BBC Music Magazine announces the nominated recordings for the 2013 Awards

The BBC Music Magazine Awards are the only classical music awards in which the main categories are voted for by the public. The shortlist represents the very best of more than 1,300 recordings reviewed by BBC Music Magazine in 2012, and features leading names from the international classical music arena.

This year’s shortlist sees the Hallé Orchestra & Chorus under Sir Mark Elder nominated in two categories: in Choral for their incandescent performance of Elgar’s oratorio The Apostles and in Opera for Wagner’s Die Walküre, recorded at the Manchester International Festival. Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic also appear twice, in the Orchestral category for their recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, premiering a newly-reconstructed fourth movement, and for their DVD of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, starring Mark Padmore as the Evanglelist.

In their 40th anniversary year, the pioneering Tallis Scholars show there are still discoveries to be made with a blazing account of a Mouton mass in the Choral category, while in the Chamber category the young all-female Nightingale String Quartet prove exceptional advocates for the idiosyncratic quartets of Rued Langgaard, and viol consort Phantasm make the best possible case for Charles I’s composer William Lawes.

BBC Music Magazine’s editor Oliver Condy says: “This was the year for original ideas: Andreas Staier refreshing the Diabelli Variations on fortepiano, soprano Marlis Petersen rediscovering the inspiration of Goethe, Alexei Lubimov performing Debussy on two fascinating pianos, conductor Claudio Abbado and violinist Isabelle Faust coupling Berg and Beethoven. There's no doubt the BBC Music Magazine Awards will be hotly contested once again.”

Recordings in seven categories including Orchestral, Opera, Choral and Instrumental, will be presented for public voting, which will run from 14 January to 28 February on the BBC Music Magazine website, www.classical-music.com/awards2013. Audio excerpts from each of the recordings will be available on the site to help voters choose their favourites, and all voters will be entered into a prize draw to win a Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 network music player worth £700, plus other audio prizes.

The winners of the BBC Music Magazine Awards will be announced at an exclusive awards ceremony held on 9 April 2013 at Kings Place, London. In addition to the voted awards, there are four Jury Awards: Recording of the Year, Premiere Recording, Technical Excellence and Best Newcomer. This year’s jury was again made up of a quartet of leading music critics, with Andrew McGregor, presenter of CD Review on BBC Radio 3, BBC Music Magazine editor Oliver Condy, consultant editor Helen Wallace and reviews editor Rebecca Franks.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE AWARDS 2013 NOMINATIONS

ORCHESTRAL NOMINEES

Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9; 4-movt version (EMI)

‘This reconstruction of the fourth movement, premiered here, is astonishingly convincing. The performance of the whole work, graced by the fabulous Berlin brass, is exceptional.’

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jiří Bělohlávek
Suk: A Summer’s Tale; Prague (Chandos)
‘The BBC SO has developed a speciality in Czech music under Jiří Bělohlávek, locating a generous, supple, honeyed sound. Sad and enchanting.’

Isabelle Faust (violin), Orchestra Mozart/Claudio Abbado
Berg & Beethoven: Violin Concertos (Harmonia Mundi)
‘Berg and Beethoven illuminate and transform each other in these performances by Claudio Abbado and his hand-picked orchestra, alert to every nuance and detail…Isabelle Faust is a radiant soloist.’

INSTRUMENTAL NOMINEES

Alexei Lubimov (piano)
Debussy: Préludes (ECM)
‘A disc to keep returning to… not just for the two books of Préludes on a pair of carefully chosen period pianos, whose tone colours, timbre and contrast affect every aspect of the music, but for Alexei Lubimov’s inspired responses to the changing soundscapes.’

Andreas Staier (fortepiano)
Beethoven: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 (Harmonia Mundi)

‘No other pianist has painted the Diabelli in such colours, taking advantage of all the effects available on the fortepiano…Staier brings miracles of phrasing, touch, pacing and wit to illuminate a thorny masterpiece.’

Janina Fialkowska (piano)

Chopin: Polonaise in E flat; Preludes, Mazurkas, Ballade No. 2 etc. (ATMA)
‘By some mysterious alchemy, Janina Fialkowska only has to perform a note of Chopin and instantly it’s inimitable. The magic lies in her subtle, supple rhythm; an infinitesimal rubato that makes perfect sense of every dance without sacrificing its vital lilt.’

CHAMBER NOMINEES

Trio Zimmermann
Beethoven String Trios, Op. 9 Nos 1-3 (BIS)

‘Beethoven’s dazzling string trios were as revealing of the young composer’s talent as they are exposing for performers… here the ensemble is breathtaking, the rhythms bite and their blend of timbres compels, from densely textured to shimmering transparency.’

Nightingale Quartet
Langgaard: String Quartets Nos 2, 3 & 6 (Dacapo)
‘Langgaard composed music which simply can't be ignored, especially in performances as intense as these from this young quartet. Kaleidoscopic images pass by held together by the sure touch of a composer harnessing an exceptionally vivid imagination.’

Phantasm/Daniel Hyde (organ)
Lawes Consort Music (Linn)
‘There’s something irresistible about Lawes’s music…Phantasm and Daniel Hyde are elegant, erudite guides to this strange and beautiful world, relishing each telling dissonance, each mercurial harmonic shift.’

VOCAL NOMINATIONS

Marlis Petersen (soprano), Jendrik Springer (piano)
Collection: Goethe-Lieder (Harmonia Mundi)

‘An appealing and fascinatingly devised recital programme of Goethe settings from Schubert’s time to the present day… You simply won’t hear lovelier singing.’

Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Gerold Huber (piano)
Ferne Geliebte: Beethoven, Schoenberg, Haydn & Berg (Sony)
‘Christian Gerhaher’s recitals with pianist Gerold Huber seem less like performance than a private conversation. They make complex music seem simple, and simple music sophisticated.’

Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (piano)
Liszt songs Vol II (Hyperion)
‘Liszt was one of the great song-composers, and this wide-ranging programme contains some miracles of the Lieder repertory. Angelika Kirchschlager brings intelligent musicianship and a stunning range of expressive options.’

CHORAL NOMINATIONS

The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
Mouton: Missa Dictes moy toutes voz pensées (Gimell)
‘Once again, the Tallis Scholars reveal hidden Renaissance masterworks. Peter Phillips sculpts a virile, vigorous sound for these mesmerising works where sonority is never slave to maths.’

Hallé Orchestra, Choir & Youth Chorus/ Mark Elder
Elgar: The Apostles (Hallé)
‘Mark Elder and co. reveal the imagination, originality and radiant beauty of this score. The cast is excellent, the choral contributions totally committed... A profoundly moving contribution to Elder’s Hallé Elgar series.’

Collegium Vocale Gent /Philippe Herreweghe, Ann Hallenberg
Brahms: Song of Destiny, Alto Rhapsody etc  (PHI)
‘Philippe Herreweghe's refreshingly untraditional approach brings a proverbially un-Brahmsian lightness and clarity of texture to these shorter choral works.’

OPERA NOMINATIONS

Early Opera Company/Christian Curnyn, with Lucy Crowe etc
Handel: Alceste (Chandos)
‘This exquisite performance of the reconstructed Alceste is suave and sprightly, the trio of soloists first-rate and soprano Lucy Crowe’s ‘Gentle Morpheus’ a magical highlight.’

Kristine Opolais (soprano), WDR Sinfonieorchester/Rundfunk Chor/Andris Nelsons
Puccini: Suor Angelica (Orfeo)
‘Kristine Opolais’s cool, distinctive timbre underlines the aristocratic background and steely self-restraint of the heroine of Suor Angelica, making her unravelling at the end more powerful and violent.’

Hallé Orchestra & Chorus/Mark Elder with Stig Andersen, Yvonne Howard, Clive Bayley, Eglis Silins, Susan Bullock, Susan Bickley
Wagner: Die Walküre (Hallé)
‘Recorded live in Manchester, this Die Walküre is something very special. With Mark Elder’s huge operatic experience at the helm, the Hallé responds with playing so impressive that it holds its own with the best anywhere. Can the short-lived love of Siegmund and Sieglinde ever have been more movingly portrayed than here, by Stig Andersen and Yvonne Howard?’

DVD/BLU-RAY NOMINATIONS

Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Antonia Pappano with Lucio Gallo, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Ermonela Jaho, Anna Larsson etc.
Puccini: Il Trittico (Opus Arte)
‘We so rarely see Puccini’s whole triptych: here are all three operas in vividly characterised, memorable productions by Richard Jones, superbly performed under Antonio Pappano. A treat.’

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir/Simon Rattle with Mark Padmore, Magdalena Kožená, Christian Gerhaher etc
JS Bach St Matthew Passion (BPH)
‘Simon Rattle's fine cast includes Christian Gerhaher's Jesus and Magdalena Kožená’s sensual Magdalene. In its immediacy, Peter Sellars' ‘ritualisation’ makes Mark Padmore's superb Evangelist the major protagonist, and adds a thrillingly unexpected dimension to a familiar edifice.’

Monnaie De Munt Orchestra & Chorus/Mark Minkowski with José Van Dam etc
Massenet: Don Quichotte (Naïve)
‘What could have been a romp through a warhorse is made moving and special by the dreamlike settings and José van Dam: his performance has a valedictory intensity.’

-ENDS-

For further information, photos and MP3 samples of any of the nominated recordings, please contact:
Carolyn Wray
Press Office | Immediate Media
0117 3148812 | carolyn.wray@immediate.co.uk
 

BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013 Jury

Martin Cotton - radio and recording producer
Malcolm Hayes - writer, author of biographies on Liszt & Webern
Anna Picard - music critic, Independent on Sunday
Michael Scott-Rohan - author and music critic
Andrew McGregor - Presenter, CD Review – BBC Radio 3
Helen Wallace (Chair) - Consultant editor, BBC Music Magazine
Oliver Condy - Editor, BBC Music Magazine
Rebecca Franks - Reviews editor, BBC Music Magazine