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Best CD's of 2001: Classical

To finish the lists for "Best CD's of 2001", here is the list of the top classical releases (by category) listed in Gramophone magazine's "Special Issue" just published:

Record of the Year: Vaughan Williams "A London Symphony" )Chandos CHAN 9902)

Early Music:
Winner: Gesualdo: Madrigals, Book 4, La Venexiana (Glossa GCD20907)
Runners-up:
1. Byrd: Three Masses "The Cardinal's Musick" (ASV)
2. "The Earliest Songbook in England", with Gothic Voices (Hyperion)
3. Morales: Missa Sin Bona Suscepimus - The Tallis Scholars (Gimell)
4. Josquin Desprez: Motets - Orland Consort (Archiv)

Baroque Instrumental:
Winner: Bach: Six Partitas, with Trevor Pinnock (Hanssler Classic 92 115)
Runners-up:
1. Bach: Vioin Sonatas - Podger; Pinnock (Channel Classics)
2. Geminiani: Concerti Grossi - Academy of Ancient Music (Harmonia Mundi)
3. Lawes: Concorts in 4 & 5 Parts - Phantasm (Channel Classics)
4. Telemann: String Concertos - MAK (Archiv)
5. Rameau: Pieces de Clavecin - Yates (Chandos)

Chamber:
Winner: Vaughan Williams: String Quartets #1 and #2 - Phantasy Quintet (Naxos 8 555300)
Runners-Up:
1. Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76 - The Lindsays (ASV)
2. Enescu: String Quartets #1 and #2 - Quatuor Ad Libitum (Naxos)
3. Haydn: Stgring Quartets, Op. 76 - Quatuor Mosaiques (Astree)
4. Beethoven: Sring Quartets, Op. 18 - The Lindsays (ASV)
5. Elgar, Walton: Violin Sonatas - Hope/Mulligan (Nimbus)

Choral:
Winner: Britten: Sacred and Profane - Polyphony/Layton (Hyperion)
Runners-up:
1. Rubbra: Inscape - ASMF Chor & Hickox (Chandos)
2. Tavener: Christmas Proclamation - St. John's/Robinson (Naxos)
3. Sibelius: Kullervo Symphony - Helsinki Univ. Choir (BIS)
4. Rubbra: Choral Music - St. John's/Cambridge (Naxos)
5. Verdi: Messa solenne - Guiseppi Verdi SO & Chorus (Decca)

Concertos:
Winner: Schoenberg Piano Concerto - Mitsuko Uchida & Cleveland Orch w/ Boulez (Phillips 468 033-2PH)
Runners-up:
1. Bach: Keyboard Concertos - ASMF/Perahia (Sony Classical)
2. Stanford: Violin Concerto - Marwood/BBC SSO (Hyperion)
3. Mozart: Piano Concertos #19 and #27 - Orpheus Chamber Orch w/ Goode (Nonesuch)
4. Rawsthorne: Oboe & Cello Concertos - Rancourt, Baillie/RSNO (Naxos)
5. Howells: Piano Concertos #1 and #2 - Shelley/BBC SO w/ Hickox (Chandos)

Contemporary:
Winner: Boulez: Anthemes 2: Messagesquisse; Sur Incises - Ensemble InterContemporain w/ Boulez (DG 20/21)
Runners-up:
1. Lindberg: Aura - BBC SO (DG)
2. Henze: Six Songs From the Arabian - Bostridge (EMI)
3. Andriessen: Rosa - de Leeuw (Nonesuch)
4. Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Schonwandt (DaCapo)
5. Tavener: Total Eclipse - AAM/Goodwin (Harmonia Mundi)

Instrumental:
Winner: Goldberg Variation - Murray Perahia (Sony SK89243)
Runners-up:
1. Schubert: Piano Sonatas #9, 18, 20, 21 - Alfred Brendl (Phillips)
2. Beethoven: Diabelli Variations - Anderszewski (Virgin)
3. Bach: Italian Concerto, French Overture - Hewitt (Hyperion)
4. Schubert: Piano Sonatas #14 & 17 - Uchida (Phillips)
5. Clementi: Sonatas - Staier (Teldec)

Opera:
Winner: Massenet: Manon - Chorus and SO of La Monnaie (EMI)
Runners-up:
1. Janacek: Sarka - Mackerras (Supraphon)
2. Albeniz: Merlin - De Eusebio (Decca)
3. Massenet: Thais - Abel (Decca)
4. Verdi: Falstaff - Gardiner (Phillips)
5. Keiser: Crosesus - Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi)

Orchestral:
Winner: Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony (see Record of the Year)
Runners-up:
1. Vaughan Williams: Symphonies #8 and #9 - LPO, w/ Haitink (EMI)
2. Bruckner: Symphony #8 - VPO w/ Boulez (DG)
3. Copland: The Populist - SFSO w/ Tilson-Thomas (RCA)
4. Bruckner: Symphony #5 - Staatskapelle Dresden w/ Sinopoli (DG)
5. Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites - CBSO w/ Oramo (Erato)

Vocal:
Winner: Love Songs - Magdalena Kozena - (DG 463 472-2GH)
Runners-up:
1. Schubert: Die Schone Mullerin - Gura (Harmonia Mundi)
2. Vaughan Williams: Songs - Ainsley; Nash Ensemble (Hyperion)
3. "On This Island" - Dawson; Martineau (Hyperion)
4. Kosma: Les Feuilles Mortes - Le Roux (Decca)
5. Chausson: Songs - Soloists / Chilingirian Qtt (Hyperion)

Editors's Choice:
Winner: Handel: Rinaldo - AAM (Decca L'Oiseau Lyre 467 087-20H03)

Music DVD:
Winner: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (ArtHaus Musik)
Runners-up:
1. Scubert: Winterreise - Bostridge (NVC Arts)
2. Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (ArtHaus Musik)
3. The Art of Violin (NVC Arts)
4. Offenbach: La belle Helene - Harnoncourt (ArtHaus Musik)
5. Poulenc: Les dialogues des Carmelites - Latham-Konig (ArtHaus Musik)

Good listening to everyone!
sdcampbell
11 responses Add your response
frogman
7,441 posts
 
Rcprince, thank you for your well thought out and intelligent response. There's not much that I can add and I agree with you point for point.

Regards.
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
My personal opinion is that musicians in major symphony orchestras are underpaid in relation to the time, talent and dedication that it takes to get to where they are. So, unfortunately, are teachers (and more so). However, the point I am (and I believe Sugarbrie is) making is that a mainstream record company will, all things considered, make a recording as cheaply as they can in order to maximize their profits, and given the comparatively low sales of classical music recordings, the fact that an orchestra is the best in the world doesn't weigh as heavily in their thinking as it might have years ago. If union work rules (which I acknowledge are designed to protect musicians and have no problem with) make it considerably more expensive for a company to record the NY Philharmonic than to go to Prague and record the same piece with one of the Czech Republic's fine orchestras, that will certainly factor into their thinking. If classical sales were what pop sales are, this might not be as big a problem for the US orchestras. My hope is that either the smaller, better recording outfits can make recordings with some of these orchestras that the so-called "majors" have dropped, or that the orchestras themselves can make and sell their own recordings, preferably with the musicians getting to share in the profits. Oh, and that they're done on SACD (let's hear it for the San Francisco Symphony)!
frogman
7,441 posts
 
Sugarbrie and Rcprince, I'm intrigued by your comments concerning union labor costs; I'm not so sure I fully get the thrust of your implications concerning them.

The issue of musicians' wages is frought with misinformation and misunderstanding in my opinion. Now, I'm not sure wether your comments relate to musicians' wages per se, but a subject that is so important to the survival of American orchestras and Classical music in general deserves some discussion. I would appreciate some clarification and further comments concerning this.

Respectfully.
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Yes, unfortunately, which is a shame. One of the reasons Naxos can do all the recordings they do is the orchestras they use are far cheaper to pay. I wonder if what the SFO Symphony and NY Philharmonic orchestras are doing now with making and selling CDs (or, in the case of the SF folks, an SACD--mine's on order) of their own recordings of live performances will be the wave of the future for US orchestras, particularly as their record contracts expire. In some cases, I prefer that in that I like recordings of live concerts, coughs and all, because there's a spontaneity lost when you do a studio recording (I experienced this first hand when we made a recording of my church choir--we were very tentative, afraid to make a mistake, and as a result didn't sound nearly as good as when we did the performances in concert). By the way, the NY Philharmonic CD sets of Bernstein, Mazur and American composers' music are very good; while the recording quality varies, most of the performances, particularly Bernstein's, are worth hearing over and over again, and the sets have acquainted me with a good deal of music (Tan Dun's water percussion concerto, for example) I may never have listened to otherwise.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
RcPrince... You are correct !!
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Nice thing about living in the UK was this issue has a free CD along with the issue,with tracks from their selections.
I must get around to playing it.................
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Sugarbrie: Anything to do with union work rules and costs? Scott, thanks for the post! I saw BBC Music's awards, will have to compare their top 200 to this list.
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Thak you Mr. Sdcampbell, you are a gentlemen, a scholar and a connoisseur of fine recordings.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Thanks Scott for the info !!!!
Not so much that they love the Brits; it is the fact the American orchestras are not getting the recording contracts.
Quiz: I know one big reason why. Do you?
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
ah, the brits. they do love the brits, don't they. perhaps that's why i so covet my lyrita vinyl collection. thanks for all your work, scott; i do hope you have a scanner. -cfb
clueless
763 posts
 
Thanks Scott for keeping us up on the lowdown (the jazz too!).

Sincerely, I remain
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