At the festive concert gala held on 8 December at the Duna Palota Theatre Hall, founder of the award Attila Retkes announced the best recordings of the year for the 17th time. The Gramofon Award is the first professional – non-governmental and non-commercial – award founded in Hungary. The editor and publisher of the magazine recognises top classical, jazz, folk and world music recordings based exclusively on artistic quality and technical recording standards. According to the new scheme, updated this year, the Gramofon Award is presented to albums and DVDs classified by the reviewers of the Gramofon – Classic and Jazz periodical in the given year as “masterpieces”.
The award was given to the following six albums in the category “Hungarian classical music recording of the year”:
Gábor Boldoczki, Sinfonietta Cracovia and Jurek Dybal – Oriental Trumpet Concertos. Sony Classical, 88985361092;
The Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Choir, Iván Fischer – Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances. Channel Classics – Karsay és Társa, CCS SA 37016;
The Budapest Festival Orchestra, Gerhild Romberger, the Bavarian Radio Choir, Iván Fischer – Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Channel Classics – Karsay és Társa, CCS SA 38817;
Barnabás Kelemen, Zoltán Kocsis – Hommage à Fritz Kreisler. BMC Records – MG Records, BMC CD 250;
Imre Rohmann, Ditta Rohmann – works by Bartók, Debussy, Defalla and Ravel. Hungaroton, HCD 32793;
István Várdai – J. S. Bach’s Cello Suits. Brilliant Classics – Karsay és Társa, 95392.
The following recordings received the award in the category “International classical music recording of the year”: Bach Stories by Aleksander Dębicz and Marcin Zdunik (Warner Classics – Magneoton, 01902 958401); Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 by Grigory Sokolov, Trevor Pinnock, Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Mahler Chamber Music Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon – Universal, 4797015); Graun’s opera arias by Julia Lezhneva, Mikhail Antonenko and the Concerto Cologne (Decca – Universal, 4831518); Sol Gabetta Live featuring the cellist, the Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle and Krzysztof Urbański (Sony Classical, 88985350792).
The “Hungarian jazz album of the year” category had three award-winning recordings this year: Pannon Blue by Kristóf Bacsó Triad & Lionel Loueke (BMC Records – MG Records, BMC CD 232); Cimbalom Unlimited by Miklós Lukács, Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland (BMC Records – MG Records, BMC CD 244), and But Inside by Tóth Viktor Tercett and Gareth Williams (Fonó, FA 396-2).
Nearness by Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau (Nonesuch – Magneoton, 555845), and Far From Over by Vijay Iyer Sextet (ECM Records – Hangvető, 2581 5767386) received the award in the category “Inernational jazz album of the year”, whereas award winning DVDs included Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Accentus Music – Mevex, ACC20353) and Berg’s Wozzeck (Accentus Music – Mevex, ACC20363) by the Zurich Opera, Fabio Luisi and various international star singers.
