OUR CRITICS REVIEWED many wonderful recordings last year, some hotly anticipated, others taking us by surprise. Whether it was familiar repertoire from a much-loved artist or something brand new from a rising star, it all made for another memorable musical year. So we’re delighted to present the nominations for the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, as selected by our jury. The winners are up to you, though, so visit classical-music.com/awards and cast your votes. Voting closes at midnight on Friday 23 February, with the winners revealed at our Awards ceremony at London’s Kings Place on Thursday 18 April.
THE AWARDS JURY: MICHAEL BEEK, TERRY BLAIN, JESSICA DUCHEN, ANDREW MCGREGOR, CHARLOTTE SMITH
Orchestral nominations
Thomas Adès Dante Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel Nonesuch 7559790616 Reviewed June 2023 Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil took us on a trip to hell and back in this thrilling account of Thomas Adès’s three-movement epic, drawn from the music for his 2021 ballet based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Heady textures and great imagination abound in this live premiere recording.
Shostakovich
Symphonies Nos 8-10
Berlin Philharmonic/Kirill Petrenko
Berlin Phil BPHR220421
Reviewed May 2023
‘Sample these performances at any point and you’d probably be powerfully impressed,’ said our review. Indeed, there were plenty of impressive moments in this immersive survey of three Shostakovich symphonies from Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Phil. The review also called the performances here ‘unusually vivid’.
Delius • Elgar • Howells • RVW
Orchestral Works
Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
Chandos CHSA 5291
Reviewed April 2023
A selection box of English works led by a ‘stunning benchmark’ recording of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, John Wilson and his brilliant Sinfonia of London musicians proved themselves right at home in this repertoire. Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro was another highlight, along with the album’s ‘magnificent’ sound quality.
Concerto nominations
Stravinsky Violin Concerto etc Isabelle Faust (violin); Les Siècles/François-Xavier Roth Harmonia Mundi HMM902718 Reviewed May 2023 Isabelle Faust teamed up with Les Siècles for this period-instrument take on Stravinsky’s masterful and unshowy Violin Concerto. The instrumental casting made for a more subtle and varied soundworld, our review saying, ‘The gut strings imbue Faust’s solo part wit
