Gramophone Awards Shortlist

[CallMePaul]

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-awards-2017-shortlist?utm_content=Click%20here%20t%20o%20discover%20the%20shortlisted%20recordings&utm_campaign=Gramophone%20Newsletter%20-%2003AUG17&utm_source=Gramophone&utm_medium=adestra_email&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gramophone.co.uk%2Fclassical-music-news%2Fgramophone-awards-2017-shortlist

Fuller details at:http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/awa...2017-shortlist

Am I alone in feeling that there are too many of the usual suspects and very little adventurous in these shortlists? They also raise a few questions such as: Why is Bach played on the piano shortlisted for the Insrumental category, whereas Bach plyed on the instrument he intended it for in the Baroque Instrumental category? It has always bothered me that recordings of Bach on the piano are reviewed in Gramophone by a regular piano music reviewer rather than by a Baroque specialist. Is the editor bothered that a Baroque specialist reviewer may not give a piano recording a good review?
Also, is the Danish String Quartet's recital, shortlisted in the Chamber Music category, more appropriate to the Contemporary category? After all, Sir James MacMillan's Stabat Mater is in the Contemporary rather than the Choral category!
I'm not going to make any predictions, but I hope that Graindelavoix's recording of Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame wins the Early Music category. This is probably the finest ensemble working in this period of music and for me this is by far the finest recording of the work ever.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No, you are not alone, CMP - but that's to be expected from Gramophone; remember in 1978 when Webern (dead a third of a century) won the "Contemporary" award?! It's a mainstream publication - it's no wonder that mostly mainstream repertoire features.

[Richard Barrett]

It's a mainstream publication - it's no wonder that mostly mainstream repertoire features.

Also, almost a third of the recordings on the shortlist feature mostly or exclusively British performers, which seems unduly chauvinistic to me.

[jayne lee wilson]

No, you are not alone, CMP - but that's to be expected from Gramophone; remember in 1978 when Webern (dead a third of a century) won the "Contemporary" award?! It's a mainstream publication - it's no wonder that mostly mainstream repertoire features.

Just a shame then, that their review pages are very adventurous, covering many contemporary releases every month, and they have monthly "Contemporary Composer" features too.
A glance at August's pages reveals names like - Czernowin, Beaser, Denny, Gilbert and Holt; the latest Dusapin String Quartets and a lengthy piece on Brian Elias (Proms premiere next week). Hosokawa, Kancheli and George Benjamin have all featured recently. "Crossing Borders - defining Music Making in the 21st Century'" was June's coverline: fascinating Kate Molleson piece within, "Blurred Boundaries..."

OK so you may not like the magazine but if you don't read it please don't misrepresent it. As for judging it by one year's Awards shortlisting... oh for God's sake. I mean, pur-lease...
What a shame it is some people here make a habit of sneering at the Gramophone every chance they get, especially after the huge efforts made under Cullingford to be about as comprehensive as a "Classical Music Magazine" could be, and technically bang up to date with all matters digital. It even culls some reviews from Jazzwise and Songlines each month as well...

***
AS for the Awards 2017 being too unadventurous... oh go on, tell me how very familiar you are with Bacewicz' String Quartets or Roy Harris' stunning Violin Concerto, Cerha's glittering Nacht or Tristan Murail's Désenchantment du Monde (a large scale piano concerto)...**
I bought them all and I hope they all win!

**AS for Webern, some of those up for the Contemporary Award are....shock horror, actually still alive!

[Pianoman]

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I'm not going to make any predictions, but I hope that Graindelavoix's recording of Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame wins the Early Music category. This is probably the finest ensemble working in this period of music and for me this is by far the finest recording of the work ever.

It's certainly the most provocative recording of the Machaut Mass that I've heard so far...I like this approach, which strikes me as an extension of the free, improvisatory style Marcel Peres did with Ensemble Organum, but taken to a rather greater degree. It sure makes the Oxbridge type performance sound rather dull by comparison...

[Richard Barrett]

**AS for Webern, some of those up for the Contemporary Award are....shock horror, actually still alive!

I believe that was FG's point. Although some of them, apart from being alive, are arguably less contemporary than Webern.

[Richard Barrett]

which strikes me as an extension of the free, improvisatory style Marcel Peres did with Ensemble Organum, but taken to a rather greater degree

I would say: taken to the point of shouting and/or different singing mannerisms going on simultaneously... I'll stay with the Pérès recording of this piece I think.

[jayne lee wilson]

I believe that was FG's point. Although some of them, apart from being alive, are arguably less contemporary than Webern.

No, I think the point was to sneer at Gramophone, to take a cheap, opportunistic, outdated shot any which way....

[Pianoman]

I would say: taken to the point of shouting and/or different singing mannerisms going on simultaneously... I'll stay with the Pérès recording of this piece I think.

Mm, listening at some length and then going back to Peres, it perhaps is a bit ott for repeated hearings - and all just a bit too slow and drawn out..

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I believe that was FG's point. Although some of them, apart from being alive, are arguably less contemporary than Webern.

Indeed (on both points).

[MickyD]

No, I think the point was to sneer at Gramophone, to take a cheap, opportunistic, outdated shot any which way....

I gave up Gramophone some years ago and when back in the UK from time to time, regularly pick up a copy just to see if I would like to re-subscribe. Every time the answer is no. In no way do I sneer or take cheap, opportunistic or outdated shots at it - I come to the simple conclusion that there is not really enough interesting content in it for me to warrant the subscription fee.

[richardfinegold]

Most readers on this side of the pond would concur with RB remark that the magazine has always been chavunistic in it's promotion of British Artists. I do agree with jlw that the quality of the magazine has improved from a relative nadir a few years ago, but ultimately side with MickeyD in that despite this, it's just to expensive; an issue here is almost $15 a month, which I think is a lot to pay, considering that most of their reviews rival Twitter in brevity if not in quality

[jayne lee wilson]

I gave up Gramophone some years ago and when back in the UK from time to time, regularly pick up a copy just to see if I would like to re-subscribe. Every time the answer is no. In no way do I sneer or take cheap, opportunistic or outdated shots at it - I come to the simple conclusion that there is not really enough interesting content in it for me to warrant the subscription fee.

OK - what would you like to see in it? What kind of "interesting content" would would make you subscribe or just buy a single copy?

[jayne lee wilson]

I believe that was FG's point. Although some of them, apart from being alive, are arguably less contemporary than Webern.

OK then, define "CONTEMPORARY" on behalf of yourself and your döppelganger/acolyte "fhg"... oh how easy it is to mock from behind the veil of cynicism, the web wall of anonymity...

The OT made untenable assertions about the "unadventurous" nature of the 2017 Awards Shortlisting. I answered these points, as precisely as a music-loving, Gramophone-loving (since the 1970s) subscriber could in my #5. Which FACTUAL response remains as yet ENTIRELY ignored or unanswered.
AS for "promoting British Artists"... LOOK at the last few months' coverlines or contents lists: no evidence for such a charge. Are listeners in this discussion just playing prejudicial games?

I also remain UN-cynical... come on you music-lovers, didn't you listen to the Roy Harris Violin Concerto and think "why didn't anyone tell us about this before?!" (Oh, don't worry I'll let you off the FAR more challenging Murail concerto, which, wonderfully, sounds like it includes electronics but doesn't...)...
How ironic, in the context of this discussion - Barrett and fhg end up on the side of the unadventurous....

Bryn warned me recently about the danger of headache from "brick walls"....I really should've listened to him...
(Still, I can listen again to his lossless capture of Dusapin's Outscape as complement to those recently released Dusapin Quartets... thanks to Bryn - and thanks to wonderful Contemporary Music...)

[Richard Barrett]

OK then, define "CONTEMPORARY" on behalf of yourself and your döppelganger/acolyte "fhg"... oh how easy it is to mock from behind the veil of cynicism, the web wall of anonymity...

I'm neither cynical nor anonymous, nor do I have a doppelgänger, and I said "arguably", and I'm sure what I mean is pretty clear - otherwise the only "sneering" I see is from you! Why is this magazine above criticism as far as you're concerned?