Instrumental

Opera (sponsored by Mascarade Opera)

Orchestral (sponsored by Lark Insurance)

Piano

Song

Voice & Ensemble

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