We are pleased to announce the 72 recordings that have been shortlisted for the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2017, which is presented in association with the Pan-Armenian Symphony Orchestra, Qobuz and the BPI.

As in previous years, we've gathered the reviews of all of the albums in a free digital magazine, produced in association with Presto Classical, which you can explore via the Gramophone app (for iPad and iPhone users) or the Exact Editions website.

Alternatively, follow the links in the list below to read the original Gramophone reviews via the Reviews Database (subscribe for full access to the Reviews Database).

And what a strong selection of recordings we have this year! If there’s one genre of music-making that’s enjoying a Golden Age it’s pianism. For the past couple of years, choosing a winner in the Instrumental category has been very tough. The 2017 vintage is no exception – with Murray Perahia, Daniil Trifonov, Beatrice Rana, Cédric Tiberghien, Pavel Kolesnikov and Piotr Anderszewski in the final six, voting will inevitably be tight!

This year we mark the 40th anniversary of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards – the first Awards took place in 1977 – and down the years we’ve highlighted quite a few recordings that have soon assumed classic status (Karajan’s Mahler Ninth, Nigel Kennedy’s Elgar Violin Concerto, Stephen Hough’s Saint-Saëns piano concertos, The Tallis Scholars’ Josquin Masses, and Gothic Voices’ ‘Feather on the Breath of God’ to name a few).

Last year, we streamed the Awards ceremony live on medici.tv and with the ability to catch-up afterwards – 34,000 people viewed the Awards which contained some cherishable performances and some touching speeches. So, it’s someting we are going to repeat this year – make a date for your diary: Wednesday, September 13 at 6.30pm (UK time, 7.30pm CET, 1.30pm WCT), and thereafter on medici.tv’s website. Meanwhile, the 12 category winners will be announced on September 1 on this website with the Recording of the Year revealed live at the Awards ceremony itself. See you there!

The Shortlist

JS Bach Orchestral Suites

Zefiro / Alfredo Bernardini ob

Arcana | Read the review

JS Bach Goldberg Variations

Mahan Esfahani hpd

DG | Read the review

Telemann Twelve Fantasias 

Fabio Biondi vn

Glossa | Read the review

Telemann Concertos and Cantata

Clare Wilkinson mez Florilegium / Ashley Solomon fl

Channel Classics | Read the review

Vivaldi ‘Concerti per due violini’

Giuliano Carmignola, Amandine Beyer vns Gli Incogniti

Harmonia Mundi | Read the review

‘The Italian Job’

Gail Hennessy, Rachel Chaplin obs Peter Whelan bn La Serenissima / Adrian Chandler vn

Avie | Read the review

JS Bach Cantatas

Iestyn Davies counterten Arcangelo / Jonathan Cohen

Hyperion | Read the review

JS Bach St Matthew Passion

Sols; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner

SDG | Read the review

Blow ‘Symphony Anthems’

Choir of New College, Oxford; St James’ Baroque / Robert Quinney

Novum | Read the review

F Couperin Ariane consolée par Bacchusa, etc

Stéphane Degout bar Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset hpd

Aparté | Read the review

Monteverdi ‘Madrigali, Vol 3 – Venezia’

Les Arts Florissants / Paul Agnew

Harmonia Mundi | Read the review

A Scarlatti Missa defunctorum, etc

Odhecaton / Paolo Da Col

Arcana | Read the review

Abrahamsen String Quartet No 1, ‘10 Preludes’ Adès Arcadiana, Op 12 Nørgård String Quartet No 1, ‘Quartetto breve’

Danish Quartet

ECM New Series | Read the review

Bacewicz Complete String Quartets

Silesian Quartet

Chandos | Read the review

Berg. Schoenberg. Webern ‘Complete Works for String Quartet’

Diotima Quartet

Naïve | Read the review

Bruch Two String Quintets. String Octet

The Nash Ensemble

Hyperion | Read the review

Schubert String Quartets – No 12, ‘Quartettsatz’, D703; No 15, D887

Doric Quartet

Chandos | Read the review

Schubert String Quartet No 14 Sibelius String Quartet, Op 56

Ehnes Quartet

Onyx | Read the review

L Berkeley. M Berkeley ‘Stabat mater’

The Marian Consort; Berkeley Ensemble / David Wordsworth

Delphian | Read the review

Cherubini. Plantade Requiems

Le Concert Spirituel / Hervé Niquet

Alpha | Read the review

Elgar. Bax ‘For the Fallen’

Sols; Hallé Choir and Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder

Hallé | Read the review

Haydn The Seasons

Sols; National Forum of Music Choir; Wrocław Baroque Orchestra; Gabrieli Consort & Players / Paul McCreesh

Signum | Read the review

Mozart Mass in C minor. Exsultate, jubilate

Sols; Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki

BIS | Read the review

Rachmaninov Vespers, ‘All-Night Vigil’

Sols; Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, Fifth Avenue, New York / John Scott

Resonus | Read the review

Adams. Harris Violin Concertos

Tamsin Waley-Cohen vn BBC Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton

Signum | Read the review

Beach. Chaminade. Howell ‘The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 70’

Danny Driver pf BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Rebecca Miller

Hyperion | Read the review

Lalo Symphonie espagnole Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto 

Augustin Hadelich vn London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko, Omer Meir Wellber

LPO | Read the review

Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 1-5

Isabelle Faust vn Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini

Harmonia Mundi | Read the review

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2, etc

Alexandre Tharaud Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Alexander Vedernikov 

Erato | Read the review

Sibelius. Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos

Lisa Batiashvili vn Staatskapelle Berlin / Daniel Barenboim

DG | Read the review

Adès Asyla. Brahms. Polaris. Tevot

Samuel Dale Johnson bar London Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Adès

LSO Live | Read the review

G Benjamin Palimpsests Ligeti Lontano Murail Le désenchantement du monde

Pierre-Laurent Aimard pf Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / George Benjamin

Neos | Read the review

Cerha Nacht. Drei Orchesterstücke

SWR Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg / Emilio Pomàrico; WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Kairos | Read the review

Crane ‘6 Trios, 2 Solos and 1 Quintet’

Ives Ensemble

Nimbus Alliance | Read the review

Dusapin. Mantovani. Rihm ‘21st-Century Violin Concertos’

Renaud Capuçon vn Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra / Myung-Whun Chung; Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris; Vienna Symphony Orchestra / Philippe Jordan

Erato | Read the review

MacMillan Stabat mater

The Sixteen; Britten Sinfonia / Harry Christophers

Coro | Read the review

Dowland Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares

Phantasm with Elizabeth Kenny lute

Linn | Read the review

Dufay ‘Les Messes à teneur’

Cut Circle / Jesse Rodin

Musique en Wallonie | Read the review

Guyot Te Deum laudamus, etc

Cinquecento with David Allsopp counterten

Hyperion | Read the review

Machaut Messe de Nostre Dame, etc

Graindelavoix / Björn Schmelzer

Glossa | Read the review

Wert ‘Divine Theatre – Sacred Motets’

Stile Antico

Harmonia Mundi | Read the review

‘Music for the 100 Years’ War’

The Binchois Consort / Andrew Kirkman

Hyperion | Read the review

Bach Six French Suites

Murray Perahia pf

DG | Read the review

JS Bach Goldberg Variations

Beatrice Rana pf

Warner Classics | Read the review

Bartók Mikrokosmos, Sz107 – Book 5, etc

Cédric Tiberghien pf

Hyperion | Read the review

Chopin Mazurkas

Pavel Kolesnikov pf

Hyperion | Read the review

Liszt ‘Transcendental’

Daniil Trifonov pf

DG | Read the review

Mozart. Schumann Piano Works

Piotr Anderszewski pf

Warner Classics | Read the review

Berg Wozzeck

Sols; Chorus of Zurich Opera; Philharmonia Zurich / Fabio Luisi

Accentus | Read the review

Britten The Rape of Lucretia

Sols; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Leo Hussain

Opus Arte | Read the review

Goldmark Die Königin von Saba

Sols; Chorus and Extra Chorus of the Freiburg Theatre; Vocal Ensemble of the Freiburg Musikhochschule; Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra / Fabrice Bollon

CPO | Read the review

Méhul Uthal

Sols; Namur Chamber Choir; Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset

Ediciones Singulares | Read the review

Verdi La forza del destino

Sols; Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera; Bavarian State Orchestra / Asher Fisch

Sony Classical | Read the review

Wagner Tristan und Isolde

Sols; Chorus and Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival / Christian Thielemann

DG | Read the review

Haydn Symphonies – No 12; No 60, ‘Il distratto’; No 70

Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini

Alpha | Read the review

Mahler Symphony No 10

Seattle Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard

Seattle Symphony Media | Read the review

Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 5, 8 & 9

Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons

DG | Read the review

Sibelius Symphonies Nos 3, 6 & 7

Minnesota Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä

BIS | Read the review

Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 3, 4 & 6

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko

Onyx | Read the review

Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6. Romeo and Juliet

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov

Decca | Read the review

Mozart Arias

Anett Fritsch sop Munich Radio Orchestra / Alessandro De Marchi

Orfeo | Read the review

Rossini ‘Sì, Sì, Sì, Sì – Opera Arias & Duets’

Marie-Nicole Lemieux contr with Patrizia Ciofi sop Julien Veronèse bass Chorus of the Opéra National Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon; Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon National Orchestra / Enrique Mazzola

Erato | Read the review

‘Come all ye songsters’

Carolyn Sampson sop Elizabeth Kenny lute Jonathan Manson bass viol Laurence Cummings hpd

Wigmore Hall Live | Read the review

‘Serpent & Fire’

Anna Prohaska sop Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini

Alpha | Read the review

‘Where’er You Walk’

Allan Clayton ten Mary Bevan sop The Choir and Orchestra of Classical Opera / Ian Page

Signum | Read the review

‘In War & Peace’

Joyce DiDonato mez Il Pomo d’Oro / Maxim Emelyanychev hpd

Erato | Read the review

Brahms Lieder

Matthias Goerne bar Christoph Eschenbach pf

Harmonia Mundi | Read the review

Krenek Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen, etc

Florian Boesch bar Roger Vignoles pf

Hyperion | Read the review

Schumann Dichterliebe, etc

Mauro Peter ten Helmut Deutsch pf

Sony Classica | Read the review

Sibelius ‘In the Stream of Life’

Gerald Finley bass-bar Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner

Chandos | Read the review

‘All Who Wander’

Jamie Barton mez Brian Zeger pf

Delos | Read the review

‘Heimat’

Benjamin Appl bar James Baillieu pf

Sony Classical | Read the review