LONDON (Reuters) – The Pavel Haas Quartet won "recording of the year" at an awards ceremony held by Britain's Gramophone magazine on Thursday for a CD of Dvorak quartets the group said was inspired by the spirit of the Czech composer.
British mezzo soprano Dame Janet Baker got a lifetime achievement award.
"This is the biggest award you can get in classical music," an overjoyed Peter Jarusek, the quartet's cellist, said. "It is a big surprise."
He added that the quartet's performances of Dvorak's Quartets No. 12 ("American") and No. 13 in the Dvorak Hall of Prague's Rudolfinium concert venue had given the recordings for the Czech Supraphon label a special quality.
"It was really inspiring," he told Reuters. "You could imagine that Dvorak was there. When we recorded these pieces, he was there as well."
Dame Janet, 78 and retired from the opera stage since 1989, said she was thrilled to receive the recognition for a career in opera that made her one of the best known singers on the opera stage, and is preserved in still popular recordings of works like Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius" oratorio or her performances of Britten, Berlioz and Mahler.
People are still listening to her recordings, she said, "makes you feel as though you are still part of the profession...the memory of you is still in people's minds."
"It is a strange thing, but because they can still hear recordings of you, they think you are still doing it -- so they can make a connection," she said.
She added that she would only recommend a career in music to people who are so sure of themselves that "they don't need encouragement" and she said, of her northern England Yorkshire roots, that "I think they've kept me sane."
The awards ceremony, akin to a classical-music-only version of the recording industry's Grammy awards, drew hundreds of musicians, composers and people involved or interested in the music world to a midtown London hotel for a three-hour lunch that included brief excerpts of many of the award-winning recordings and DVDs.
The magazine's Artist of the Year award went to Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who sent in a video clip from Los Angeles to express his appreciation, but one of those who turned up, and played, was 28-year-old Montenegrin guitarist Milos Karadaglic, whose recording of classical guitar standards has been top of the specialist classical chart for months.
"It's amazing," Karadaglic said. "When I fell in love with the guitar I wanted to share this passion with lots of people. And I thought to do that first in Montenegro and then I came to London and then when I came to London I saw this big world and I said I want to belong to this big world, with my guitar.
"So the fact that this is my first CD and my guitar has managed to reach so many people makes my dream come true."
Gramophone editor James Jolly, who served as host of the ceremony along with British soprano Susan Bullock, said that 200 new CD releases a month gave the lie to the suggestion that the classical music world is dying out.
"The ever-expanding range of music on offer...means there are always new boundaries to explore and we can safely say that we have never had it so good," Jolly said.
Other winning recordings were as follows:
Editor's Choice: Rossini "Stabat Mater" with Anna Netrebko and Joyce DiDonato, with the Santa Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra, Antonio Pappano conducting (EMI)
Baroque Instrumental: CPE Bach Harpsichord Concertos, Andreas Staier, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Mullejans (Harmonia Mundi)
Baroque Vocal: Handel "Apollo e Dafne," La Risonanza (Glossa)
Choral: Elgar "The Kingdom," Halle Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder (Halle)
Concerto: Debussy, Ravel, Massenet, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tortellier (Chandos)
Contemporary: Harrison Birtwistle "Night's Black Bird," Halle Orchestra, Ryan Wigglesworth (NMC)
DVD Documentary: "Carlos Kleiber: Traces to Nowhere," Eric Schultz (Arthaus)
DVD Performance: Verdi "Don Carlo," Villazon, Poplovskaya, Keenlyside, Pappano (EMI)
Early Music: Striggio Mass in 40 Parts, I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworthy (Decca)
Historic: Mahler/Cooke: Symphony No. 10, Philharmonia, LSO, Berthold Goldschmidt (Testament)
Instrumental: Brahms Handel Variations, Murray Perahia (Sony Classical)
Opera: Rossini "Ermione" Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry (Opera Rara)
Orchestral: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10, RLPO, Vassily Petrenko (Naxos)
Recital: Verismo Arias, Jonas Kaufmann, Santa Cecilia, Pappano (Decca)
Solo Vocal: Britten Songs "Songs and Proverbs of William Blake," Gerald Finley, Julius Drake (Hyperion)
Other awards were given to Wigmore Hall for its live recording label, Sir John Eliot Gardiner for his recording of Bach cantatas and The Cobweb Orchestra as an outreach ensemble dedicated to getting people to dust off their instruments and start playing again.
(Writing by Michael Roddy, editing by Paul Casciato)
