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.

​Founded in 1999 by Christophe Le Gall, established in France but international by its team active across Europe and in North America, ResMusica covers news on performances, concerts, festivals and musical institutions with daily reports and articles, interviews and analysis on all aspects of classical music and dance. Reviews on albums, videos and books are also available.

Each month ResMusica give five La Clefs du mois to reward outstanding publications on albums, videos and books. Since 2009, a selection of these La Clefs du mois are awarded the La Clefs d'Or, rewarding outstanding releases of the year. Since 2009, ResMusica is the French representative to the jury ICMA, the International Classical Music Awards.

The 11,000 articles freely available and the 1200 reviews published every year, the team of 40 writers spread across 7 countries contribute to make ResMusica the most active francophone publication for classical music and dance on the Internet.

A fortiori we are very happy about this important decoration!

​The Diapason d'Or is a record award for recordings of classical music. It is awarded by the French magazine Diapason every month in multiple categories.

Besides the price of the German Record Critics' Award and the British Gramophone Award the Diapason d'Or is the most significant independent European record award for classical music.

​The International Classical Music Awards are the only independent international awards for classical music in the world. The jury consists exclusively out of professional critics for classical music from international media. This guarantees the high level and the independency of the ICMA. Both make the ICMA the most important international music award. Thus we feel particularly honored to receive the ICMA!

The ICMA Jury comprising 17 leading media from 13 countries selected 16 CD and DVD productions among a total of 264 nominations. The ICMA also include seven Special Awards paying respect to exceptional musicians and producers.

On April 12th the winners received the ICMA Trophies during a festive award ceremony in the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw. It was followed by a top-class Gala Concert with the participation of the ICMA winners, among them the Signum Quartett, Joseph Moog, Andreas Staier, Andrea Bacchetti and Adrien Boisseau. Charles Dutoit, Krzysztof Penderecki, José Maria Florencio and Holger Schröter-Seebeck were leading the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra.

The ICMA jury consists of professional music critics of 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.

Pictures from left to right:
Blog graphic/Gallery Image 1: Serhan Bali (Andante), Sabine Wiedemann (audite), Ludger Böckenhoff (audite)
Gallery Image 2: Rémy Franck (ICMA, pizzicato), Serhan Bali (Andante), Sabine Wiedemann (audite), Ludger Böckenhoff (audite)
Gallery Image 3: Serhan Bali (Andante), Rémy Franck (ICMA, pizzicato), Sabine Wiedemann (audite), Ludger Böckenhoff (audite)
Gallery Image 4: Rémy Franck (ICMA, pizzicato), Michel Debra (crescendo)
Gallery Image 5: Charles Dutoit, Krzysztof Penderecki
Gallery Image 6: ICMA Winners 2014

Photo Credits: Bjoern Woll / ICMA

​Variety of download formats / levels of qualities:
audite offers different download formats in different levels of quality which can be freely chosen.

Surround Downloads:
Particular interest has been paid to high quality Surround Downloads.

New additional download format "Optimized for Mobile Use":
This additional download format is optimized for listening on the go. Soft passages are adapted in order to be audible in spite of background noise from the environment.

Payment per second plus rebate for time quantity:
The download price is being charged per second and not per track as with many other download platforms. The pricing structure automatically includes a rebate: The more time quantity of one work/album is being purchased the more reasonable the price will be. Downloading a whole work or album is always more reasonable than downloading its entire single tracks.

Free Downloads:
A free download track will be available on the start page changing on a monthly basis. Currently it is E. Grieg/Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

​

​The four string trios, written during the first third of the last century, reveal the breadth of possibilities of this genre, comprising an elegant game with tradition (Dohnányi), the ideal of a systematic formation of impulsive music (Reger), and a pièce de résistance in virtuosity and colour by Ravel's contemporary Jean Cras.

Release date (Germany) of this production is June 27th.
You can hear the ensemble live in Berlin on Sunday, June 7th at 20:30 PM with a CD presentation concert in the Piano Salon Christophori.

The HAMBACHERMusikFEST was founded in 1997 under the artistic direction of the Mandelring Quartet, and takes place each year during the week of Corpus Christi. The success of this international chamber music festival is determined by a unique combination of highest musical standards and delightful concert venues such as Hambach's famous Schloss, idyllic wine estates, and the town's beautiful baroque church.

Please check here for more details of the programme 2014.

The Mandelring Quartet's trademark is its expressivity and phenomenal homogeneity. The four individual musicians are as one in their shared determination always to seek out the innermost core of the music and confront musical truth. By grasping the spiritual dimension, exploring emotional extremes and working on detail, these musicians probe far beneath the surface, revealing complex meanings in music. At the same time, their approach to music is always both emotional and personal.

Winning a number of prestigious international competitions - Munich (ARD), Evian and Reggio Emilia (Premio Paolo Borciani) - initiated the Mandelring Quartet's international concert career.  The ensemble has appeared in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Madrid, Paris and Vienna. The cities of New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Tokyo are also on their agenda, alongside frequent concert tours to Central and South America, the Middle East and Asia. The quartet has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Oleg Kagan Music Festival, the festivals in Montpellier, Lockenhaus and Kuhmo, the Enescu Festival Bukarest and the Salzburger Festival.

Numerous CD recordings, which have won the German Record Critics' Prize on several occasions and have been nominated for the Midem respectively the International Classical Music Award, bear witness to the quartet's exceptional quality and the breadth of its repertoire. Their recording of the complete string quartets of Shostakovich has been hailed by the press as one of the outstanding complete recordings of our time. Their discs of works by Schubert and Schumann have been selected as new benchmark performances, and also their recent disc of the string quartets of Leos Janáček received several awards.

Since 2010 the Mandelring Quartet has presented its own concert cycles in the Kammermusiksaal of the Berliner Philharmonie and in its home town of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. In 2011 and 2012 the Mandelring Quartet was invited to perform the complete cycle of 15 Shostakovich string quartets several times, e.g. in Berlin and at the Salzburg Festival.

In July 2014 the ensemble celebrates its 30th anniversary with "3 from 30!", a special anniversary concert weekend in the Radialsystem Berlin.

Information on the HAMBACHERMusikFEST:
www.hambachermusikfest.de
tel. +49/(0) 6321/92043

​The quarterly and annual awards of the German Record Critics' Award (PdSK) 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.

Longlist PdSK 3/2014

1) R. Strauss: Don Juan, Eine Alpensinfonie & Walzerfolge from Der Rosenkavalier
RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester
Karl Böhm

2) R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Tod und Verklärung
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Karl Böhm

3) R. Strauss: Don Juan, W. A. Mozart: Symphony No. 28 & I. Stravinsky: The Firebird
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Karl Böhm

4) Kirsten Flagstad sings Wagner & Strauss
Kirsten Flagstad
Orchester der Städtischen Oper Berlin
Georges Sébastian

5) W. A. Mozart: Violin Concerto K 219 & R. Strauss: Symphonia Domestica
Pinchas Zukerman
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Vladimir Ashkenazy

6) R. Strauss: Originals and Transcriptions for Piano
Sascha Zolotarev

7) Sergiu Celibidache: The Berlin recordings
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
Hans Bottermund | Helmut Heller | Lilia d'Albore | Erna Berger | Margarete Klose | Gustav Scheck | Gerhard Puchelt | Tibor de Machula | Raoul Koczalski | Hans Peter Schmitz | Helmut Schlövogt | Karl Rucht
Berliner Philharmoniker | Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin | Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Sergiu Celibidache

8) Elisabeth Schwarzkopf interprets songs by Wolf, Schubert, Strauss, Purcell, Arne & Quilter
Wiegenlied op. 41,1
Schlechtes Wetter op. 69,5
Hat gesagt - bleibt's nicht dabei op. 36,3
Michael Raucheisen
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

We are looking forward to your order!