The 2026 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik ‘early music’ nominees

The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics’ Award) has just published its annual 2026 Longlist. Of the 119 recordings selected across all genres, 17 fall within early music, Baroque and eighteenth-century repertoire – exactly one in seven.

Bach has a particularly strong presence: Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion’s St John Passion, with Julian Prégardien, appears alongside the complete 56 chorale cantatas recorded by Gli Angeli Genève and Stephan MacLeod, as well as Johann Ludwig Bach’s 18 Leipzig cantatas with Johanna Soller and Capella Sollertia.

Opera is equally well represented, with Cavalli’s La Calisto from Sébastien Daucé and Correspondances, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea from Stéphane Fuget and Les Épopées, and Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, bringing together Reinoud van Mechelen, Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew.

At the keyboard, Jean Rondeau, joined notably by the Ricercar Consort, presents his ambitious complete recording of Louis Couperin’s works, while Marcin Świątkiewicz and Arte dei Suonatori explore Johann Gottlieb Janitsch’s harpsichord concertos and symphonies. The Freiburger Barockorchester and Gottfried von der Goltz, meanwhile, embark on their Grand Tour through Baroque Europe.

The Longlist also includes Solitude, centred on Purcell and Corbetta, with countertenor Reginald Mobley, Brandon Acker and Douglas Balliett; con afecto, devoted to Francesc Valls by BachWerkVokal under Gordon Safari; Roland de Lassus’s Pentecostes with the Lassus Chamber Choir conducted by Eoghan O’Donovan; and Weimar 1755 from Ælbgut and Capella Jenensis.

Cantoría: From Renaissance Spain to New Horizons in Latin America

Also selected are Mozarts Clavichord, with Georg Nigl and Alexander Gergelyfi, a programme devoted to the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and two Mozart albums: the complete violin concertos with Roberto González-Monjas and the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, and Symphonies Nos 35 and 36 with the Third Violin Concerto, performed by Aylen Pritchin, Il Pomo d’Oro and Maxim Emelyanychev.

With 17 nominations out of 119, early music and eighteenth-century repertoire enjoy a particularly strong presence in the 2026 selection. The annual committee of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik will choose ten Annual Awards (Jahrespreise) from the full Longlist. The results will be announced on 15 October…