Gramophone's Orchestral Award: every winning album from 2000 to 2023
Gramophone
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Here are all of the winners of the Orchestral category since 2000, featuring recordings conducted by Claudio Abbado, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Kirill Petrenko, Riccardo Chailly and many more
2023
Nielsen Symphonies Nos 4, ‘The Inextinguishable’ and 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi
DG
'The headlong fugue into that finale is so exciting and the seismic excitement of duelling timpani is as punchy as needs be. But it’s the return of the harassed but indomitable main theme of the symphony that needs to be absolutely incandescent – and it is. Thrilling.'
2022
Mahler Symphony No 7
Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Kirill Petrenko
(BSO Recordings)
'This is an auspicious first release for the Bayerisches Staatsorchester’s own label and whichever favourite version of the symphony you might have in your collection – be it Bernstein or one of the Fischers, perhaps – Petrenko demands to be heard and attention paid.'
2021
Schmidt Complete Symphonies
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
(DG)
'And what of Schmidt himself? Maybe he’s condemned to be in a perpetual state of rediscovery, stuck in limbo on the edge of the repertory. If anything can change that, though, it’s this set: with the Notre Dame Intermezzo thrown in to sweeten the deal, it makes as strong a case for both Schmidt and his symphonies as one could imagine. Essential for the composer’s fans, highly recommended for newcomers.'
2020
Weinberg Symphonies Nos 2 & 21
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica / Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
(DG)
'The appearance of these two symphonies on an illustrious label is another clear pointer to Weinberg’s ‘arrival’. Unsurprisingly, the depth and realism of DG’s recording are superb, and the all-important spatial distancing of the soloists in the Kaddish Symphony is beautifully captured. All in all, this has to be one of the most important symphonic releases of the year.'
2019
Langgaard Symphonies Nos 2 and 6
Anu Komsi sop Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Sakari Oramo vn
(Dacapo)
‘A mandatory purchase for its interpretative insights, committed playing and tangibly realistic sound’
2018
Ravel Daphnis et Chloé
Ensemble Aedes; Les Siècles / François-Xavier Roth
(Harmonia Mundi)
'With fine choral contributions from the Ensemble Aedes, this new recording is highly recommended.'
2017
‘Haydn 2032 – No 4, Il distratto’
Riccardo Novaro bar Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini
(Alpha)
‘If we’re all still around for the composer’s 2032 tercentenary, this may well become the period-instrument Haydn cycle by which all others are measured...’
2016
Shostakovich Symphony No 10
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons
(DG)
‘Be in no doubt that this is one of the finest performances that I have ever heard of this great piece (it must surely bid fair for ‘best in catalogue’) and to say that it augurs well for Nelsons’s future with the Boston Symphony is an understatement and then some.’
2015
Bruckner Symphony No 9
Lucerne Festival Orchestra / Claudio Abbado
(DG)
‘Abbado in Lucerne radiates clarity, wisdom and vision, qualities that over the years one had come to expect of him’
2014
Brahms The Symphonies
Gewandhaus Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly
(Decca)
'During his eight-year reign in Leipzig, the Gewandhaus Orchestra has become as articulate a Brahms ensemble as any in Austro-Germany. It helps, of course, that Chailly himself is a trusted Brahmsian.'
2013
Suk A Summer's Tale. Prague
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jiři Bĕlohlávek
(Chandos)
'Bělohlávek holds the tension in both pieces from the first bar to the last. Wonderful!'
2012
Martinů Symphonies Nos 1-6
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jiři Bĕlohlávek
(Onyx)
'In short, Bĕlohlávek and the BBC SO are now my top recommendation for the Martinů symphonies, with Järvi and the Bamberg Symphony a credible budget option.'
2011
Shostakovich Symphony No 10
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko
(Naxos)
'If there has been a finer account of the Tenth in recent years, I confess I must have missed it; and I would be surprised.'
2010
Dvořák Symphonic Poems
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras
(Supraphon)
'His performing style in this music often reminds me of his one-time teacher Václav Talich, the way dance rhythms are underlined but never overstated, the solidity of the playing and what seems like an intuitive understanding of the music’s extraordinarily strong atmosphere.'
2009
Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko
(Naxos)
'Petrenko’s Manfred emerges from the gothic greys of the opening wind chorale to vent his heartache in an emotive surge of string sound. And to ensure that we’ve grasped the measure of his despair, he repeats himself.'
2008
Myaskovsky Symphonies
USSR State and Russian Federation Symphony Orchestras / Evgeny Svetlanov
(Warner Classics)
'For anyone coming fresh to the composer and his world, the Warner set provides an extraordinarily economical, if potentially mystifying, entrée.'
2007
Prokofiev Symphonies
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev
(Decca/Philips)
'I should say at once that the new performances of the Second, Sixth and Seventh are probably the finest on CD.'
2006
Mahler Symphony No 6
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Claudio Abbado
(DG)
'Abbado’s sweetly attenuated string sound is just as beautiful as Karajan’s more saturated sonority, a testament to the chamber-like imperatives of his latter-day music-making, not to mention the advantage of adequate rehearsal time!'
2005
Haydn Paris Symphonies
Concentus Musicus Wien / Nikolaus Harnoncourt
(DHM)
'Harnoncourt is typically alert to every message the music has for us, drawing drama, humour, tenderness and colour at all turns, leaving the listener nothing to do but gasp, smile or glow in his wake.'
2004
Bax Symphonies
BBC Philharmonic / Vernon Handley
(Chandos)
'Let me say straight away that superlatives are in order here, though even seasoned Baxians will, I suspect, be startled by the propulsive vigour and sinewy strength of these performances.'
2003
Sibelius Rondo of the Waves
Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä
(BIS)
'The whole collection offers the most illuminating picture of Sibelius’s creative process, reflecting not so much the austerity we associate with him as his practical musicianship in developing sparks of inspiration.'
2002
Bruckner Symphony No 8
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Günter Wand
(RCA)
'When in the Scherzo you sense that the mountains themselves are beginning to dance‚ you know you are onto a good thing; on this occasion‚ Olympus itself seems to have caught the terpsichorean bug.'
2001
Vaughan Williams A London Symphony
London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Hickox
(Chandos)
'Hickox and the LSO respond with an unquenchable spirit, generous flexibility and tender affection that suit VW’s admirably ambitious inspiration to a T, and Chandos’s sound is big and bold to match. Quite simply, an essential purchase for anyone remotely interested in British music.'
2000
Mahler Symphony No 10
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Simon Rattle
(EMI/Warner Classics)
'Rattle makes the strongest possible case for an astonishing piece of revivification that only the most die-hard purists will resist. Strongly recommended.'
