Today, the 72 recordings that form the second round of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2021 are revealed in a free-to-view digital magazine. From this list of celebrated recordings, an album will be chosen as the winner in each of the 11 recording categories, and from that shortlist, a single album will be named 'Recording of the Year’ on October 5.

➔ The Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2021 Shortlist

Editor-in-Chief James Jolly introduces the Shortlist

Recorded music has probably never occupied such a central, and vital, role in all our lives as it has for the past 18 months. I know that I’ve never listened to as much music before, and not since my teens have I sought it out with quite the same hunger.

And much of my listening can be found in the pages of this digital magazine, a compilation of reviews of every recording that has made the shortlist for the 2021 Gramophone Classical Music Awards, once again presented in association with Apple Music, E Gutzwiller et Cie, Banquiers, and Help Musicians UK.

This year we’ve made a few changes; some largely cosmetic, some completely new. We’ve done a bit of renaming: Solo Vocal becomes Song, Recital has turned into Voice & Ensemble to more obviously embrace works that are hard to categorise elsewhere, and to acknowledge that we’re living of a Golden Age of pianism (to the extent that other instruments rarely get a look-in), we’ve spun Piano off from Instrumental (which now accommodates any solo music-making that isn’t played on a piano). And we’ve also introduced a new category for Spatial Audio releases, a technology embraced by Apple Music which makes often very exciting use of Dolby Atmos. The six nominated recordings’ original Gramophone reviews are supplemented by comments drawn from our voting deliberations.

I do hope you enjoy listening to these 72 recordings as much as we have.

➔ The Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2021 Shortlist