Out of 1,200 records reviewed by the magazine during 2015, 21 records were chosen to compete by a jury of music critics and editorial staff.
Audio excerpts from the nominated albums are available on a special website: www.awards.classical-music.com. The winners will be selected in an online poll (open till 19th February 2016) and then awarded during a ceremony on 5th April. The list of laureates will also be published in the BBC Music Magazine’s May edition.
The album of Grażyna Bacewicz’s string pieces was recorded in one of the concert halls of the Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic in Wrocław in 2012. It was produced, edited and mastered by Andrzej Sasin and Aleksandra Nagórko (CD Accord). The musicians, Lutosławski Quartet, are one of the leading Polish quartets, invoking the legacy of the great 20th-century composer, Witold Lutosławski. The album was published by the label Naxos.
Since its formation in 2007, Lutosławski Quartet has quickly achieved its respected position, performing at many prestigious festivals and in renowned concert halls worldwide. Their repertoire covers an array of different music eras, including classical compositions as well as the newest ones. Its focus, however, is on the popularisation of Polish music by composers such as Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski, Paweł Mykietyn and Marcin Markowicz, one of the quartet’s members. Lutosławski Quartet is one of the ensembles of the National Forum of Music in Wrocław.
Sources: BBC, Culture.pl, written by FL, translated by OK, 11 Jan 2016