BBC Music Magazine has announced the shortlist for its 2020 Awards. With 21 nominees across seven categories, the expert panel drew their choices from the 175 recordings that were awarded five-star reviews in 2019.


The 15th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards are the only classical music awards voted for by the public. To listen to the nominated recordings and cast your votes, visit classical-music.com/awards.

The nominees are divided into seven categories: Orchestral, Concerto, Opera, Choral, Vocal, Chamber and Instrumental.

With a clutch of premiere recordings in this year’s shortlist, there’s no doubt 2019 was a year for superb new music. The chamber category features Orange – an album of string quartets by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, while Gabriel Jackson’s retelling of the Passion story is up for the Choral Award. Elsewhere, Elizabeth Kenny’s Ars Longa – an album of old and new music for the theorbo, nominated in the Instrumental Category – features two premiere recordings of works by Nico Muhly and Benjamin Oliver, both written specifically for Kenny.

This year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards also celebrates new recordings of works by underrated masterpieces and lesser-known composers. This is particularly the case in the Orchestral Category, which features stunning performances of Weinberg’s Symphony No. 21 by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Korngold’s Symphony in F sharp by John Wilson and the newly revived Sinfonia of London, and symphonies by Lutosławski performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu. Also in the shortlist, Kirill Gerstein performs Busoni’s extraordinary piano concerto, Markus Maskuniitty brings us a selection of horn concertos, and Opera Rara champions Puccini’s first opera, Le Willis.

The full list of nominees can be seen below. For details on how to vote, visit our Awards page here.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Kings Place on Tuesday 28 April. As well as the public awards, there are also four jury awards: Premiere Recording, Newcomer of the Year, DVD of the Year and Recording of the Year. The BBC Music Magazine team will also choose its Music Personality of the Year, an award first given to violinist Tasmin Little in 2019.

Orchestral

Weinberg

Symphonies Nos 2 & 21

Gidon Kremer (violin); Kremerata Baltica; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

Deutsche Grammophon 483 6566 88.59 mins (2 discs)

Korngold

Symphony in F sharp; Theme and Variations; Straussiana

Sinfonia of London/John Wilson

Chandos CHSA 5220 59.17 mins

Lutosławski

Symphonies Nos 1 & 4; Jeux vénitiens

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Hannu Lintu

Ondine ODE 1320-5 57:21 mins

Concerto

Busoni

Piano Concerto in C major

Kirill Gerstein (piano); Men of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus; Boston Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo

Myrios MYR024 71:29 mins

Glière • Saint-Saëns • R Schumann

R Schumann: Konzertstück for Four Horns*; Adagio and Allegro; Saint-Saëns: Morceau de concert; Glière: Horn Concerto

Markus Maskuniitty (horn); Martin Schöpfer, Kristofer Oberg, Monica Berenguer Caro (horns)*; Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Sakari Oramo

Ondine ODE 1339-2 59:08 mins

Dvořák * Martinů

Dvořák: Piano Concerto in G minor; Martinů: Piano Concerto No. 4, ‘Incantation’

Ivo Kahánek (piano); Bamberg Symphony Orchestra/Jakub Hrůša

Supraphon SU 4236-2 59.24 mins

Opera

Puccini

Le Willis

Ermonela Jaho, Arsen Soghomonyan, Brian Mulligan (voices); Opera Rara Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra/Mark Elder

Opera Rara ORC59 62.39 mins

Purcell

King Arthur

Anna Dennis, Mhairi Lawson, Rowan Pierce, Carolyn Sampson, Jeremy Budd, James Way, Roderick Williams, Ashley Riches; Gabrieli Consort and Players/Paul McCreesh

Signum Classics SIGCD589 97.38 mins (2 discs)

Gounod

Faust

Benjamin Bernheim, Véronique Gens, Andrew Foster-Williams, Jean-Sébastien Bou, Juliette Mars, Anas Séguin, Ingrid Perruche; Les Talens Lyriques; Flemish Radio Choir/Christophe Rousset

Bru Zane BZ 1037 173.48 mins (3 discs)

Vocal

Handel

Italian Cantatas

Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Lea Desandre (mezzo-soprano); Le Concert d’Astrée/Emmanuelle Haïm

Erato 9029563362 96:10 mins (2 discs)

Si J’ai Aimé

Songs by Saint-Saëns, Bordes, Berlioz, Dubois, Massenet et al

Sandrine Piau (soprano); Le Concert de la Loge/Julien Chauvin

Alpha Classics ALPHA 445 59.25 mins

Janáček

The Diary of One Who Disappeared; Ríkadla; Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs

Nicky Spence (tenor), Julius Drake (piano); Václava Housková (mezzo-soprano), VOICE, Victoria Samek (clarinet)

Hyperion CDA 68282 62.21 mins

Choral

Bach Cantatas

H Bach: Ich danke dir Gott; JM Bach: Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ; Herr, der König freuet sich; JC Bach: Die Furcht des Herren; Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnädig; Es erhub sich ein streit; JS Bach Christ Lag in Todesbanden, BWV4

Vox Luminis/Lionel Meunier

Ricercar RIC 401 66.30 mins

Handel

Brockes-Passion HWV 48

Elizabeth Watts, Ruby Hughes (sopranos), Rachael Lloyd (mezzo-soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Robert Murray, Gwilym Bowen, Nicky Spence (tenors), Cody Quattlebaum, Morgan Pearse (bass-baritone); Choir and Orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music/Richard Egarr

Academy of Ancient Music AAM007 172 mins (3 discs)

Gabriel Jackson

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Emma Tring (soprano), Guy Cutting (tenor); Choir of Merton College, Oxford; Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia/Benjamin Nicholas

Delphian DCD34222 69:01 mins

Chamber

Ysaÿe • Franck • Vierne • L Boulanger

Ysaÿe: Poème Elégiaque; Franck: Violin Sonata in A; Vierne: Violin Sonata in G minor; Lili Boulanger: Nocturne

Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

Hyperion CDA 68204 78:29 mins

Caroline Shaw

Entr’acte; Valencia; Plan and Elevation; Punctum; Ritornello 2.sq.2.j.a; Limestone & Felt

Attacca Quartet

Nonesuch 7559-79260-9 60.97 mins

Bartók * Veress

Veress: String Trio; Bartók: Piano Quintet in C

Barnabás Kelemen, Vilde Frang (violin), Katalin Kokas, Lawrence Power (viola), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Alexander Lonquich (piano)

Alpha Classics ALPHA 458 61.50 mins

Instrumental

Bach to the Future

JS Bach: Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 6; Fugue in G minor, BWV 578; Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565; Chorale Prelude, BWV 721; Fantasia & Fugue in G minor, BWV 542; Chorale Preludes, BWV 617 and BWV 727; Fantasia in G, BWV 572; Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582

Olivier Latry (organ)

La Dolce Volta LDV69 77:37 mins

Ars Longa: Old and new music for theorbo

Works by Piccinini, James MacMillan, Kapsperger, Benjamin Oliver, De Visée and Nico Muhly

Elizabeth Kenny (theorbo)

Linn CKD 603 75.34 mins


Shostakovich

Piano Sonatas Nos 1 and 2; 24 Preludes, Op. 34; Nocturne from The Limped Stream

Andrey Gugnin (piano)

Hyperion CDA68267 79.27 mins