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BBC Music Magazine Awards 2018



BBC Music Magazine Awards 2018

This year's winners were all revealed at a ceremony at King's Place in London on 5 April and we are pleased to be able to share this with you below. All of the winning recordings are available at reduced prices for a limited period - simply click on the images for more information.

You can jump to a particular category using the following links:


ChamberChoralConcertoInstrumentalOperaOrchestralVocal

"The BBC Music Magazine Awards offer the serious and merited celebration of sustained excellence in music-making... the public votes are cast not for superficial glamour but for real and enduring quality". Harry Eyres, Financial Times

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO VIEW MORE INFORMATION ON EACH TITLE

Schmidt - Symphony no.2
Schmidt
Symphony no.3
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bychkov

"Semyon Bychkov pleads masterpiece status for a rarity. Schmidt’s late Romantic style needs the sheen of the Vienna Philharmonic, here captured in outstandingly natural and spacious sound – this is a winner on the engineering front, too. The jury was unanimous in welcoming this splendid risk from a major label."
Winner!
Mahler - Symphony no.3
Mahler
Symphony no.3
Romberger, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Haitink

"Bernard Haitink’s first recording of Mahler's Third Symphony was half a century ago in Amsterdam. The view hasn’t changed too much – a measured survey of the immense opening movement through to a mesmerising account of the great final Adagio – but the playing of the Bavarian Radio Symphony is outstanding, and beautifully captured in concert."

Vaughan Williams - Symphony no.9 ,Job
Vaughan Williams
Job, Symphony no.9
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Davis

"Vaughan Williams’s final symphony has the sinister bite of Shostakovich at his bleakest – a quality not lost on Davis and his Bergen ensemble who have a tight grip on the work’s waspish qualities with playing of eeriness and beauty. The Elizabethan-inspired Job is cloaked in luscious sound."


Chamber Category


Ligeti - Six Bagatelles, Kammerkonzert etc
Ligeti
6 Bagatelles, Kammerkonzert, 10 Pieces for Wind Quintet
Les Siecles, Roth

"Ligeti’s brilliance, wit and quirky originality are at their most obvious in the wind quintet pieces, while the Chamber Concerto is a major work with a frenetic finale. Les Siècles play it all with exhilarating virtuosity, and utterly seductive wind timbres."
Winner!
Debussy - Cello Sonata, Violin Sonata etc
Debussy
Sonatas and Trio
Capucon, Chamayou, Moreau, Pahud, Causse, Langlamet

"This is luxury casting for Debussy, with a clutch of the finest Francophone musicians from across the generations coming together for the occasion. Their readings of the late sonatas are packed with glorious detail, while Renaud Capuçon, Bertrand Chamayou and Edgar Moreau make a great case for the early Piano Trio."

A Noble and Melancholy Instrument
A Noble and Melancholy Instrument
Works for Horn and Piano
Frank-Gemmill, Beatson

"This beautifully thought-through disc has horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill and pianist Alasdair Beatson playing four different pianos and four different horns, all historically appropriate, in a programme ranging through Rossini, Glazunov, Dukas and more. Their warm, easy musicianship makes this edifying and effortlessly enjoyable."

Part - The Deer's Cry
Part
The Deer's Cry
Vox Clamantis, Tulve

"From the incantatory style of The Deer’s Cry to the gently layered Veni Creator with its simple, quasi-medieval organ accompaniment, Pärt’s choral music requires precision and sensitivity, qualities that are in abundance in this stunningly recorded album. Hard to imagine this music better performed."

Winner!
Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott
Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott
Luther and the Music of the Reformation
Vox Luminis, Meunier

"Music played an important part in Lutheran worship. Marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Vox Luminis and director Lionel Meunier offer an illuminating exploration of Luther’s hymns and Gospel translations in settings by many of JS Bach’s predecessors. All is warmly performed, and wonderfully presented in a generously illustrated book format."

Martinu - Cantatas
Martinu
Cantatas
Prague Philharmonic Choir, Vasilek

"Every new Martinů release from Supraphon over the past few years has been treasurable, but this compendium offers the composer’s miraculous poetic cantatas inspired by folk wisdom and timely ecological parables. Unorthodox instrumental combinations and superb singing heighten the pleasures of this recording."

Mozart - Violin Concertos
Mozart
Violin Concertos
Faust, Il Giardino Armonico, Antonini

"Everything feels right about this recording. Isabelle Faust brings purity and playfulness to Mozart’s five violin concertos, youthful works with a freshness of spirit that comes across here with fluent ease. Andreas Staier’s cadenzas are an inspired choice."
Winner!
Fagerlund/Aho - Bassoon Concertos
Fagerlund / Aho
Bassoon Concertos
van Sambeek, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Slobodeniouk, Kamu

"This collection of contemporary works for the oft-neglected bassoon is a revelation. Vital new pieces by Fagerlund and Aho highlight the fire and heart of the instrument, Bram van Sambeek delivers flawless performances, the Lahti Symphony are on fire, and the sound quality is top-notch."

Dynastie
Dynastie
Concertos by JS, WF, CPE and JC Bach
Rondeau

"Jean Rondeau is a firecracker harpsichordist – phrasing, rhythms, ornamentation delivered with panache and intelligence. JS Bach’s D minor Concerto has rarely sounded so urgent, while Rondeau delights in the impishness of JS’s son CPE’s own D minor Concerto. The orchestral playing is vibrant."

Dreams and Fancies
Dreams & Fancies
English Music for Solo Guitar
Shibe

"
Not just great guitar playing, but for two members of this year’s jury the best they had ever heard. At 25, Sean Shibe is that rare thing, a mature philosopher among musicians. He draws a rainbow of colours from his instrument, and Arnold’s Fantasy is a highlight in a balanced programme of English music."
Winner!
Bach2 The Future
Bach2 The Future
Works for Solo Violin
Humphreys

"This gutsy and exhilarating disc completes violinist Fenella Humphreys’s laudable project to commission and record six companion pieces to Bach’s Partitas. Featuring splendid new compositions by Sally Beamish, Peter Maxwell Davies and Adrian Sutton alongside works by Bach, Ysaÿe, Stravinsky and Sibelius, the disc is performed with great precision and verve."

Schubert - Piano Sonatas
Schubert
Piano Sonatas D959 & D960
Zimerman

"The soundworld of this disc is immediately striking: Zimerman has added his own keyboard into a Steinway to create an instrument more akin to what Schubert might have known. But it’s not just the singing tone that sets these performances apart: Zimerman’s take on these two late sonatas is carefully thought through and deeply felt."

Carnevale 1729
Carnavale 1729
Albinoni, Leo, Porpora etc
Hallenberg, Il Pomo d'Oro, Montanari

"A programme loosely based on the 18th-century Venetian carnival offers Ann Hallenberg a colourful window to dazzle us with her astounding virtuosity. Here is a glorious voice which never falters and whose intuitive ornamentation is a constant delight. Il Pomo d’Oro under Stefano Montanari’s direction provides vital support."

Winner!
Berlioz - Les Troyens
Berlioz
Les Troyens
DoDonato, Spyres, Lemieux, Strasbourg Philhamonic Orchestra, Nelson

"Erato’s much-anticipated recording of this four-hour epic, made live in Strasbourg at concerts conducted by Berlioz specialist John Nelson, did not disappoint. It captures thrilling performances from Joyce DiDonato as Didon and from Michael Spyres, at the peak of his powers, as Énée, and from a supporting cast of impressive strength."

Andriessen - Theatre of the World
Andriessen
Theatre of the World
Los Angeles Philharmonic, de Leeuw

"Louis Andriessen calls it a grotesque in nine scenes, turning the life of 17th-century German polymath, Jesuit and scientist Athanasius Kircher into a Faustian journey of self-discovery. Using a mixture of languages, children’s songs, Baroque music, jazz and modernism, it’s a dizzying kaleidoscopic creation from a master of stagecraft."

Blow - An Ode on the Death of Henry Purcell
Blow
An Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell
Arcangelo, Cohen

"Blow’s music deserves to be better known as these stylish performances demonstrate. High tenors rather than the usually heard countertenors sing the Ode on the Death of Henry Purcell while the remaining programme uncovers music which is seldom heard but is of sterling merit."

Winner!
All Who Wander
All Who Wander
Songs by Mahler, Sibelius and Dvorak
Barton, Zeger

"The long wait for Jamie Barton’s debut recital disc was worth every minute. Barton, double winner of 2013’s BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, is wonderfully idiomatic in Dvořák and Sibelius, and she and her pianist give a performance of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder that is up there with the greatest."

Haas - Fata Morgana
Haas
Fata Morgana
Watson, Starushkevych, Spence, Platt, Navarra Quartet, Valesova

"This captivating collection is everything a recording should be. The brain-child of pianist-musicologist Lada Valešová, the disc celebrates the delicately enthralling songs of 20th-century Czech composer Pavel Haas (including a premiere recording, of Fata Morgana), performed with beauty and care."
Premiere Award
Carter - Late Works
Carter
Late Works
Aimard, Currie, Faust, Queyras, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Knussen
Newcomer Award
Chopin - Preludes
Chopin
Preludes, Piano Sonata no.2
Brocal
DVD Award
Maximum Reger
Maximum Reger