FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £30!BBC Music Magazine Awards 2020
The shortlists for the 15th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards, the only classical music awards in which the main categories are voted for by the public, have been announced. A jury of expert critics from BBC Music Magazine selected the 21 nominees, which are spread across seven categories. The nominees were drawn from over 170 recordings that received five-star reviews in 2019 in the magazine, the world’s best-selling classical music monthly. The public vote is now open at www.classical-music.com/awards, on the BBC Music Magazine website. Audio excerpts of all the discs are available on the site, and the seven categories are open to the public vote: Orchestral, Concerto, Opera, Choral, Vocal, Chamber and Instrumental. Oliver Condy, editor of BBC Music Magazine, says: ‘With so many wonderful discs released in 2019, it wasn’t an easy task to pick our shortlists. Yet it’s also a joy to celebrate the 21 distinctive and brilliant nominees – and I can’t wait to discover which ones the public will choose to win.’ The winners of the Awards will be announced at a ceremony on 28 April at Kings Place, London. In addition to the public awards, there are four jury awards: Premiere Recording, Newcomer of the Year, DVD of the Year and Recording of the Year. You can jump to a particular category using the following links:
"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 |
 Vierne / Franck Violin Sonatas Ibragimova, Tiberghien "This is simply superb in every way. Ibragimova and Tiberghien’s nuanced performance of Franck’s evergreen Violin Sonata is among the finest, balanced in this impeccable programme by Vierne’s equally captivating Sonata, the disc exquisitely framed by Ysaÿe’s intense Poème elégiaque and Lili Boulanger’s entrancing Nocturne." |  Shaw Orange Attacca Quartet "The Pulitzer Prizewinning American composer takes a classic musical form and reimagines it for the 21st century in this stunning collection of short works for string quartet. Immediate and sophisticated, Shaw’s music remains wholly accessible. The Attacca Quartet’s performance is superb, revealing the music’s poetic heart." |  Bartok / Veress Piano Quintet, String Trio Frang, Kelemen, Kokas, Power, Altstaedt, Lonquich "Combining the lush Romanticism of early Bartók and a hauntingly applied brand of serialism from the little known composer Sándor Veress, some of today’s leading young chamber players draw together a spellbinding programme from the byways of Hungarian chamber music." |
 Bach Family Cantatas Vox Luminis, Meunier "That JS Bach didn’t emerge from a vacuum is thrillingly clear from these vibrant performances of cantatas by the composer’s forebears Heinrich, Johann Michael and Johann Christoph. At the end of this compelling journey, JS’s early cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden shows his considerable debts to his talented family." |  Handel Brockes-Passion Academy of Ancient Music, Egarr "There’s a shocking immediacy in a first hearing of Handel’s Brockes-Passion. The potent, often brutal, imagery and dramatic tension requires a meeting of hearts and minds, and that’s exactly what AAM bring. Be prepared to be swept up in the raw emotion from start to finish." |  Jackson The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ Choir of Merton College Oxford, Nicholas "Jackson’s 2014 telling of the Passion story has the feel of an instant classic. Bright, imaginative instrumental colours are twinned with vivid word-setting, the texts either from the Gospels or by poets associated with the Oxford college. The result immediately engages the ear and lingers in the mind." |
 Busoni Piano Concerto Gerstein, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Oramo "Simply playing Busoni’s Piano Concerto is a feat, but Gerstein does more than get through this mesmerising behemoth. Alongside Oramo and his Boston forces, Gerstein owns and makes sense of every bar in this endearing, enthralling 70-minute extravaganza." |  Schumann / Saint-Saens / Gliere Horn Concertos Maskuniitty, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oramo "Schumann’s exuberant Konzertstück introduces us to Maskuniitty and fellow Stockholm horn players, before he performs Saint-Saëns and Glière with a sound like a smooth malt: warm, smoky, with a hint of fire. Consummate artistry; superb recording." |  Dvorak / Martinu Piano Concertos Kahanek, Bamberger Symphoniker, Hrusa "Dvořák’s still underappreciated Piano Concerto comes across with exhilarating warmth under Kahánek’s fingers. He is equally convincing in the Martinů, and with Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony makes this recording an essential part of any Czech music collection." |
 Bach to the Future Organ Works Latry "Released three weeks before the devastating fire, this thrilling recital is as much a celebration of Notre Dame’s Cavaillé-Coll as it is of Bach. With great artistry, Latry displays the instrument’s incredible sonic range, brings glorious Romantic excess to the G minor Fantasia and creates a compelling crescendo through the Passacaglia." |  Ars longa Old and new music for theorbo Kenny "This intoxicating take on ancient and modern is a tour de force. Kenny has inspired vital, new commissions, and when they’re woven into a programme with little-known Baroque gems, the five centuries that separate them fall away in a cascade of experimental harmonies and aching melodies." |  Shostakovich Piano Sonatas 1 & 2, Preludes Gugnin "Moscow-trained Andrey Gugnin’s name will be seared into your brain after hearing his Shostakovich. The Op. 34 Preludes are electrifying: mercurial brilliance, stunning articulation and an astonishing range of colour and dynamics. The ferocious energy and bleak, haunting poetry of the Sonatas is compelling. Shostakovich for the ages, utterly outstanding." |
 Puccini Le Willis Jaho, Soghomonyan, Mulligan, LPO, Elder "‘Little-known Puccini’ sounds like a contradiction in terms, but chances are you won’t know his first opera, performed here in ts original one-act version. And what a treat it turns out to be, packed full of ravishing melodies, performed here with ardour by an emotionally committed cast and orchestra. Earworms guaranteed." |  Purcell King Arthur Gabrieli Consort and Players, McCreesh "Twenty-five years’ experience of performing the Arthurian legend infuses this stellar recording. Packed with historical detail from its bespoke performing edition, the ensemble reveals new textures alongside vivid characterisation. It’s a tightknit team that deftly flits between contexts, capturing earthy dances, blissful delicacy and more than the odd wry smile." |  Gounod Faust Bernheim, Gens, Les Talens Lyriques, Rousset "In a performance bursting with character and verve, Les Talens Lyriques presents the less familiar 1859 version of Gounod’s score, with lively spoken dialogue and ‘new’ musical numbers. The stand-out attraction, however, is rising star Benjamin Bernheim in the title role. If you haven’t yet heard his exquisite voice, you must." |
 Weinberg Symphonies 2 & 21 CBSO, Kremerata Baltica, Grazinyte-Tyla, Kremer "Weinberg’s centenary year was truly crowned with this release. Both conductor and violinist are passionate about the Polish composer’s music and that shines through in this beautifully engineered recording. Orchestral technical brilliance is matched by high emotion in the performances of these two symphonies from either end of the composer’s career." |  Korngold Symphony in F sharp Sinfonia of London, Wilson "John Wilson has reformed the Sinfonia of London, and, boy, does it sound good. There’s heart and soul in every note of Korngold’s remarkable Symphony in F sharp, the composer’s only symphony and one of his finest scores. Rarely has the Adagio packed such a powerful emotional punch." |  Lutoslawski Symphonies 1 & 4 Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lintu "You could hardly wish for a more rounded portrait of the modernist Polish master than this exciting release, which contrasts a young man’s energy in the First Symphony with muscular maturity in the Fourth. Nor could you reasonably wish for more powerfully played performances of these works than is delivered here." |
 Handel Italian Cantatas Devieilhe, Desandre, Le Concert d'Astree, Haim "Composed during Handel’s Italian sojourn, these highly-charged cantatas depict the fluctuating emotional states of their tormented female characters, brought to life with thrilling energy by these two singers. The orchestral playing is also exceptionally vivid. As dramatic as any opera." |  Si J'Ai Aime Song by Saint-Saens, Bordes, Berlioz, Dubois, Massenet etc Piau, Le Concert de la Loge, Chauvin "The title may be Si J’ai Aimé (If I loved), but there is no ‘if’ about it, for this colourful bouquet of 19th-century French orchestral songs is utterly adorable throughout. With soprano Sandrine Piau in sublime voice, you will want to play this disc of littleknown gems again and again." |  Janacek The Diary of One Who Disappeared Spence, Drake "Janáček’s song-cycle tells of forbidden love with an immediacy that demands extraordinary responses, and Nicky Spence offers all the ardent urgency, obsessive desperation and sweet vulnerability it needs. Julius Drake’s piano playing communicates with just as much power, beauty and subtlety." |