Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year Award is the only Gramophone Classical Music Award decided by public vote. The 10 orchestras nominated this year are: Academy of Ancient Music, Accademia Bizantina, Bamberger Symphoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Philharmonia Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

This week, we focus on Berliner Philharmoniker ...

Introduction

A great orchestra like the vaunted Berliner Philharmoniker is sufficiently chameleon-like to mould to the musical personality of every Principal Conductor, while retaining its own strong identity. With Kirill Petrenko, in situ since 2019, it’s still early days, but the recordings that have emerged from Berlin – crucially all live – have set pulses racing. Writing of Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony, Peter Quantrill commented that ‘as with his Tchaikovsky [Pathétique], it’s the vividly communicated vision of structure that makes Petrenko’s account required listening’, and Beethoven’s Seventh had him reaching for Carlos Kleiber when seeking comparisons. Exciting times in the Philharmonie!

Recommended Album

Beethoven. Schmidt. Stephan. Tchaikovsky Orchestral works

BPO / K Petrenko

‘There are enough inspired performances here to satisfy the most demanding listeners ...’ (Peter Quantrill)

Read the review in the Reviews Database

Berliner Philharmoniker Playlist

Enjoy recent highlights from the Berliner Philharmoniker in our exclusive Apple Music playlist.

Apple Music offers a three-month free trial to new subscribers and with its vast catalogue of recordings – plus the addition of lossless audio and Spatial Audio, offering an immersive audio experience from 44.1kHz/16-bit (CD quality) up to 192kHz/24-bit – it is the perfect music streaming platform for anyone who loves classical music. Find out more and start your free trial here: Apple Music 

Listen to all of the Orchestra of the Year playlists on Apple Music: Orchestra of the Year 2021

Vote for the Berliner Philharmoniker

You can cast your vote for Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year 2021 either using the voting form below or by following this link: 2021 Orchestra of the Year Vote

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