Voting is open for the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards. The awards celebrate outstanding classical recordings across 9 categories from the previous year. This year’s nominees include Sir Antonio Pappano in the Opera category, Stéphane Degout in the Vocal category and Calidore String Quartet in the Chamber Music category.
Click here to discover more about the nominated recordings, listen to the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Awards playlists, and cast your vote for this year’s winners!
Sir Antonio Pappano for Puccini’s Turandot (Warner Classics)
With Sondra Radvanovsky, Jonas Kaufmann et al; Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
BBC Music Magazine writes, “Our original review called this ‘a major recording event’, indeed Antonio Pappano brought together a truly all-star cast for this glittering account of Puccini’s beloved opera. Beyond the great vocal performances, our review also said, ‘the rhythmic detail is electrifying, the conductor’s deep understanding of Puccini the symphonist mesmerising.’”
Stéphane Degout for Lili and Nadia Boulanger: Les heures claires – Complete Songs (Harmonia Mundi)
With Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Anne de Fornel (piano)
BBC Music Magazine writes, “There was ‘unalloyed pleasure’ to be found in this collection charting the complete songs of the Boulanger sisters, two composers whose output was brief but striking. …Degout is mesmerising.”
Calidore Quartet for Beethoven: Late String Quartets (Signum)
BBC Music Magazine writes, “This first volume of Beethoven quartets from the New York-based Calidores takes in the composer’s life-affirming late set, and it was delivered here with great precision, clarity and meticulous attention to detail. ‘The Calidore players penetrate right to the heart of the music, giving warm and intensely lyrical accounts.’” The review continues, “The players have clearly thought long and hard about these masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire, and they have produced performances that can stand comparison with the best.”
