Awards, Gramophone Awards 2021 - Recording of the Year

Gramophone's Recording of the Year was revealed last night in a lovely online ceremony filmed at the Voces8 Centre in the City of London and presented by James Jolly and British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason; the evening also featured performances from artists including Fatma Said, Jan Lisiecki, James Ehnes, and Chineke!. Read on for details of the Artist and Young Artist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and more…

Until 29th November we're offering discounts of up to 20% off the winning recordings.

Recording of the Year (and Opera category-winner)

Artist of the Year - James Ehnes

As well as broadcasting a series of live concerts from his home during lockdown, the Canadian violinist also transformed his living-room into a bona fide studio, purchasing state-of-the-art microphones and working through the night to produce a recording of the Ysaÿe Sonatas which Gramophone described as delivering 'an emotional intensity that I think would be hard to replicate in ‘normal’ recording circumstances, even given the power and punch of these works.' A fine recording of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 and Grosse Fuge with his Ehnes Quartet followed, prompting Rob Cowan to declare that 'it’s many a year since I’ve heard string quartet-playing that’s more sheerly beautiful than this, whether in the sum of its parts or the parts themselves'.

You can view James Ehnes's full discography here.

Young Artist of the Year - Fatma Said

A former BBC New Generation Artist, the Egyptian soprano studied in Berlin and Milan, and has spent several years working on the reception and revival of twentieth-century Egyptian music at Oxford University; this research informs her terrific debut album on Warner Classics, El Nour, which features music by Egyptian composers including Gamal Abdel-Rahim, Najib Hankash and Sayed Darwish alongside French and Spanish songs of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The recording also won her the Newcomer of the Year prize at the 2021 BBC Music Magazine Awards; read Katherine's interview with Fatma about her musical background and the gestation of the album here.

You can view Fatma Said's full discography here.

Lifetime Achievement Award - Gundula Janowitz

Now 84, the Austrian soprano began her career in the late 1950s, and shortly afterwards came to the attention of Herbert von Karajan, whom she credits with 'teaching me what music is'; she was particularly associated with Mozart and the more lyrical Strauss and Wagner heroines, with highlights from her vast discography including Sieglinde and Gutrune on Karajan's Ring Cycle and a legendary recording of Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with the same conductor in 1973. In her acceptance-speech she paid tribute to Mozart and Schubert, whom she described as 'the guiding stars of my life...my constant companions'.

You can view Gundula Janowitz's full discography here.

Label of the Year - Deutsche Grammophon

The 'Yellow Label''s recent successes have included award-winning recordings from artists such as Daniil Trifonov, Víkingur Ólafsson, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as well as the creation of their new platform DG Stage: The Classical Concert Hall, which launched last year during lockdown. Presenting the award, James Jolly described the label as 'perhaps the most recognised identity in recorded classical music with a heritage that goes back over 120 years' and declared that 'it personifies what for many of us classical music is all about'.

Concept Album of the Year - Cello 360

Special Achievement Award - Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Founded by conductor Gil Rose in 1996, BMOP has done much to champion neglected twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire, with a particular emphasis on American composers; their in-house label BMOP/sound was launched in 2008, with recent successes including recordings of Elliott Carter's ballets Pocahontas and The Minotaur, Norman Dello Joio's The Trial At Rouen, and Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox (which won a Grammy in 2019 and was nominated for an International Opera Award the following year).

You can view the complete available BMOP/sound catalogue here.

Orchestra of the Year - Minnesota Orchestra

The US orchestra's work was recognised not only for its artistic excellence (as demonstrated by a superb recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 10, released on BIS in March) but also its response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement last year: following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the orchestra cut ties with the city’s police department (which had previously provided security at concerts) and included music by Black composers in all of the outdoor concerts which they gave last summer. In his acceptance-speech, Osmo Vänskä said that the award was 'particularly meaningful for me in my final season as Music Director after 19 years - I am proud of this great partnership between me, this orchestra, and this community'.

You can view the Minnesota Orchestra's complete available discography here.