Performing Arts

07:57 AM CDT on Friday, September 30, 2005

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's recording of the Sergei Rachmaninoff piano concertos with pianist Stephen Hough won what probably is the world's most prestigious award for classical music recordings on Thursday.

Mark Melson, the DSO's vice president of artistic operations, flew to London to accept the Editor's Choice citation at the Gramophone Awards at the Dorchester Hotel. The annual ceremony is sponsored by the British music magazine Gramophone.

DSO music director Andrew Litton conducted the four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The concertos were recorded in a series of Rachmaninoff Festival concerts in April and May of 2004 at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Rhapsody in a separate recording session a year earlier.

"This is a great honor," Mr. Litton said, "especially given the huge competition for this award. Stephen and I started dreaming about recording the Rachmaninoff concerti together long before Dallas came into my life. And I am so happy that, 15 years later, the project not only came to fruition, but has received such extraordinary recognition both for Stephen and for Dallas."

Produced by Andrew Keener with engineer Jeff Mee, the recordings have been issued by the British label Hyperion in both conventional CD and hybrid surround-sound SACD formats. And they've drawn rave reviews from critics around the world.

"Stephen Hough's artistry needs little introduction," Gramophone editor James Jolly said of his choice for the Editor's Choice Award, "but his magnificent technique and fearsome integrity make this a mandatory purchase. Hough brings passion, poetry and a total command of the piano to these glorious works and Litton proves a characteristically sympathetic partner."

The Gramophone Awards used to include prizes in some 20 categories, but this year only seven awards were presented.

E-mail scantrell@dallasnews.com