Gramophone, which has been a scion of the classical music world since its establishment in 1923, has announced its latest round of awards--which, in turn, are perhaps the most-respected prizes the industry offers.
There are fewer categories than in previous years (a more decisive change than the odd new prize and quiet retirements of individual awards of recent times) with the historic and the solo vocal categories among those to sound no more.
And this, the recording category awards, is only the first round of announcements.
To follow will be the special awards and announcement of Recording of the Year on September 17, the highest award the magazine bestows.
As promised, here are Gramophone's Music Awards for 2013...
Baroque Instrumental: ...pour passer la mélancholie (Harmonia Mundi), Andrea Staier (harpsichord)
Baroque Vocal: Bach Motets (SDG), Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner
Chamber: Bartók - Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos. 1 & 2, Sonata for Solo Violin (Hungaraton), Barnabás Kelemen (violin) and Zoltán Kocsis (piano)
Choral: Elgar - The Apostles (Hallé Records), Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
Concerto: Bartók, Eötvös and Ligeti Violin Concertos (Naïve), Patricia Kopatchinskaja with Ensemble Modern/Péter Eötvös
Contemporary: Henri Dutilleux - Correspondances, Tout en monde lointain, The Shadows of Time (Deutsche Grammophon), Barbara Hannigan (soprano) and Anssi Karttunen (cello) with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Early Music: A New Venetian Coronation (Winged Lion/Signum), Gabrieli Consort & Players/Paul McCreesh
Instrumental: Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition, Prokofiev - Visions Fugitives and Five Sarcasms (Hyperion), Steven Osborne (piano)
Opera: Puccini - Il trittico (Opus Arte DVD), Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Covent Garden/Sir Antonio Pappano
Orchestral: Josef Suk - Prague, A Summer's Tale (Chandos), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jiří Bělohlávek
Vocal: Wagner Arias (Decca), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) and Markus Brück (baritone-bass) with Deutsche Oper Berlin and Chorus/Donald Runnicles
Congratulations to all artists and labels. Check back with Classicalite on September 17, when we'll report the rest--including which of these wins the big prize!
Until then, there's plenty to be listening to. We're making a b-line for the Puccini.
And the Suk. And the Osborne disc. And the others.
