BBC Music Magazine Awards 2009 nominations

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BBC Music Magazine – the biggest classical music title in the world – will host its annual awards ceremony this year on 7th April at Kings Place in London. The BBC Music Magazine Awards were launched in 2006 with the aim of recognising the best in classical music worldwide, by giving the public a chance to vote for their favourite performances of the year. Now in their fourth year, the BBC Music Magazine Awards are renowned in the industry as a prestigious annual event rewarding the highest achievements in international classical music recording.

The BBC Music Magazine Awards 2009 are the only classical music awards with a selection of categories voted for by the public. Those who win not only receive esteemed industry recognition, but also the accolade of being the people’s choice. Since the awards’ inception in 2006 voting has surged from 3,000 to over 89,000 last year.

Voting opens at www.bbcmusicmagazine.com/awards on 21st January and closes on 1st March 2009. Full details of the shortlisted discs will also be available in the February issue of BBC Music Magazine, on sale 22nd January. The winners will be announced at a prestigious lunchtime ceremony on 7th April, held at Kings Place in London and presented by BBC Radio 4’s James Naughtie and BBC Music Magazine editor Oliver Condy.

A major retail campaign supporting the awards will also be launched on 21st January with retail partner HMV (in-store and online) and specialist classical websites Arkiv, Crotchet, Europadisc, MDT and Presto.

The nominations for the Public Awards were selected from over 250 outstanding discs released in 2008, by a jury of classical music experts including Misha Donat, the former Head of Chamber Music for BBC Radio 3; Roger Nichols, author and expert on French and 20th-century music; and Christopher Cook, BBC Radio 3 presenter and chair of the Cheltenham Music Festival. The nominees are:

    Instrumental Nominees:
    • Murray Perahia – Bach Partitas 2, 3 & 4 (Sony Classical)
    • Steven Osborne – Tippett Piano Concerto/Sonatas (Hyperion)
    • Jean-Efflam Bavouzet – Debussy Compete Works for Piano Vol. 3 (Chandos)

    Chamber Nominees:
    • Goldner Quartet with Piers Lane – Bloch Piano Quintets (Hyperion)
    • Dante Quartet – Fauré and Franck String Quartets (Hyperion)
    • Trio Parnassus – Peteris Vasks (MDG)

    Orchestral Nominees:
    • Marin Alsop – Dvorak Symphony No. 9, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Naxos)
    • Sir Charles Mackerras – Mozart Symphonies 38-41, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn)
    • Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Brahms Symphony No. 1, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir (Soli Deo Gloria)
    Choral Nominees:
    • Paul Hillier and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – Tarik O’Regan’s Scattered Rhymes (Harmonia Mundi)
    • Sir John Eliot Gardiner with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra plus soloists – Bach Cantatas, Vol. 27 (Soli Deo Gloria)
    • Antoni Wit and Iwona Hossa with the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra – Szymanowski Choral Works (Naxos)

    Vocal Nominees:
    • Susan Graham and Malcolm Martineau – Un Frisson Français: A Century of French Song (Onyx)
    • Gerald Finley and Julius Drake – Musorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death (Wigmore Hall Live)
    • Christian Gerhaher and Jerold Huber – Melancholie: Lieder by Robert Schumann (RCA Red Seal)

    Opera Nominees:
    • Patricia Petibon and Daniel Harding – Amoureuses: Arias by Haydn, Mozart & Gluck (DG)
    • Nicole Cabell and Mark Elder – Donizetti: Imelda di Lambertazzi (Opera Rara)
    • Sophie Marin-Degor, Jean-Sébastien Bou and Nicolas Chalvin – Gabriel Pierné: Sophie Arnould (Timpani)

Helen Wallace, Chair of the Jury and Consultant Editor of BBC Music Magazine, says: "I was enormously impressed with the quality of performance and the variety of music issued in 2008. Our star-studded nominations list balances giants of the international scene like Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Murray Perahia, Susan Graham and Sir Charles Mackerras in core repertoire, with some exciting new performers and musical discoveries by Tarik O'Regan, Peteris Vasks, Ernest Bloch, Gabriel Pierné and Donizetti. They are all worthy winners, and I hope our voters will be as charmed and stimulated by these discs as we were."

Oliver Condy, Editor of BBC Music Magazine, says: "BBC Music Magazine reviews more than 1,500 CDs every year, and last year more than 250 recordings were awarded the maximum five stars by our reviewers. So these 18 nominated discs really are the pinnacle of everything the record industry released in 2008. The enviable job of choosing the winners now lies with the public – and this year the voting is going to be very close indeed!"

The Jury Awards will also be announced at the ceremony on 7th April – the award categories for 2009 are Premiere Recording, Technical Excellence, Best Newcomer, DVD, and Disc of the Year.

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