2015 Juno Awards: predictions for classical music categories

The Juno Award winners will be announced in Hamilton on Sunday, March 15, during an awards ceremony hosted by Hedley's Jacob Hoggard.

Around the office, we've been discussing the four classical music categories. The only thing we can agree on is that this year's nominees include some amazing performances.

Since the classical categories don't get any attention on the televised gala, we decided to break them down. Here's our analysis, including predictions for who will win/should win in each category. Share your predictions in the comments below.

Nominees for classical album of the year: large ensemble or soloist(s) with large ensemble accompaniment

1. Angela Hewitt, National Arts Centre Orchestra and Hannu Lintu: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 24 (Hyperion)

2. James Ehnes, Ehnes Quartet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Mark Wigglesworth: Khachaturian, Shostakovich (Onyx)

3. Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Kent Nagano, Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7(Analekta)

4. Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Peter Oundjian, Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (Chandos)

5. Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bruckner 3 (ATMA Classique)

This category absolutely sizzles with standout recordings from Canada’s top orchestra and internationally admired soloists. The Montreal Symphony — often pigeon-holed as a specialist in French repertoire — offers incisive Beethoven played with true Teutonic grit. The Toronto Symphony brings Sheherezade’s lush romanticism to a lather in this live recording. And the dazzling Nézet-Séguin, leading l’Orchestre Métropolitain, presents a performance of Bruckner’s sprawling Symphony No. 3 that stands with the best.

The concerto recordings are also impressive, but not as consistently. Hewitt brings her usual meticulous poise to Mozart, but the recorded sound lacks aural spaciousness. Meanwhile, Ehnes turns the Khachaturian concerto into a mesmerizing musical yarn, but the Melbourne Symphony is merely capable rather than inspired. It’s a tough call given the incredible performances from all these outstanding Canadian musicians. — Denise Ball

Should win: Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Peter Oundjian
Will win: Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin


Nominees for classical album of the year: solo or chamber ensemble

1. Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, Blanc (Analekta)

2. David Krakauer, Matt Haimovitz, Socalled, Jonathan Crow and Geoffrey Burleson: Akoka: Reframing Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (Oxingale)

3. James Ehnes, Michael Collins, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Andrew Armstrong: Bartok: Chamber Works for Violin, Vol. 3 (Chandos)

4. Jonathan Crow, Paul Stewart: Prokofiev: Sonates & Mélodies (ATMA)

5. Karl Stobbe, Ysaÿe: Sonatas for Solo Violin (Avie)

Tough call, here. Ehnes remains Canada’s most astonishing soloist, but his album is a disc of trifles — an interesting but mostly forgettable leg of his Bartók journey. Crow puts in an admirable performance on his Prokofiev disc, but one suspects he doesn’t have much of a shot after Ehnes’s 2014 win in this category with the same rep.

Dubeau’s nobly intentioned Blanc isn’t entirely undeserving, in spite of its strong pull towards the middle of the road. But, my personal fave is on the other end of the spectrum: Akoka features a lovely recording of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time by fantastic chamber players. Its two new pieces even manage not to seem perfunctory next to the Messiaen. Still, my gut tells me that the statue may go to the debut solo recording by Stobbe, whose mastery of Ysaÿe suggests a much more seasoned recording artist. — Matthew Parsons

Should win: David Krakauer, Matt Haimovitz, Socalled, Jonathan Crow and Geoffrey Burleson
Will win: Karl Stobbe

Nominees for classical album of the year: vocal or choral performance

1. Gerald Finley and Julius Drake, Schubert: Winterreise (Hyperion)

2. Julie Boulianne, Clavecin en concert and Luc Beauséjour, Handel & Porpora: The London Years (Analekta)

3. Karina Gauvin, Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie, Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias(ATMA)

4. Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal and Christopher Jackson, Terra Tremuit (ATMA)

5. Schola Cantorum, Theatre of Early Music and Daniel Taylor, The Heart's Refuge (Analekta)

The dignity and beauty of the voices represented in this category nearly overwhelm. First-time nominee Boulianne has a creamy, effortless voice and her album has quickly become a favourite of mine. Overall, though, her performance lacks bite. And while I enjoyed the captivating repertoire on Terra Tremuit from Le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, they don't quite attain the laser-beam tuning and blend that has become their trademark. As a relative newcomer, the University of Toronto's Schola Cantorum handles its German baroque repertoire beautifully under the leadership of Taylor, although more dynamic contrast would have helped their cause.

Anyone who caught Gauvin's December 2014 performance of Vitellia in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at Théâtre des Champs Élysées realized that an exciting new chapter in her career has begun, as she cautiously takes on heavier roles. Her album of Mozart arias with Les Violons du Roy captures almost all the excitement of that live performance, and I'd have predicted a win for it if it weren't for Finley and Drake's staggering, perfect recording of Winterreise. — Robert Rowat

Should win: Gerald Finley and Julius Drake
Will win: Gerald Finley and Julius Drake

Nominees for classical composition of the year

1. Alice Ping Yee Ho, Glistening Pianos, Glistening Pianos (Centrediscs)

2. Brian Current, Airline Icarus, Airline Icarus: Complete Opera (Naxos)

3. Gordon Fitzell, Magister Ludi, Magister Ludi (Centrediscs)

4. Jacques Hétu, Sextet, Op. 71, Complete Chamber Works for Strings (Naxos)

5. John Estacio, Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra, A Concert for New York (Independent)

Imagine putting all the above-mentioned classical albums together in the same category. That’s what this list of nominated compositions feels like: an impossible invitation to compare chamber apples, operatic oranges and large symphonic bananas.

Ho’s idiomatic keyboard writing in her duet Glistening Pianos (2009) and the seductive orchestrations in Gordon Fitzell’s Magister Ludi (2009) for solo cello and flute octet (two piccolos, two flutes, two alto flutes, two bass flutes) are both impressive on a technical level, but come up short on character against the late Hétu’s deeply affecting Sextet for Strings, Op. 71 (2004).

Current’s opera Airline Icarus (2005) is a beautifully wrought music drama that makes a strong case (thanks in no small part to the recording’s exceptional cast of singers) for the youngest of this year’s five nominated composers. Estacio rounds out the category with an epic Triple Concerto (1997) for violin, cello, piano and orchestra: composed with a sure hand, this is easily the most accessible of the five pieces — but accessibility doesn’t necessarily play well with the jury.

This is the first Juno Award nomination for both Ho and Fitzell, the second for Current, third for Estacio and fourth for Hétu. It will be a first-time win for one of them. — Scott Tresham

Should win: Jacques Hétu
Will win: Brian Current