Imagine dedicating your life to music, pouring your heart and soul into every performance. Now, imagine being recognized as the best in the world, not just once, but twice. That's exactly what happened to Sir Simon Rattle at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2025, a feat never before achieved in the award's history. But here's where it gets controversial... Is repeated recognition truly a testament to enduring excellence, or does it overshadow the contributions of other deserving artists?
The prestigious awards ceremony, held in the heart of London, celebrated the pinnacle of classical music achievement. Sir Simon Rattle, a titan in the conducting world, etched his name into the history books by securing the coveted Artist of the Year award for a second time, having first claimed the honor back in 1993. This remarkable accomplishment acknowledges his recent collaborations with leading orchestras across Europe, including the London Symphony Orchestra (where he holds the title of conductor emeritus), the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Czech Philharmonic. His diverse repertoire, showcased in a string of acclaimed recordings, spans from the Baroque era to contemporary compositions, demonstrating his versatility and enduring passion.
In a heartfelt video acceptance speech, Rattle expressed his deep connection to the Gramophone magazine, recalling how he spent his childhood pocket money on it. "I was 10 years old when I started spending my pocket money on Gramophone magazine … this is an extraordinary honour,” he shared. Video tributes poured in from fellow musicians, highlighting Rattle's profound impact on the music world. Barbara Hannigan praised his boundless curiosity and kindness, while composer John Adams lauded him as both a great conductor and a genuinely wonderful person. Adams poignantly stated, "How can someone be one of the great conductors of our time and also just a plain wonderful mensch, a good guy who cares deeply … To have worked with him, to have heard him do my music with the intensity and passion that he’s given it – it’s been one of the great pleasures of my life.”
But the night wasn't just about Rattle. The Recording of the Year award went to French conductor Raphaël Pichon, along with his choir and period-instrument orchestra Pygmalion, for their stunning rendition of JS Bach’s Mass in B Minor, released on the Harmonia Mundi label. Gramophone lauded the performance as one “that gleams at the cellular level, radiating outwards with devotional warmth; in short, it is alive.” This speaks to the power of historically informed performance, where musicians strive to recreate music as it would have been heard in the composer's time.
Adding to the excitement, the rising star María Dueñas, a 22-year-old Spanish violinist, was crowned Young Artist of the Year. Dueñas, who captured first prize at the Menuhin competition in 2021 and records for Deutsche Grammophon, further solidified her triumph by winning the instrumental category for her album showcasing Paganini’s notoriously challenging 24 Caprices. This is a testament to her extraordinary technical skill and artistic maturity at such a young age.
And this is the part most people miss... The awards also celebrated the rediscovery and recognition of previously unknown musical treasures. Two world premiere recordings were honored, one in the contemporary category for Sir George Benjamin’s live recording of his 2023 opera Picture a Day Like This with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The second, and perhaps more astonishing, was in the early music category.
The Krasiński Codex: Fifteenth-Century Music from Cracow, a collection of music dating back over 600 years, received the early music recording of the year prize. This extraordinary recording unveils music from a mid-1420s manuscript that miraculously survived destruction during World War II. The Krasiński Codex narrowly escaped Nazi arson in 1944, when the library of Polish nobleman Wincenty Krasiński was set ablaze. Legend has it that a musicologist working for the Third Reich recognized the manuscript's significance and rescued it, saving it from oblivion. The codex, returned to Poland in 1948, contains over 40 predominantly polyphonic pieces, offering a unique glimpse into the vibrant musical landscape of the late Middle Ages and European musical culture of the time.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon baritone Sir Thomas Allen, presented by Gerald Finley. Allen, born in County Durham in 1944, debuted at Covent Garden in 1971 and has graced opera houses worldwide for five decades, performing a vast repertoire from Mozart to Britten and Strauss to Sondheim. His final stage appearance was last summer in Glyndebourne’s The Merry Widow. Accepting the award, Allen humbly compared himself to “a tiny, tiny prawn in a sea of greatness” and expressed heartfelt gratitude to his longtime agent, Sue Spence, and his wife, Jeannie.
The Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2025 celebrated not only established masters but also emerging talents and the preservation of musical heritage. It's a reminder of the power of music to transcend time and connect us to the past, present, and future.
Now, it's your turn. Do you think awards like these truly reflect the best in classical music, or are there inherent biases at play? Should there be more emphasis on supporting emerging artists and rediscovering forgotten masterpieces, even if it means less recognition for established figures? And, circling back to the beginning, is giving the top award to the same person twice truly a good thing?
