Gramophone‘s shortlists are out for this year’s awards. No real surprises, but then those Gramophone people have great taste! Here’s a sample:
Opera:
Die Zauberflöte – René Jacobs; Akademie für Alte Musik
Ermione – David Parry; LPO
Verdi’s Otello – Colin Davis; LSO
Solo Vocal:
Richard Rodney Bennett, Songs before Sleep – Sophie Daneman; Susan Bickley; Iain Burnside
Britten, Songs & Proverbs of William Blake – Gerald Finley; Julius Drake
Wolf, Italienisches Liederbuch – Christoph Prégardien; Julia Kleiter
Recital:
“Ne me refuse pas” French Opera Arias – Marie-Nicole Lemieux
“Diva, Divo” Various – Joyce DiDonato
Verismo Arias Various – Jonas Kaufmann
DVD Performance:
Britten, Death in Venice – Teatro La Fenice/Bruno Bartoletti
Mahler Symphony No 9 – Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado
Verdi, Don Carlo – Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/ Antonio Pappano
and the award for which readers can cast their vote:
Artist of the Year:
conductors Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel and Iván Fischer
conductor and viol player Jordi Savall
pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Lang Lang
trumpeter Alison Balsom
violinist Alina Ibragimova
tenor Jonas Kaufmann
and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Something tells me it’s going to be Jonas Kaufmann’s year.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
