A night at the Presto Music Awards 2023
Faber Music and Edition Peters picked up three awards for print publications at the 2023 Presto Music Awards, while the LA Philharmonic recording of Thomas Adès’s Dante was selected as one of the top 10 recordings of the year.
On receiving the award for top 10 recording of 2023, selected out of a list of 100, Adès expressed his thanks for this recognition from the Presto judging panel, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel, and the team at Nonesuch in creating the debut recording of Dante.
Adès’ score for The Dante Project, with choreography by Wayne McGregor and designs by Tacita Dean, has just concluded a run of performances at the Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen, and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where it debuted in 2021.
With all three nominations in the Best Deluxe Edition category (Notebook for Johann Christian Bach, The Planets Facsimile Edition, and Picture a day like this), the eventual winner was the stunning new Facsimile Edition of Holst’s The Planets. Originally published by Faber Music in the 1970s, this was brought back into print in 2023 for the first time in full colour, with original commentary by Imogen Holst and Colin Matthews as well as a new introduction, presented as a cloth-bound, hardback limited edition.
Lesley Rutherford, Faber Music Publishing Director, says:
‘It has been a pleasure to produce this beautiful facsimile edition of such an iconic work. We are thrilled that the Presto judging panel selected it!’
The illustrious Keyboard Publication of the Year category was this year won by Edition Peters Henselt Etudes (Urtext), edited by Daniel Grimwood.
The judging panel said:
“This new Edition Peters Urtext edition is edited by Daniel Grimwood, one of the composer’s most highly regarded interpreters. His exceptional knowledge of the composer, the background of the works, and the care and obvious dedication to the project is what ultimately led us to select this publication as our winner. This is the only available modern Urtext edition of these important piano works.”
Education publication of the year went to another Editon Peters publication: Penelope Roskell’s Essential Piano Technique. The newly elected Chair of EPTA UK, Penelope Roskell is renowned for her award-winning volume, The Complete Pianist, which explores a whole-body approach to healthy piano playing. The new Essential Piano Technique books translates and adapts these concepts into method books aimed at beginner learners.
The judging panel said:
“The Essential Piano Technique impressed us with its fresh, unique style, as well as its appealing and original content.”
The new Faber Music Harry Potter Piano Anthology with cover design by MinaLima was also nominated for best Film and Musicals publication of the year but was narrowly beaten by Hal Leonard’s Lin Manuel Miranda Collection.
We extend our thanks to Presto Music for recognising both Faber Music and Edition Peters publications with these awards, and our congratulations to all nominees and winners.