The Australian Recording Industry Association has announced the nominees in the Artisan and Fine Arts categories of the 2019 ARIA Awards, and the competition is looking fierce in the Best Classical Album category.

Diana Doherty. Photo © Christie Brewster

Among the nominations is Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Nigel Westlake’s Spirit of the Wild concerto, with oboist Diana Doherty as soloist, conducted by the composer, alongside Steve Reich’s The Desert Music, conducted by David Robertson, with Synergy Vocals. The album was Limelight’s Recording of the Month in May.

“Both pieces demand technical brilliance of differing kinds,” wrote Limelight’s Ben Wilkie in his five-star review. “With the uncanny precision of Synergy Vocals, this is perhaps one of the best live recordings of The Desert Music available and, paired with Westlake’s remarkable meditation on the Australian landscape, an essential release.”

The SSO’s album is up against recorder Genevieve Lacey’s recording of the Telemann unaccompanied Fantasias; the Grigoryan Brothers’ Bach Concertos, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Benjamin Northey; and soprano Nicole Car’s Heroines with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Richard Tognetti. All four albums are on ABC Classic, and are competing with one...