Founded in 1997 under the artistic direction of the Mandelring Quartett the Hambacher Musikfest has developed into one of the highly acclaimed chamber music festivals in Europe.

Each year renowned artists follow the quartet’s invitation to the picturesque city of Neustadt in the wine region Palatinate and perform a varied program with music from classic to modern. This year’s artists include the Trio Jean Paul, the Marimba-Duo Katarzyna Mycka/Franz Bach, Thomas Duis (piano), Volker Höh (guitar), Michael Martin Kofler (flute) and Reinald Schwarz (double bass); the „Platform for young artists” presents Julian Steckel (violoncello) with his duo partner Francesco Piemontesi (piano) and the successful girl’s choir „Pfälzische Kurrende“ under Carola Bischoff.

From May 25 to May 29 you can hear eight concerts, four of them in the historic castle of Hambach; the concerts in the baroque church St. Jakobus and the concerts in two vineries draw a great audience, too.
The artistic level of the performances, the nearness to the artists and the festive to charming atmosphere of the concert locations determine the special character of the festival just as the regional wines, champagnes and food specialties offered throughout the festival.

Information about the festival at tel. 06321-92043 and at www.hambachermusikfest.de ; for information about the Mandelring Quartett and concert dates www.mandelringquartett.de.

Now you can pay with your credit card (Master-/ Visacard) at audite. Ordering via internet gets so even more comfortable at audite. If you prefer other payment methods like ahead transfer, direct debit or cash on delivery you can choose from those, too.

At “about us”/ “contact” you cannot only send us an e-mail but you can easily find your way to audite with the route planner and an interactive map.

Two SACD-productions mark the beginning of the co-operation between Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra and Audite. Thomas Sanderling and the chief conductor of the orchestra, Arnold Kats, conduct works of Rachmaninov, Prokofief and Tchaikovsky. The release is planned for 2006.

"Pro Musica Co." is closing a gap in our international distribution network and we are looking forward to the cooperation!

For three weeks the Mandelring Quartett was on tour in South America. The musicians followed an invitation of the Goethe-Institute and Colombian National Bank. The concert tour led the quartet to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay. In addition to the concerts the Mandelring Quartett shared their expertise in workshops which took place in co-operation with local partners.

In La Paz/ Bolivia the quartet played literally in thin air in 3700m height. Nevertheless the musicians did not have to make use of the offered oxygen masks…

The complete edition of Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartets with the Mandelring Quartet takes shape: The first part with the quartets No. 1, 2 and 4 will be probably released in late autumn. As a prelude the Mandelring Quartet presents Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 4 together with Schubert’s quartet g-minor and Beethoven’s quartet Op. 131 in a concert on Sunday October 30th at 5:00 PM in the prestigious concert series of "The Frick Collection" in New York. If you do not have a chance to attend the concert you can already look forward to the new production!

The 3 double SACDs present César Franck’s complete organ works for the first time. This complete edition naturally includes the 12 major well-known works of this composer. In addition to these, it contains at least 40 minutes of first recordings alongside many smaller treasures of the repertoire. The works for harmonium are available here in their entirety in their versions for organ, as are two organ works discovered during the 1970s and 1980s, also new to the recording medium.

Besides these aspects of completeness, the present complete production is marked by the special sound of the Goll Organ. Its warm, soft sound, resulting from widely constructed pipes, creates an unobtrusive power and fullness; the essence of the French Cavaillé Organs has been preserved and further developed in this instrument.

Interested music lovers can call up the exact registrations of all the pieces from www.audite.de simultaneously with this issue, as well as short videos about the construction of the organ.

audite will release the first double SACD of the three part series in November:

SACD 1
Pièce en mi bémol*
Pièce pour Grand Orgue
Andantino (G minor)
Fantaisie (C major, version I)*
Cinq Pièces pour Harmonium transcrites pour Grand Orgue par Louis Vierne*
Offertoire (A major)**
Fantaisie (C major, version II)
Quasi Marcia op. 22 **

SACD 2
SIX PIÈCES POUR GRAND ORGUE
No. 1 Fantaisie op. 16
No. 2 Grande Pièce Symphonique op. 17
No. 3 Prélude, Fugue et Variation op. 18
No. 4 Pastorale op. 19
No. 5 Prière op. 20
No. 6 Final op. 21

*: Premiere Recording **: Premiere Recording for Organ

The concert date of the live-recording printed in the booklet and on the inlaycard is November 9th 1962. The correct date should be January 30th 1970. There is a recording of the concert of November 9th, too, but the basis for our production is the stereo-recording of January 30th 1970. We will correct this mistake in the next edition of this production.

Our production of the Schubert Mass No. 6 was included in the Quarterly Critics Choice (Bestenliste) of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. (The lists recommend new releases which merit special attention either for the quality of interpretation or creativity, or for their value to the repertoire. These lists provide a candid picture of new releases which, in the jury's opinion, are of outstanding importance when judged on purely artistic grounds.)

The historic live recording of F. Schubert: Mass No. 6 was made on 22 March 1968 in the Herkules-Saal of the Munich residence. It is part of our Rafael Kubelik series; together with the Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Bavarian Radio and the soloists Waldemar Kmentt (tenor), Franz Crass (bass), Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Grace Hoffmann (alto) and Albert Gaßner (tenor) Kubelik creates an outstanding interpretation.