Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra have won Gramophone's Recording of the Year 2014 for their recording of the Brahms symphonies. Chailly was presented with the Award by Sir Neville Marriner at this evening's Gramophone Awards ceremony in London.

When Richard Osborne reviewed Riccardo Chailly's new recording of Brahms's symphonies in our October 2013 issue, he noted, 'This is less richly coloured Brahms than you will hear in Berlin or Vienna, though the sound palette is by no means limited. The Leipzig string-playing can be wintry or warm. Yet when violas and cellos ravish the ear in the Fourth Symphony’s slow movement, the ravishment is never bought at the expense of a trademark clarity of texture that renders audible each instrumental line, right down to the contrabassoon’s quietest note. The clean, open sound of the orchestra’s superb winds also helps aerate textures. The first oboe is outstanding, as are the horns, which happily have not entirely lost their eastern European accent.'

This is not the first time that Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra have won the coveted Recording of the Year Award for a Brahms recording, they won the Award in 2007 for the piano concertos with pianist Nelson Freire.

Gramophone's Recording of the Year Award is the ultimate accolade for any classical recording artist. Previous recordings to have won the Award include: Nigel Kennedy's interpretation of Elgar's Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vernon Handley, Beethoven's Nine Symphonies by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Mahler's Sixth Symphony by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Claudio Abbado.

For more information about this year's Gramophone Awards, visit: www.gramophone.co.uk/awards/2014