Gramophone's Opera Award 2023

Tippett The Midsummer Marriage

Robert Murray, Rachel Nicholls, Ashley Riches, Jennifer France, Toby Spence, Claire Barnett-Jones, Susan Bickley, Joshua Bloom; English National Opera Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir / Edward Gardner

LPO

This way, this way! In his original review Mike Ashman praised the ‘special fire’ of this recording of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage, but you might not realise just how swiftly and how thrillingly Edward Gardner and his massed forces make it ignite. From the very first, you can feel the sap rising. There’s a sense of purpose – an irrepressible upward swing – that pulls you in and carries you right through to those blissful, blossoming final bars. In a particularly interesting year for opera its freshness, commitment and sense of wonder just leapt from the loudspeakers.

‘A potent and timely contribution to the 21st-century Tippett revival, and a recording that anyone who’s interested in postwar music will want to hear’

I was present at the concert from which the recording was taken, and can confirm that none of the celebratory atmosphere is missing. Even better, there’s an added clarity, a greater immediacy and (most remarkable of all) a genuine sense of theatre. These soloists – the brightest possible pick of the current British generation – really inhabit their roles and Ashley Riches (King Fisher) and Jennifer France (Bella), in particular, take full ownership of characters who are still (for many) defined by the vintage 1970 Colin Davis recording. Well, The Midsummer Marriage is about nothing if not renewal. This glorious set proves (and not before time) that we’ve barely started to uncover its marvels. A potent and timely contribution to the 21st-century Tippett revival, and a recording that anyone who’s interested in postwar music will want to hear. Richard Bratby

Read the original Gramophone Review

Recording categories

Choral

Concerto

Chamber

Concept Album

Contemporary

Early Music

Instrumental

Opera

Orchestral & Recording of the Year

Piano

Song

Spatial Audio

Voice & Ensemble

Special Awards

Lifetime Achievement

Label of the Year

Young Artist of the Year

Artist of the Year

Orchestra of the Year