Gramophone Awards 2021 - The Shortlist

Awards 1st September 2021

Gramophone Awards 2020 Shortlist The six contenders in each category for the 2021 Gramophone Awards were announced earlier today; though there will be no live audience this year, an online ceremony (presented by Editor-in-Chief James Jolly and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason) will be live-streamed on Medici TV and Gramophone's social media channels on the evening of October 5th, when details of special prizes including Artist, Orchestra and Recording of the Year will also be unveiled...

You can read full reviews of all the shortlisted recordings via a special digimag here

Chamber

'Ohlsson and the Takács are to be congratulated for the warmth of their interpretation'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'A wonderfully positive conclusion to a life-enhancing cycle'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 16 bit)

'A performance of risk-taking virtuosity'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This debut disc is, hands down, some of the best recorded Telemann out there'.

Available format: CD

View full details

'It’s a breathtaking, astonishing disc, and I cannot recommend it too highly'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Artistry of a high order from this gifted young Swedish virtuoso'.

Available format: SACD

Choral

'These are rarities on record all right, linked by a rich and serious tone well suited to Vox Luminis’s familiar strengths'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'The unforced natural expressivity of the singing as well as the accuracy of the intonation at all dynamic levels puts this new version very near the top of the list'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Dussek himself could scarcely have hoped for a performance as fine as this one, with the Academy on top form'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'[Antonini] catches as exhilaratingly as anyone both the spirit and the letter of Haydn’s unsullied vision'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is achingly excellent playing – the opening Symphonies alone would be worth the price of the disc'.

Available format: CD

View full details

'In this beautifully prepared and executed performance, The Prison emerges most certainly as a work of sweet sounds and concordance'.

Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Concerto

'The charm and wit with which all concerned inject the music make it more akin to a mini-opera buffa than a concerto'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'I doubt whether the [Prokofiev] has ever been played ‘better’ than it is here'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)

'Capuçon’s interpretation is undoubtedly an exceptional one in its affection and sympathy for the long, plangent lines of Elgar’s score'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is, for me, the top recommendation for these two works and, frankly, is how Martinů should always be played'.

Available format: SACD

'A recording rich in sensual gratification and intellectual nourishment'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'If there’s one factor above all that sets these performances apart it’s the osmosis between soloist and conductor'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

Contemporary

'Complex yet direct, it nevertheless serves as a fitting, if sad, farewell to a composer equally deserving of that description'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'The Choir of St John’s College rise to [Finnissy's] challenges gamely, their advocacy naturally essential to the success of the project'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Throughout there is a sense of wonder mixed with despair, of nature grown delirious'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)

'The Nash Ensemble are on top form here, and BIS’s sound is stunning'.

Available format: SACD

'An orchestra with a notable past (and hopefully future), the Nashville Symphony rises admirably to these pieces’ not inconsiderable challenges'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'[Kopatchinskaja] is very much part of an ensemble of equals, and the playing throughout is superb in its focus, precision and concentration'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Early Music

'Fully integrated with the musical line, the singers avoid melodrama through intimate, small gestures as if acting for screen, not stage'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)

'Who better to navigate such extraordinary music than the masters of tranquillity and clarity themselves, The Tallis Scholars?'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 176.4 kHz, 24 bit)

'Another wonderful and fascinating instalment in this impressive series'.

Available format: CD

'Alessandrini amplifies the musical variety within the book, emphasising the vertical clarity and blend in truly polyphonic madrigals'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)

'I think this recording sets new standards for the recording of such music and will be a model for many more to come'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)

'The programming alone would warrant a strong recommendation but it’s more than matched by Contrapunctus’s advocacy'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Instrumental

'Shibe applies the musical and interpretative qualities that characterise its predecessors...to remind us that Bach might have been singular but he contained multitudes.'

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)

'Weilerstein calls on a varied tonal palette, reaching across a considerable dynamic range and employing subtle shifts in shading, articulation and expressive vibrato'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Pinnock particularly shines when he imbues a Prelude and Fugue coupling with distinctive characters'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'Zimmermann’s alert range of articulations and rhythmic lifts...means that the music never loses its way or its sense of forward motion, and her mind is full of intelligent and happy ideas'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)

'This is an original, improvisatory yet often deeply introspective recital, masterfully curated'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'His performances are clean-cut and thought-out, full of pert little trills and mordents, tasteful rhythmic dislocations and a variety of spreadchord formulations'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Piano

'As ever with Anderszewski, there are interpretative surprises along the way, but the sequence is both natural-sounding and innately refreshing'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'Abduraimov’s visionary interpretation [of Pictures] is on a par with the very finest'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'One may miss Arrau’s golden-toned largesse or the gaunter classicism of Fleisher, Curzon and Brendel, yet Grosvenor’s Liszt Sonata clearly belongs in such company'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'I think this new release is among the very best of all the recordings he has given us'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'Bavouzet’s keen intelligence and pristine musicianship are evident throughout'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This offers not only the perfect escape from our current locked-down state but also the most sublime example of peerless pianism'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

Opera

'An exciting, committed, necessary and brilliantly recorded version for our times'.

Available formats: 2 SACDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'It’s an outstanding, essential album, every second of it'.

Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'It will be a hard act, in both performance and presentation, for any competitor to follow'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'McCreesh’s labour of love has abundant nuances and transcendent beauty'.

Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)

'The richness and beauty of the playing, under the unerring direction of Christophe Rousset, is beyond praise'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is essential listening for anyone interested in this remarkable work'.

Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)

Orchestral

'I do like Dudamel’s performance of the Second Symphony...he and his Angelenos are eager to communicate that Ives has all but arrived'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Fresh, fascinating but not uncontroversial accounts, which is just what this neglected early Nielsen needs'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is a high-voltage interpretation, virtuosically played and strong on detail and drama'.

Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'A reading notable for its unhurried demeanour, clarity of texture and orchestral playing of conspicuous finesse and lustre'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Essential for the composer’s fans, highly recommended for newcomers'.

Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)

'Sumptuous is one word – but because this is Wilson that goes hand-in-hand with the keenest articulation'.

Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Voice & Ensemble

'Piau’s voice is light and deftly controlled, and it’s matched beautifully by dappled orchestral accompaniment'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'I cannot imagine a more revealing exposition of Mahler’s instrumental colorations'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is a must-have album for discerning fans of vocal fireworks'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Another fine album from an artist who, quite simply, is one of the greatest voices to be heard today'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'This is surely the finest Verdi recital – from any voice type – to have appeared for several years, if not a decade'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'An emotionally gripping album that should not be missed'.

Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)

Song

'Barton’s all-embracing talent – her powerful presence, her spectacular vocal equipment – has a whole lot of Heggie to get hold of here'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'A recital that bristles with life and love, at once engaging, beguiling and moving. Highly recommended'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Make no mistake, Romaniw is a great talent. The plush richness of her soprano is astonishing.'

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'It is a joy to hear these 29 mélodies sung so well, with superb French diction'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'Said is an engaging storyteller...her French diction sharply animated, with shiny top notes glinting brilliantly'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

'It allows Prohaska and Drake to explore an uncommonly wide stylistic range...the best of it is very fine and infinitely rewarding'.

Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)

Latest related stories

International Opera Awards 2026 - The Shortlisted Recordings

28th Sep 2026

Gramophone Awards 2026 - The Finalists

11th Sep 2026by Chris O'Reilly

Gramophone Awards 2026 - The Shortlist

21st Aug 2026by Chris O'Reilly

Opus Klassik Awards 2026

23rd Jun 2026

Gramophone Awards 2021 - The Shortlist

About the author

Chamber

Choral

Concerto

Contemporary

Early Music

Instrumental

Piano

Opera

Orchestral

Voice & Ensemble

Song

Latest related stories

Download queue