The Brit Award for Classical Recording was an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom.
Criteria The accolade used to be presented at the Brit Awards, an annual celebration of British and international music. The winners and nominees are determined by the Brit Awards voting academy with over one-thousand members, which comprise record labels, publishers, managers, agents, media, and previous winners and nominees.
History The award was first presented in 1982 as "Classical Recording" which was won by Simon Rattle. The accolade has been defunct as of 1993.
New Zealand opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa became the only female winner in 1984. Only two other women were nominated for the award; Jane Glover for her recording of Violin Concerto by Richard Strauss and another violin concerto by Christopher Headington in 1992, and Cecilia Bartoli for her recording of Heroines by Giacomo Puccini in 1993. Te Kanawa was also one of only four non-British winners, along with Australian guitarist John Williams in 1983, Indian conductor Zubin Mehta for Carreras Domingo Pavarotti in Concert in 1991 and Hungarian-born conductor Georg Solti for his recording of Otello by Giuseppe Verdi in 1992, though Solti had been a British citizen since 1972. At least two musicians were nominated posthumously; Puccini in 1984, 60 years after his death, and Leonard Bernstein for his operetta Candide in 1992, two years after his death. The only musician nominated for two recordings in the same year was Colin Davis, who was nominated for his recordings of The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten in 1985.
Winners and nominees
YearRecipientNominees 1982 Simon Rattle James Levine Vernon Handley 1983 John Williams Christopher Hogwood Joaquín Rodrigo Julian Lloyd Webber Neville Marriner Simon Rattle 1984 Kiri Te Kanawa Giacomo Puccini (posthumously) Michael Tippett Simon Rattle Trevor Pinnock 1985 Christopher Hogwood – The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)Christopher Hogwood wins Best British Classical Recording | BRIT Awards 1985 Bryden Thomson – Symphony No. 4 (Arnold Bax) Carlo Maria Giulini – Il trovatore (Verdi) Colin Davis – The Magic Flute (Mozart) Colin Davis – The Turn of the Screw (Benjamin Britten) 1986 Nigel Kennedy-Violin Concerto (Elgar)Nigel Kennedy wins Classical Recording presented by Sir George Sholty | BRIT Awards 1986 /Georg Solti-Messiah (Handel) John Rutter-Requiem (Fauré) Julian Lloyd Webber-Cello Concerto No. 1 (Haydn) Trevor Pinnock-Canon & Gigue (Pachelbel) 1987 Julian Lloyd Webber - Elgar Cello Concerto /André Previn Luciano Pavarotti Mariss Jansons Nigel Kennedy 1988 Vernon Handley-Symphony No. 5 (Ralph Vaughan Williams) Andrew Davis-The Mask of Time (Michael Tippett) Bryden Thomson-Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (Hummel) Roger Norrington-Symphony No. 2 & 8 (Beethoven) Simon Rattle-Symphony No. 2 (Mahler) 1989 Trevor Pinnock-Messiah (Handel) /André Previn-Violin & Viola Concertos (Walton) Jeffrey Tate-Opera Arias (Mozart) Philip Brunelle-Paul Bunyan (Britten) Simon Rattle-Symphony No. 2 (Mahler) 1990 Simon Rattle-Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin) Jeffrey Tate-Piano Concertos (Mozart) John Eliot Gardiner-St Matthew Passion (Bach) Nigel Kennedy-The Four Seasons (Vivaldi) Riccardo Chailly-Façade/Renard (William Walton/Igor Stravinsky)1990 - Best British Classical Recording - Simon Rattle - BRITs on YouTube 1991 Zubin Mehta-Carreras Domingo Pavarotti in Concert (various) John Eliot Gardiner-Vespro della Beata Vergine (Claudio Monteverdi Kent Nagano-The Love of Three Oranges (Sergei Prokofiev) Matthew Best-Serenade to Music/Five Mystical Songs/Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Vaughan Williams) Oliver Knussen-The Prince of the Pagodas (Britten) 1992 /Georg Solti-Otello (Verdi) Jane Glover-Violin Concerto (Richard Strauss)/Violin Concerto (Christopher Headington) John Eliot Gardiner-Missa Solemnis (Beethoven) Leonard Bernstein-Candide (self, posthumously) Osmo Vänskä-Violin Concerto (Jean Sibelius) 1993 Nigel Kennedy-Violin Concerto (Beethoven)Simply Red, Lennox top Brit Awards - Variety Cecilia Bartoli-Heroines (Puccini) Henryk Górecki-Symphony No. 3 (self) John Tavener-The Protecting Veil (self) Nikolaus Harnoncourt-Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
Multiple nominations and awards
+ Artists that received multiple nominationsNominationsArtist6Simon Rattle4Nigel Kennedy3John Eliot GardinerJulian Lloyd WebberTrevor Pinnock2André PrevinBryden ThomsonChristopher HogwoodColin DavisGeorg SoltiJeffrey TateVernon Handley
+ Artists that received multiple awardsAwardsArtist2Nigel KennedySimon Rattle
Nominations by country Country Nominations First nomination Last nominationArtist/s4019821993Simon Rattle, Vernon Handley, Christopher Hogwood, Julian Lloyd Webber, Neville Marriner, Michael Tippett, Trevor Pinnock, Bryden Thomson, Colin Davis, Nigel Kennedy, Georg Solti, John Rutter, Andrew Davis, Roger Norrington, Jeffrey Tate, John Eliot Gardiner, Matthew Best, Oliver Knussen, Jane Glover, John Tavener61992James Levine, André Previn, Philip Brunelle, Kent Nagano, Leonard Bernstein519841993Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Maria Giulini, Luciano Pavarotti, Riccardo Chailly, Cecilia Bartoli219871989André Previn19861992Georg Solti11983John Williams1993Nikolaus Harnoncourt1992Osmo Vänskä1991Zubin Mehta1987Mariss Jansons1984Kiri Te Kanawa1993Henryk Górecki1983Joaquín Rodrigo
References
External links Official website