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Gardiner's Bach set tops Gramophone nods

It must have been an incredibly sweet moment for John Eliot Gardiner when he and his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists won record of the year at the Gramophone magazine's annual awards ceremony September 29 in London. They were recognized for the first volume in their Bach cantata pilgrimage.

The album was released on Gardiner's own Soli Deo Gloria label, which he set up after Deutsche Grammophon dropped him and canceled its plan to have him record all 198 of Bach's surviving sacred cantatas.

Another Gramophone honoree was pianist Steven Hough's recording of the Rachmaninov piano concertos with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Litton (Hyperion), which won editor's choice. The just-retired string quartet the Lindsays received the special achievement award. San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas was named artist of the year, and tenor Placido Domingo won the Classic FM Listeners' Choice Award.

Earlier in the same week, Gramophone editor James Jolly flew to New York to present mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne with a lifetime achievement award, given in association with New York radio station WQXR.

Naxos won the label of the year prize. Once a cheeky budget upstart, it now often sets the pace for artistic and marketing innovations. The label's roster includes conductor Marin Alsop, who recently was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, better-known as the "genius grant."