​During the past ten years the Quartetto di Cremona has matured into a string quartet of international renown, combining the Italian culture of string playing with an awareness of historical performance practice. The first volume of their recording series of the Complete Beethoven String Quartets comprises three distinctive works from Beethoven's early, middle and late periods.

​"The ICMA Jury comprising 17 leading media from 13 countries selected 15 CD and DVD productions among a total of 275 nominations. The winning releases, far from being commercial mainstream, are a selection made without any national motive and therefore provide reliable guidance to the global audience. The ICMA also include six Special Awards paying respect to exceptional musicians and producers. All these Awards  are the expression of our jury's aim of making the difference between good and exceptional," said Remy Franck, President of the Jury.

The winners will receive the ICMA Trophies during the annual Award Ceremony taking place this year in Milan, Italy, on March 18. This evening will also include a Gala Concert at the Auditorium, with the participation of the ICMA winners, among them audite artists Les Cornets Noirs (Polychoral Splendour) and clarinetist Laura Ruiz Ferreres (Brahms aud. 91662), and the Orchestra LaVerdi conducted by Principal Conductor John Axelrod. Through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the concert will be available to radio stations all over the world.

The International Classical Music Awards are the only truly independent and international awards for classical music in the world. The jury consists of professional music critics of the most important magazines, online services and radio stations: Andante (Turkey), Classic Radio (Finland), Crescendo (Belgium), Fono Forum (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), IMZ (Austria), Kultura (Russia) MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Opera (UK), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Resmusica.com (France), Rondo Classic (Finland), and Scherzo (Spain).
You can find a complete winners'list and more information here.

​Ferenc Karl Fricsay was born on August 9th 1914 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. Being a conductor of Austrian decent he mainly worked in Hungary, Austria and Germany. He made his debut in Germany in 1948 at the Städtische Oper Berlin and with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester. In September 1949 he was appointed General Music Director at the Städtische Oper Berlin and Chief Conductor of the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester which then was only two years old. He had lasting impact on the orchestra and led the ensemble to international reputation.

Ferenc Fricsay's work with the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester is documented in numerous prize winning audite productions. From February 20th to March 20th we offer selected recordings at a special anniversary price to private customers.

The complete anniversary bundle includes 14 productions with 21 single CDs at 129,00 EUR. All titles are also available as single productions at an anniversary rate: 95498, 95584, 95497, 23406, 95499, 23411, 95593, 95596, 23413, 23412, 95585, 95587, 95629, 21407

* Order the complete anniversary bundle (14 productions) here.
* You can find a complete overview of all Fricsay productions here. For anniversary orders of single albums, please click on the provided links in the catalogue.

The nmz-critic Michael Kube justified his choice of audite as the label with the best repertoire policy:
"audite gelingt immer wieder die erfolgreiche Hebung und vorbildliche Aufbereitung wertvoller Archivschätze. Challenge: Auch abseits von Bach hat sich das Label im Bereich der Barock-Musik vorzüglich positioniert."

​Besides news from the current music scene (premieres of contemporary music, jazz, pop) and reports on music education, the nmz presents reviews, reports and commentaries on new releases, cultural policy, music industry, staff appointments and general news from the German world of music. The nmz is considered an important voice of the German music scene. As an independent publication the neue musikzeitung (nmz) is issued ten times a year and has a print run of 23.000 copies per issue.

We are very happy about this award from the noted music journal and the recognition of its knowledgeable critics!

​Ferenc Fricsay war ein Kompositionsschüler von Kodály, Bartók und Dohnányi an der Franz-Liszt-Musikakademie in Budapest und sammelte seine ersten Dirigenten-Erfahrungen als Militärkapellmeister. Nach einer langen Lehrzeit in der ungarischen Provinz folgte 1947 der Durchbruch: Als Einspringer für Otto Klemperer bei den Salzburger Festspielen startete Ferenc Fricsay seine internationale Karriere, die ihn sofort nach Berlin führte. Hier leistete er als Chefdirigent des neu gegründeten RIAS-Symphonie-Orchesters Berlin, das 1956 in Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin umbenannt wurde, bahnbrechende künstlerische Arbeit. Im Mittelpunkt der Sendung stehen erstmals auf CD veröffentlichte Aufnahmen mit diesem Orchester aus dem RIAS-Archiv. Sie porträtieren den vor 50 Jahren verstorbenen Ferenc Fricsay als einen der großen, Stilbildenden Dirigenten des 20. Jahrhunderts.

​After a Supersonic from Pizzicato and the nomination for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) the production receives yet another important prize.

The quarterly and annual awards of the German Record Critics' Award are sought-after prices in the German music scene. The winners of the quarterly awards are included in the Quarterly Critics' Choice ("Bestenliste") of the German Record Critics' Award. The lists recommend new releases which merit special attention for the quality of interpretation and 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 and audiophile grounds.

We are very happy about this distinguished award!

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Die hier vorgelegte Gesamtausgabe der Kammermusikwerke für Klarinette von Johannes Brahms wird getragen von den erstrangigen Interpreten: Laura Ruiz Ferreres gilt als eine der talentiertesten Klarinettistinnen ihrer Generation, ebenso der Pianist Christoph Berner. Die Streicherbesetzung mit dem international erfolgreichen Cellisten Danjulo Ishizaka und dem Mandelring Quartett komplettiert die hochwertige Künstlerauswahl dieser Aufnahme.

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Read the complete review:

Herald Scotland | Michael Tumelty | 9 March 2013

My goodness, here is something special. Volume 1 in a new recording of Beethoven's complete string quartets is a stunner. The group, the Quartetto di Cremona, was established in 2000 and has been around a bit, though they are new to me. Here they play the sixth of the opus 18 set, the blistering opus 95 (the Quartetto Serioso, so-named by Beethoven) and the final quartet, the opus 135. The sheer power, energy and attack from the group, on my first hearing of the disc, totally took my breath away. They have a big, bright, full-on approach, which, in the rebarbative opus 95, is completely shocking. The group sound reminds me in some ways of that of the great Quartetto Italiano, and it is no surprise that the Cremona Quartet was directly influenced by Piero Farulli, the viola player in that legendary group. This is a major series on the German Audite label, without question. Seek it out.

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