Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year Award is the only Gramophone Classical Music Award decided by public vote (vote here). The 10 orchestras nominated this year are: Bayerisches Staatsorchester (Germany), Budapest Festival Orchestra (Hungary), Czech Philharmonic (Czech Republic), The Hallé (UK), Les Siècles (France), Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Europe), Oslo Philharmonic (Norway), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (USA), Sinfonia of London (UK), Vienna Philharmonic (Austria).

This week, we focus on ...

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

The orchestra of Munich’s Bavarian State Opera has made a great impression on record this year: in the pit (and on DVD) for Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen and Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (of which Richard Bratby wrote that Kirill Petrenko’s ‘Bavarian orchestra can deliver lushness without limits’). But perhaps the most impressive example of the orchestra’s work – in full symphony orchestra guise, and for the first release on its own label – was Mahler’s Seventh Symphony which was our Recording of the Month last August and had Edward Seckerson declaring: ‘Petrenko demands to be heard and attention paid’.

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