Gramophone Awards Go Esoteric: Complete Louis Couperin Takes Record of the Year

The complete works of Louis Couperin, a 10-CD box devoted to an obscure French Baroque composer, won Record of the Year at last night's Gramophone awards, the annual honors of the classical record industry's house magazine.

The selection, announced at the ceremony where the industry's remaining players gathered, leaned heavily toward repertoire far outside the popular canon. "Esoteric doesn't begin to describe the selection," Slippedisc reported.

Who won what?

The full list of honorees:

• Record of the Year: the complete works of Louis Couperin, a 10-CD set
• Artist of the Year: German violinist Isabelle Faust, recognized for her performance of Ligeti's violin concerto
• Opera Award: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater
• Orchestra of the Year: the Bamberg Symphony
• Concerto of the Year: Ligeti
• Song Award: mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet and pianist Florian Caroubi for Belle époque!, released on the Alpha label

Why does the choice of Salonen raise eyebrows?

Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony won the Opera Award for Saariaho's Adriana Mater — an honor that lands after Salonen walked out on the orchestra, citing its failure to support his artistic vision. The award now stands as a curious postscript to that rupture.

What does the lineup say about the industry?

Faust, a fine violinist, has no recognition outside the classical coterie, and her award-winning performance features the stubbornly marginal Ligeti concerto. The Couperin box, meanwhile, demands a heavy investment from listeners: ten CDs of music by a composer most have never heard.

Slippedisc's verdict on the winners' mainstream prospects was blunt: "Hardly any of these winners will get an airing on Classic FM."

The same report posed the wider question facing the format: "And you wonder why classical recording has dug its own grave." An awards list this far removed from any general audience suggests the industry's annual showcase will do little to reverse that decline.