Gramophone Award winners 2013: a buyer's guide to the winning albums

1. Baroque Instrumental Winner: ...pour passer la mélancolie - Andreas Staier

What the judges said: “Staier brings a combination of skill, knowledge, empathy and sheer force of personality that compel you to listen. Whether you know him as pianist, fortepianist or harpsichordist, as soloist, accompanist or chamber musician, in Schubert, Mozart, Bach or Byrd - or even not at all - this disc will surely be a revelation.”

2. Baroque Vocal Winner: Bach Motets - Monteverdi Choir/Sir John Eliot Gardiner

What the judges said: “Occasionally a recording appears which you know represents a special landmark in a long-term collaboration. Amongst a strong field in the vocal category, the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner find a new gear in their 40-year journey with the Motets. A questing energy, drawn from the heart of the text, explodes this ‘holy grail’ of vocal polyphony towards startlingly fresh and illuminated readings.”

3. Chamber Winner: Barnabás Kelemen, Zoltán Kocsis

What the judges said: “Barnabás Kelemen is one of the finest violinists treading the current circuit, a fearless virtuoso whose grasp of the music he performs, and of Bartók’s music in particular, squares with the best of his Hungarian contemporaries…”

4. Choral Winner: Elgar, The Apostles - The Hallé / Sir Mark Elder

What the judges said: “Fine soloists, stunning choruses both spectacular and intimate, and the immediacy of live performances combine to create an award-winner that is head and shoulders above the rest of this year’s short list. Further, it recognises the expertise of a distinguished British conductor in British music with a great British orchestra. Three reasons for celebration with an abundantly deserved award.”

5. Contemporary Winner: Dutilleux - Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Esa-Pekka Salonen

What the judges said: “There is no better introduction to the composer’s world. And how appropriate that this year’s Contemporary Award-winner, a 97th birthday present turned memorial to a man who stuck to his own meticulously crafted path, should confirm also the rise to prominence of a singer of like mind, the sensational Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan.”

6. Concerto Winner: Patricia Kopatchinskaja, HR-SO & Ensemble Modern / Peter Eötvös

What the judges said:“Patricia Kopatchinskaja performs these three concertos by composers born in Hungary with her trademark panache and the recorded balance gives her all due prominence. The importance of the orchestral contribution can’t be denied, however, and there’s an impressive sense of common purpose and collaborative zeal throughout.”

7. Early Winner: A New Venetian Coronation - Gabrieli Consort & Players / Paul McCreesh

What the judges said: “While the music of Giovanni Gabrieli and his uncle Andrea is always welcome in the catalogue, there are very few recordings that put it in its full liturgical context in this way – not just with works of Hassler, Bendinelli and Gussago, not just the chants, but the whole atmosphere, with crowd noise, church bells, drums and fanfares.”

8. Instrumental Winner: Mussorgsky - Steven Osborne

What the judges said: “Steven Osborne has been a consistent presence in the shortlists for a number of years with an array of discs that is as striking for its eclecticism as for the sheer quality of his pianism. And this year he has beaten off a particularly strong line-up with a disc built around a famously unpianistic work – making his achievement still more impressive.”

9. Orchestral Winner: Suk, Prague; A Summer's Tale - BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jiří Bělohlávek

What the judges said: “Jiří Bělohlávek’s innate affinity with a whole spectrum of Czech music shines through with a special glow in this. A Summer’s Tale’s emotional arc and its profound aura of contemplation are beautifully encapsulated in the colours and character of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s playing.”

10. Opera Winner: Puccini, Il Trittico - Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano

What the judges said: “It has everything a prize-winning DVD of Puccini's Il trittico could need - an interesting and emotionally involving production; excellent playing and (mostly) singing; and filming of the highest quality that today's technology affords. For a work that has long hovered on the fringes of the opera repertoire, this was potentially a world-beating combination of virtues.”

11. Vocal Winner: Wagner arias - Jonas Kaufmann, Orch of the Deutsche Oper / Donald Runnicles

What the judges said: “Together with Runnicles and his Berlin opera orchestra –more evident partners in the music-making than simple accompanists – Kaufmann promotes the long-term staple of the star singer’s arias collection into a concert event in its own right.”