The nominations for the 21st annual BBC Music Magazine Awards have now been announced, featuring the best classical music recordings from the last year.
Across nine categories, 27 recordings have been selected by our expert jury of BBC Music Magazine critics as nominees for this year's BBC Music Magazine Awards. Of the nine winners, one will go on to be announced as our Recording of the Year. At our Awards Ceremony on 22 April, we will also name the BBC Music Magazine Personality of the Year.
And now it's down to you! You can vote now for your favourite classical music recordings of 2025, in nine categories from Orchestral to Opera, Chamber to Concerto.
The 2026 contenders: Mahler, Vivaldi and more
The contenders for the Orchestral category include Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle, commended by our reviewer for its ‘peerless attention to detail’. It goes up against a thrilling grouping of Schreker, Korngold and Krenek by the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and a thoroughly fresh and exciting account of Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks by Collegium 1704.
In the Concerto category, in association with ABRSM, our three contenders include Vivaldi’s ever-popular Four Seasons from exciting young Baroque violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, described by our reviewer as ‘so compelling it will have you on the edge of your seat’. Up against that album are a stellar Walton Cello Concerto from Jonathan Aasgaard and the Sinfonia of London, and Lindberg and Aho Clarinet Concertos from the wonderful Julian Bliss.
The 2026 Opera category pits Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, starring Lise Davidsen and Gerald Finley, up against Bartók’s harrowing Duke Bluebeard’s Castle from the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karina Canellakis. Rounding out the category is a charming account of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London, ‘delivered to such a high standard as to make this an essential set for anyone seriously interested in the score,’ according to our review.
Fabulous violinists, and dramatic voices
Our three 2026 Choral contenders are a vigorous Handel Chandos Anthems from Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen; JS Bach’s Mass in B Minor, in a thrilling account by Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon; and A Prayer for Deliverance, a beautifully ethereal album centered around the theme of rest from Tenebrae – showcasing, says our reviewer, the singers’ ‘effortless versatility both as choristers and soloists’.
‘His sense of drama is unchanged,’ says our reviewer of German baritone Christian Gerhaher’s Brahms Lieder, one of this year’s Vocal contenders. It's joined by Mahler – Songs of Fate, a tender and emotional album from mezzo-soprano Anna Lucia Richter, and Lines of Life – Schubert and Kurtág from baritone Benjamin Appl, who draws on personal experience working with the latter composer.
This year's Chamber category, in association with Wigmore Hall, features two fabulous violinists at the top of their game – Alina Ibragimova, who joins pianist Cédric Tiberghien in Schumann Violin Sonatas, and Isabelle Faust, who teams with Kristian Bezuidenhout and Kristin von der Goltz in Bach Sonatas for Violin and Continuo. They’re joined by the Marmen Quartet in Ligeti and Bartók, performed with ‘an energetic vitality and colour,’ according to our reviewer.
Peerless pianists and dramatic debuts
The piano takes centre stage in this year's Instrumental category, where Alexandre Kantorow’s dramatic Brahms and Schubert goes up against captivating Ravel from Bertrand Chamayou. Into the mix, with solo Telemann, Bach, Britten and Shaw, steps British violist Timothy Ridout – ‘an album that proclaims the viola as a distinctive, individual solo instrument,’ writes our reviewer.
The three discs to make the cut for our Premiere Award are a dazzling selection of new works from Liza Lim, featuring cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and William Barton on didgeridoo; cellist-vocalist and ‘breathtakingly vibrant artist’ Abel Selaocoe in his self-penned Four Spirits; and Dobrinka Tabakova’s Sun Triptych, ‘a three-movement nature piece for violin, cello and strings that traces the movement of light from dawn to dusk’.
Last but not least, our Newcomer Award, in association with Yamaha, features three outstanding young artists at the beginning of what promise to be very special careers: violinist Simone Porter, who demonstrates ‘an unerring sense of pacing,’ according to our reviewer in ad tendo, featuring works by Biber, Hildegard von Bingen and Reena Esmail; pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, striking out from the rest of her talented family in her solo debut Fantasie; and Czech pianist Jan Schulmeister in an outstanding debut of Russian repertoire.
When can I vote?
Voting for the 2026 Awards opens on Thursday 29 January, and closes at midnight on Tuesday 3 March, with the winners revealed at our Awards Ceremony at London’s Kings Place on Wednesday 22 April.
Many thanks to this year's jury: Nicholas Kenyon, Andrew McGregor, Jo Talbot, Miranda Bardsley and Charlotte Smith.
You can find all the categories and how to vote at https://www.classical-music.com/awards/2026-awards