Populist stars shunned on night of triumph for the mainstream classical performers

The new brand of heavily promoted "pop" classical stars from Vanessa Mae to Russell Watson were snubbed last night when the Gramophones, the Oscars of the classical world, were announced.

The performers who dominated this summer's Classical Brits, the more populist rival awards, were nowhere to be seen when Gramophone magazine's 25th anniversary winners were named at the Barbican Hall in London.

Instead there was triumph for one of the most popular names in the "serious" classical canon when the glamorous Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli was presented with the artist of the year award by the musician Elvis Costello. The honour topped a week that saw Bartoli's long-awaited debut at Covent Garden and the acclaimed release of a new CD of rare arias by Gluck.

And as if to emphasise that unadulterated classical music can provide as much sex appeal as the Brits, which featured the scantily clad string quartet Bond, Roberto Alagna followed her on to the stage to accept the recital award for his recording of French arias.

The young opera star, first in line for the title of Fourth Tenor, is one of the rare talents accorded credit by the critics but also adored by a wider public, not least for a romantic affair with the soprano Angela Gheorghiu, now his wife.

She was one of the rare purist successes at the Classical Brits when she beat Lesley Garrett to the title of female artist of the year. But whereas she was forced to sing with a microphone for the Brits' heavily amplified ceremony at the Albert Hall, Alagna sang at the Barbican without.

Of the other main winners, the London Symphony Orchestra, made it a double success, taking the orchestral award and the record of the year for Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony, conducted by Richard Hickox. Antonio Pappano, the conductor who takes the helm at the Royal Opera House next year, won the opera award for his recording of Massenet's Manon. Naxos, a budget CD label, notched up its first Gramophone honour with the Vaughan Williams' string quartets recorded by the Maggini Quartet.

The Britannia Music lifetime achievement award went to the Spanish opera singer Victoria de los Angeles, now 78, who famously recorded Carmen and La Boheme with Sir Thomas Beecham.

James Jolly, editor of Gramophone, said the Classical Brits were there to cater for the "softer" end of the classical music world, whereas the Gramophone awards were about artists who performed in the traditional way as chosen by experts. "The thing about these artists is they don't need amplification, they don't need a disco beat. The sheer force of their musical personality is enough," he said.

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Bill Holland, head of the Universal Classics label, which won three awards, and a fierce defender of the Classical Brits, said the two ceremonies were complementary.

"What we do is give the public what they want. People like [the blind Italian tenor] Andrea Bocelli and Charlotte Church come in for a great deal of criticism but they're the people who sell the records."