Best Classical Music of the 2010s

In chronological order. This list was compiled by going through the “Best Music – Year by Year” lists from 2010-2019 and finding all the classical music releases.

  1. Karol Szymanowski – Symphony No. 3 (“Song of the Night”)/ Violin Concerto No. 1 (Vienna Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez; Christian Tetzlaff) (2010)
  2. Charles Ives – Violin Sonatas (Hilary Hahn, violin; Valentina Lisitsa, piano) (2011)
  3. John Luther Adams – Inuksuit (Inuksuit Ensemble) (2013)
  4. Sergei Rachmaninov – All-Night Vigil (Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Klava) (2013)
  5. San Fermin – San Fermin (2013)
  6. Dawn Upshaw & Maria Schneider – Winter Morning Walks (2013)
  7. Caleb Burhans – Evensong (2013)
  8. Henri Dutilleux – Correspondences and Other Works (Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor) (2013)
  9. David Lang – Death Speaks (Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Owen Pallett & Shara Worden) (2013)
  10. Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartets Nos. 13-15; Alfred Schnittke – String Quartet No. 3 (Pacifica Quartet) (2013)
  11. John Luther Adams – Become Ocean (Seattle Symphony Orchestra) (2014)
  12. Harrison Birtwistle – Chamber Music (Lisa Batiashvili, Adrian Brendel, Till Fellner, Amy Freston & Roderick Williams) (2014)
  13. Lou Harrison – Works for Chorus and Violin with American Gamelan (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose, conductor) (2014)
  14. Igot Levit – Piano Works of Bach, Beethoven and Rzewiski (2015)
  15. Andrew Norman – Play (Boston Modern Orchestra Project) (2015)
  16. Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 10 (Boston Symphony Orchestra) (2015)
  17. Anthony de Mare – Liaisons — Re-imagining Sondheim From The Piano (2015)
  18. Anna Thorvaldsdottir – In the Light of Air (International Contemporary Ensemble) (2015)
  19. Hans Abrahamsen – Let Me Tell You (Barbara Hannigan; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Andris Nelsons) (2016)
  20. Nathaniel Dett – The Ordering of Moses (May Festival Chorus; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; James Conlon) (2016)
  21. Franz Liszt – Transcendental Études (Daniil Trifonov) (2016)
  22. Philip Glass – Einstein on the Beach (DVD) (Michael Riesman, Philip Glass Ensemble, Kate Moran, Helga Davis, Antoine Silverman, The Lucinda Childs Dance Company (2016)
  23. J.S. Bach – Goldberg Variations (Mahan Esfahani) (2016)
  24. Dmitri Shostakovich – Under Stalin’s Shadow: Symphonies 5, 8 and 9 (Andris Nelsons, Boston Symphony Orchestra) (2016)
  25. Christopher Rouse – Seeing/Kabir Padavali (Talise Trevigne; David Alan Miller; Orion Weiss; Albany Symphony) (2016)
  26. G.F. Handel – Israel In Egypt (arr. Mendelssohn) (Lydia Teuscher, Benjamin Hulett, The Choir of The Kings Consort, The Kings Consort, Robert King) (2016)
  27. Magdalena Kožená – Monteverdi (La Cetra, Andrea Marcon) (2016)
  28. Hector Berlioz – Les Troyens (Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg; John Nelson, conductor) (2017)
  29. Philip Glass – Piano Works (Vikingur Olafsson) (2017)
  30. Jean Sibelius – Piano Works (Leif Ove Andsnes) (2017)
  31. John Adams – The John Adams Edition (Berlin Philharmonic) (2017)
  32. J.S. Bach – ‘Goldberg’ Variations (Beatrice Rana, piano) (2017)
  33. Danish String Quartet – Last Leaf (2017)
  34. Franz Schubert – Die Schöne Müllerin (Christian Gerhaher, baritone; Gerold Huber, piano) (2017)
  35. Bela Bartok – Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Christian Tetzlaff) (2018)
  36. Ólafur Arnalds – Re:Member (2018)
  37. Florence Beatrice Price – Symphonies Nos. 1 And 4 (John Jeter, Fort Smith Symphony) (2019)