It’s awards season once again, and this time its the turn of our classical music Recordings of the Year.

After months of deliberation, the Limelight critical panel has whittled down this year’s best new releases into 25 outstanding recordings spread evenly across five categories.

We’ll be announcing which of these 25 discs has won each of the five categories, as well as which has been named as our Recording of the Year, in the December issue of Limelight. Click here to subscribe.

Meanwhile, if you click on each of the recordings below you can read the relevant review.

Orchestral Recording of the Year

Busoni
Piano Concerto
Kirill Gerstein p, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
MYRIOS MYRO24

Pärt
Fratres, Tabula Rasa et al
Viktoria Mullova v, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
ONYX ONYX4201

Salonen
Cello Concerto
Yo-Yo Ma vc, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen
SONY 19075928482

Tchaikovsky
Symphony No 6 (Pathétique)
Berlin Philharmonic, Kirill Petrenko
BPH BPHR190261

Westlake • Reich
Spirit of the Wind, The Desert Music
Diana Doherty o, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Nigel Westlake, David Robertson
ABC CLASSIC 4817899

Chamber Recording of the Year

Bach
Goldberg Variations
Trio Zimmermann
BIS BIS2347

Prism II
Music by Bach, Beethoven and Schittke
Danish String Quartet
ECM 4818564

Britten • Purcell
String Quartets, Fantasias
Doric String Quartet
CHANDOS CHAN201242 (2CD)

Saariaho
Graal Théâtre, Cloud Trio
Jennifer Koh v, Curtis 20/21 Ensemble
CEDILLE CDR9000183

Shostakovich • Kabalevsky • Prokofiev
Cello Sonatas
Steven Isserlis vc, Olli Mustonen p
HYPERION CDA68239

Instrumental Recording of the Year

Bach
Piano Works
Vikingur Olafsson p
DG 4835022

Beethoven
Piano Sonatas Opp. 109, 110, 111
Steven Osborne p
HYPERION CDA68219

Life
Music by Busoni, Liszt, Rzewski
Igor Levit p
SONY 88985424452 (3CD)

The Passing Mesures
Music by Byrd, Bull, Tomkins et al
Mahan Esfahani hpscd
HYPERION CDA68249

Schubert
Sonatas & Impromptus
Sir András Schiff p
ECM 4817252 (2CD)

Vocal Recording of the Year

An English Coronation 1902-1953
Music by Parry, Elgar et al
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh
SIGNUM SIGCD569 (2CD

Charpentier
Histoires Sacrées
Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastian Daucé
Harmonia Mundi HM90228081 (2CD)

Janáček
The Diary of One Who Disappeared
Nicky Spence t, Julius Drake p
HYPERION CDA68282

Schubert
Winterreisse
Ian Bostridge t, Thomas Adès p
PENTATONE PTC5186764

Schumann
Liederkreis, Kernerlieder
Matthias Goerne b-bar, Leif Ove Andsnes p
Harmonia Mundi HMM902353

Opera Recording of the Year

Benjamin
Lessons in Love & Violence
Stéphane Degout bar, Barbara Hannigan s, Royal Opera House, George Benjamin
NIMBUS NI5976 (2CD)

Korngold
Das Wunder der Heliane
Annemarie Kremer s, Ian Storey t, Aris Argiris bar, Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, Fabrice Bollon
NAXOS 8660410-12 (2CD)

Puccini
Le Willis
Ermonela Jaho s, Arsen Soghomonyan t, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder
OPERA RARA 9293800592

Review to appear in the December 2019 issue of Limelight.

Vivaldi
Arias
Cecilia Bartoli ms, Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi
DECCA 4834475

Wagner
Tristan und Isolde
Stuart Skelton t, Gun-Brit Barkmin s, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch
ABC CLASSIC 4818518 (3CD)

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