Specialist Classical Chart

The creation of the Specialist Classical Chart for Gramophone, now happily also carried by BBC Radio 3, has helped to draw attention to some very fine recordings over its young life.

Over the 12 months covered by the 2010 Gramophone Awards it has welcomed a rich variety of recordings, including: Vassily Petrenko’s Shostakovich’s Symphony No 8 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Bach’s Mass in B minor from John Butt and the Dunedin Consort; the disc of Viennese farewell concerts from this year’s Lifetime Achievement laureate, Alfred Brendel; another of this year’s Award-winners (Solo Vocal) – Schubert’s Winterreise performed by Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, and music by Holbrooke, Foulds, Arthur Butterworth and Howard Goodall.

It was, however, the ever popular music of Johann Strauss, performed by André Rieu and his musicians on the album "Forever Vienna" that held the No 1 position for longer than any other recording this year. As Gramophone said: “The Dutch violinist…has, after years of trying, finally broken into the UK market. And it looks as though he’s here to stay.”