The annual Gramophone Classical Music Awards are perhaps the most prestigious and eagerly anticipated awards in the business: often referred to as the 'Oscars of classical music', they celebrate the recent recording work of some of today's greatest musicians. As the newly-revealed shortlist for 2014 indicates, there are going to be some particularly difficult decisions coming up this year: with 72 discs in 12 categories, the list sees relative newcomers such as Igor Levit and Arcadi Volodos pitted against veterans like Mitsuko Uchida and András Schiff for the Instrumental Award (exclusively the province of pianists this year!), whilst the Gewandhausorchester, London Symphony Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra are among those battling it out in the Orchestral category.
On 20th August, the top three discs in each category will be announced; the final verdicts will then be revealed online on 27th August and celebrated on 17th September in an evening ceremony at St John's Smith Square, which will be co-hosted by Presto and feature live performances from some of the winners.
You can read full reviews of all the shortlisted titles in a special free-to-view digital magazine which Gramophone have produced in association with Presto - have a browse here!
Baroque Instrumental
Mahan Esfahani
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Amandine Beyer (violin) Gli Incogniti
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Ensemble Masques, Olivier Fortin
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Zefiro Baroque Orchestra, Alfredo Bernardini
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Baroque Vocal
RIAS Kammerchor & Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Hans-Christoph Rademann
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Cologne Chamber Choir, Collegium Cartusianum, Peter Neumann
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Anna Stéphany, David Daniels et al; Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
The Sixteen, Eamonn Dougan
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Chamber
Steven Isserlis & Robert Levin
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Pavel Haas Quartet
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
The London Haydn Quartet
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Choral
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique & Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Roderick Williams, Hallé, Sir Mark Elder
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Collegium Vocale Gent, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Philippe Herreweghe
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Stuttgart Southwest Radio Vocal Ensemble, Marcus Creed
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Contemporary
Los Angeles Philharmonic & Los Angeles Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, Ryan Wigglesworth
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Christopher Purves, Royal Opera House, George Benjamin
Available format: DVD Video
Roderick Williams, BBC Singers & Nash Ensemble, Nicholas Kok
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
MusicNOW Ensemble et al, Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Concerto
Isabelle Faust, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Ingrid Fliter, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jun Märkl
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Sharon Bezaly, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Neeme Järvi
Available format: SACD
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Early Music
The Orlando Consort
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
La Compagnia del Madrigale
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Gallicantus, Gabriel Crouch
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Contrapunctus, Owen Rees
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 176.4 kHz, 24 bit)
Stile Antico
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Instrumental
András Schiff
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Igor Levit
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Marc-André Hamelin
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Danny Driver
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Mitsuko Uchida
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Arcadi Volodos
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Opera
Bryan Hymel, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Anna Caterina Antonacci; Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir David McVicar
Available format: 2 DVD Videos
Miah Persson, Rolando Villazón; Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Evgeny Nikitin, Ingela Brimberg, Sally Matthews; Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble, Marc Minkowski
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Lance Ryan, Iréne Theorin, Mikhail Petrenko; Teatro alla Scala, Daniel Barenboim, Guy Cassiers
Available format: 2 DVD Videos
Orchestral
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
Available formats: 6 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Gewandhausorchester, Riccardo Chailly
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
London Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Heinz Holliger
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Recital
Simone Kermes, Concerto Köln, Christoph-Mathias Mueller
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Bejun Mehta, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Roberta Invernizzi, I Turchini, Antonio Florio
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
Philippe Jaroussky, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Andrea Marcon
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Maria Keohane, European Union Baroque Orchestra,Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Solo vocal
Evelina Dobraceva, Ekaterina Siurina, Andrei Bondarenko et al; Iain Burnside
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Gerald Finley, Julius Drake
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
