Awards,
Recordings of the Year 2023 - Our Top 10
We'll be despatching physical awards to all our winners over the next week, so do look out for a photo-gallery in the not-too-distant future, and you can browse the list of all 100 finalists here - until 23rd January 2024 we're offering discounts of up to 20% on almost all of the featured titles.
'Víkingur Ólafsson has been nourishing, revising and even overhauling his relationship with this music since the ‘90s. That humility, and ability to critically reassess one’s approach and course-correct, makes the end result serious, sincere and authentic.' (David Smith)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Puccini: Turandot
Sondra Radvanovsky (Turandot), Jonas Kaufmann (Calaf), Ermonela Jaho (Liù), Michele Pertusi (Timur), Michael Spyres (Altoum), Mattia Olivieri (Ping), Gregory Bonfatti (Pang), Siyabonga Maqungo (Pong); Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
'Pappano has reinstated Alfano’s original completion which, with more extended contributions from soloists, chorus, and blazing trumpets, makes for an utterly thrilling conclusion.' (James Longstaffe)
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Dvořák: The Complete Piano Trios
Veronika Jarůšková (violin), Peter Jarůšek (cello), Boris Giltburg (piano)
'These are musicians who seem to instinctively get each other, trading musical ideas with the easy spontaneity of three friends who are so in sync that they finish one another’s sentences.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
'There are some absolute gems in this classy treasure-trove charting the history of the French ténor de grâce...Dubois's elegant phrasing, immaculate diction and inherent sweetness of tone provide enormous pleasure throughout.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
'Teeming with a vivid array of colourful textures, Inferno is full of morbid, macabre delights. Dudamel and his orchestra dash off the incredible demands placed upon them with seeming ease and exuberant abandon.' (James Longstaffe)
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
'The initial chord of the Vaughan Williams shimmers in a way that few other recordings can match, giving way to the sumptuously rich sound of divided violas and cellos and later to restlessly surging violins.' (James Longstaffe)
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Schulhoff: Five Pieces for String Quartet
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
'Impassioned, vivid and wonderfully nuanced, Honeck’s Tchaikovsky Five springs surprises at every turn, with every section of the Pittsburgh orchestra playing out of their boots and superb engineering capturing every detail. The cumulative effect is shattering.’ (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
'Neglected but never wholly forgotten, the Irish composer Ina Boyle is at last enjoying some of the prominence that she deserves. The Piatti Quartet capture both the ‘slightly Spartan’ nature of her music and its profound, even melancholy, lyricism.' (David Smith)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
C.P.E. Bach: Sonatas For Keyboard & Violin
Rachel Podger (violin), Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
'There's such a lovely rapport between these two, with Podger stepping gracefully into the role of accompanist for long stretches and Bezuidenhout dazzling in the many moments when he takes centre-stage.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Debut Solo Album
'The emotional directness and power of the American countertenor's singing make an unforgettable impact on this programme of spirituals and songs by Black composers; an important, timely album that will speak to classical and non-classical fans alike with equal eloquence.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
World Premiere Recording - New Work
Corigliano/Adamo: The Lord of Cries
Anthony Roth Costanzo (Dionysus), David Portillo (Jonathan Harker), Jarrett Ott (John Seward), Kathryn Henry (Lucy Harker), Matt Boehler (Van Helsing); Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose
‘Adamo’s ingenious fusion of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Euripides’s The Bacchae sheds new light on both works, and Corigliano responds with an astonishingly inventive score which blends spine-chilling Grand Guignol with hypnotic beauty.’ (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
World Premiere Recording - Rediscovery
Ethel Smyth: Der Wald
Natalya Romaniw (Röschen), Claire Barnett-Jones (Iolanthe), Robert Murray (Heinrich), Andrew Shore (A Peddler), Morgan Pearse (Count Rudolf), Matthew Brook (Peter); BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, John Andrews
'Andrews and a fearlessly committed cast make a great case for Smyth's dark and intensely dramatic one-act opera… Smyth's own distinctive voice shines through, and the impetus never flags.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Box Set of the Year
Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers
Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Leo Hussain, Victor Julien-Laferrière (cello), Théo Fouchenneret (piano), Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Tristan Raës (piano), François Dumont (piano), Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est, David Reiland, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth et al
'As The Guardian observed in March, when it comes to popularising the music of overlooked composers from the French Romantic period, a recording project like this is worth a thousand treatises and papers. The performances are all first-rate and bring to life solo songs, chamber music, orchestral repertoire and more.' (David Smith)
Available Formats: 8 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
DVD/Blu-ray of the Year
Puccini: Il Trittico
Asmik Grigorian (Lauretta/Giorgetta/Suor Angelica), Misha Kiria (Schicchi), Karita Mattila (La Zia Principessa), Roman Burdenko (Michele), Joshua Guerrero (Luigi), Alexey Neklyudov (Rinuccio); Wiener Philharmoniker, Franz Welser-Möst, Christof Loy
'Grigorian stakes her claim as one of the finest singing actresses since Callas in Christof Loy’s coherent, uncluttered staging of Puccini’s trilogy - culminating in a devastating interpretation of Suor Angelica.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available Format: Blu-ray
Technical Achievement of the Year
The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Mike Hatch/Floating Earth for and on behalf of Decca
'To record a live event of unprecedented complexity is challenging enough. To do so without a dry run would be beyond most recording outfits’ capacity; and to do all of the above and then have the results ready within mere hours is nothing short of miraculous.' (David Smith)
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
