The third Awards 2010 Podcast is now available to listen to on the Gramophone Player. Gramophone’s editor-in-chief James Jolly and editor James Inverne discuss the Instrumental, Opera, and DVD Documentary and Performance categories.

The Instrumental category features Danny Driver playing York Bowen’s piano sonatas, another instalment in the Debussy series that brought Jean-Efflam Bavouzet an Award last year, and a jaw-dropping live recital from one of the keyboard tigers of our age, Arcadi Volodos, a pianist who can conjure pure magic from a Steinway!

In Opera, Peter Maxwell Davies’s Taverner is given a magnificent performance under Oliver Knussen, Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin is performed with huge commitment by the German forces under Kent Nagano, and Sir Mark Elder’s anniversary concert performances of Götterdämmerung are captured in magnificent sound, showcasing an orchestra on top form.

DVD Documentary includes a film in which the heart-warming and genuinely life-changing El Sistema are profiled with its most famous alumnus Gustavo Dudamel, Bernstein on Bernstein offers an intimate and charming profile of a musical colossus, and Pierre Boulez working at his foundation in Lucerne on two of his own works and Debussy’s Jeux are the subject of a wonderfully revealing portrait of one of music’s greats.

Prokofiev’s rarely heard Gambler is given a terrific performance supported by Barenboim conducting at white heat in the DVD Performance category. There’s also Purcell’s Fairy Queen, strongly sung and very engagingly (and funnily) acted, and finally Jonas Kaufmann on top form in Lohengrin, stylishly updated to the 1930s and performed with total commitment and conviction.

The podcast features excerpts of many of the recordings. To listen, simply log in (if you are not registered, it’s free to do so), and click the ‘Launch Player’ button to the right of the screen. You can also read reviews of the shortlisted discs in the Awards section of this site.