Gramophone critics name their favorite recordings of 2023

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By Jacob Stockinger

Based in London, Gramophone Magazine  — below is the December cover celebrating the centennial of opera legend Maria Callas — is probably the best known and most highly respected magazine to focus on classical music.

The monthly features and reviews are usually quite illuminating. And the year-end wrap-ups or seasonal holiday guides are often excellent for purchasing CDs and LPs, or for simply finding out and sampling the new releases of the past year on a streaming service.

Below are the the favorites by various critics for Gramophone.

The Ear finds it particularly interesting and telling that the critics refer to their “favorite” recordings — not the “best” recording — of the past year. I find “favorite” more honestly subjective than the falsely objective “best,” which takes no account of personal taste or preference.

Unfortunately, unlike many other similar lists the Gramophone story does not include samples from YouTube or the actual recordings. (You can hear one sample in the YouTube video at the bottom where Andras Schiff plays Bach on a rarely heard clavichord.) 

But each selection has a link to the full review that appeared in Gramophone.

You should know that Gramophone has the reputation of favoring British composers, artists and labels. And that nationalistic bias shows in some of this year’s selections.

Nonetheless, many of the choices —across many different genres from instrumental and vocal soloists to chamber music to orchestral and choral music — are informative and intriguing. 

Check them out for yourself via this link:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/critics-choice-our-favourite-classical-recordings-of-2023

To see any crossovers in British and American year-end lists, you can check out this year’s Top 10 from Tom Huizenga on National Public Radio (NPR):

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/npr-names-the-top-10-classical-recordings-of-2023/

What do you think of the selections?

Do you agree with any? Which ones?

Do you have your own suggestions about the best or favorite recordings you heard this year?

The Ear wants to hear.

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Posted in Classical music
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