MusicWeb International 2022 Recordings of the Year
This is the twentieth year that MusicWeb International has asked its reviewing team to nominate their recordings of the year. Reviewers are not restricted to discs they had reviewed, but the choices must have been reviewed on MWI in the last 12 months (December 2021-November 2022).
The 105 selections have come from 23 members of the team and 52 different labels, the choices this year reflecting as usual, the great diversity of music and sources.
Of the selections, just one received three nominations:
• the second volume of the orchestral music of Ruth Gipps on Chandos
and ten have received two:
• Berlioz’s Grand messe from Sir Antonio Pappano on RCO Live
• Ian Venables’s Requiem on Delphian
• Mao Fujita’s complete Mozart sonatas on Sony
• Verdi’s Falstaff from Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Dynamic
• The complete piano works of Daniel Jones on Lyrita
• Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee on Dacapo
• Lisette Oropesa’s recital of French bel canto arias on Pentatone
• Brahms’ Fourth Symphony from Pittsburgh on Reference Recordings
• symphonies by Tālivaldis Ķeniņš on Ondine
• British piano concertos on Lyrita
Of the labels, Chandos headed the field with ten nominations, well ahead of the others.
MWI Recording of the Year
Choosing one recording from over 1700 reviews we published in the last twelve months is always challenging. In some years, there is a significant composer anniversary which produces an outstanding release that makes for a suitable choice. In this case, the obvious candidate was that of the 150th birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams. While there were many releases celebrating this (five were nominated), especially from the RVW Society’s label Albion Records, no one release stood out. This meant the selection would have to be a recording which garnered the most nominations.
Ruth Gipps Orchestral Works Vol. 2 – Juliana Koch (oboe) BBC Philharmonic/Rumon Gamba rec. 2019/22 CHANDOS CHAN20161
Given that Chandos secured twice as many nominations as any other label, it is appropriate that the overall choice comes from that source. Likewise, if a Vaughan Williams release was not to be chosen for this award, then it is pleasing to be able to do so for one of his students. One of our reviewers described the music and the label thus: “rare but valuable repertoire performed with skill and insight by the finest artists superbly recorded and produced”.
For all the nominations, see:
