Gramophone has been making an Orchestra of the Year Award since 2018 when it was given to the Seattle Symphony (last year the Award went to the Hong Kong Philharmonic). This year the voting is open and we offer ten ensembles for you to consider. Each has struck us for the dynamism, imagination and style of its collaborations with its conductors on record.

In these two podcasts, Gramophone's Editor-in-Chief James Jolly talks to a Gramophone critic about five of the ensembles, and this week Andrew Mellor joins him to consider the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and MusicAeterna.

Listen to each of the orchestra's exclusive playlist on Apple Music, as well as a dynamic playlist (below) embracing all 10 ensembles (which is regularly updated). Then, when you are ready, head off to vote.

The music heard is this instalment:

Nielsen Symphony No 1 - I. Allegro orgoglioso (excerpt) Seattle Symphony / Thomas Dausgaard (Seattle Symphony Media)

Beethoven Symphony No 9, Choral – III. Molto vivace (excerpt) Freiburger Barockorchester / Pablo Heras-Casado (Harmonia Mundi)

Beethoven Violin Concerto – I. Allegro ma non troppo (excerpt) (Christian Tetzlaff); Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Robin Ticciati (Ondine)

Brahms Symphony No 1 – IV. Adagio … Allegri ma non troppo man con brio (excerpt) Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner (Chandos)

R Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra – Von der grossen Sehnsucht (excerpt) NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo / Paavo Järvi (RCA Red Seal)

Beethoven Symphony No 5 – IV. Allegro (excerpt) MusicAeterna / Teodor Currentzis (Sony Classical)

You can listen to the Podcast below. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone Magazine' in your Podcast application of choice, or visit Gramophone's page at iTunes.

Next week, James is joined by Rob Cowan to discuss the final five orchestras.