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 ...

Vienna Philharmonic

One of the undisputed great orchestras of the world, steeped in tradition, the Vienna Philharmonic is unique in not having a chief conductor, though in its guise as the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan takes charge. Its corporate identity of peerless strings, elegant winds and punchy brass contribute to its role as ‘keeper of the flame’ in so much of the core Austro-German repertoire. Of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (part of an ongoing cycle for Sony Classical), Richard Osborne wrote that ‘this mood of inner quiet that underpins both the symphony and this remarkable realisation of it is most evident in the slow movement … which draws from [Christian] Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic music making of the rarest pedigree.’ And it’s a pedigree witnessed the world over every New Year’s Day when the Vienna Philharmonic plays music as only it knows how.

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