​Watch impressions of the recording session with one of today's leading cellists: Marc Coppey, winner of the Leipzig Bach Competition, is featured in his new album in the dual role of artistic director and soloist of the Zagreb Soloists for the first time. The recording presents Haydn's Cello Concertos, milestones in the history of cello music, and the free-spirited A major Concerto by C. P. E. Bach. The new production will be released in January 2016.

For his first audite recording, Marc Coppey has chosen to focus on the Haydn Cello Concertos - milestones in the history ofcello music. Coppey's interpretation reveals the diverging aspects of these works: Baroque devices alongside pioneering elements looking towards the Romantic concerto; chamber-like communication alternating with soloisticvirtuosity; intimate, differentiated soundscapes beside orchestral wealth. Marc Coppey: "I feel as though I am asinger in different roles. If I had to choose one aspect over all the others, it would be the operatic one."

The concept and originality of the A major Cello Concerto by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach make it an ideal companion piece for the Haydn Concertos.

As Artistic Director of the Zagreb Soloists, Marc Coppey performs these concertos as soloist and director, continuing the long tradition of the Zagreb Soloists under Antonio Janigro.

Marc Coppey, winner of the Bach Competition Leipzig, is considered one of today's leading cellists. He was discovered at an early age by Yehudi Menuhin, who invited him to perform alongside him. In 1989, Mstislav Rostropovich asked Coppey to perform at the Evian Festival, marking the beginning of his solo career. He regularly appears alongside leading orchestras and conductors, and is also a passionate chamber musician, performing together with renowned artists. From 1995 until 2000 he was a member of the Ysaÿe Quartet. Marc Coppey is a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and gives masterclasses across the globe. He is Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Festival Colmar and the Zagreb Soloists.

​Watch impressions of the recording session with Roland Glassl, the longstanding violist of the Mandelring Quartett: He presents his debut solo album performing suites for solo viola by Max Reger, Adolf Busch and Justus Weinreich. Weinreich's suites of 1894 are a wonderful discovery and now available as a recording for the first time. The production will be released in February 2016.

Roland Glassl has established his reputation as a soloist and chamber musician. Numerous prizes at international competitions (including first prize at Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition; first prize at Washington International Competition for Strings; winner of the first International Viola Competition Vienna) as well as sixteen years of playing in the Mandelring Quartett have taken him to many of the great international concert stages and festivals. Roland Glassl studied the violin with Prof. Ana Chumachenco at the Munich Musikhochschule and the viola at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, with Atar Arad. After his return to Germany he began his career as a chamber musician and soloist. Alongside his intensive involvement with the Mandelring Quartet he has given many concerts with the Trio Charolca and has also continued performing as a soloist. Roland Glassl teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, whose staff he joined as professor of viola in 2004.

The ICMA jury consists of professional music critics of important magazines, online services and radio stations: Andante (Turkey), Crescendo (Belgium), Fono Forum (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), HRT (Croatia), IMZ (Austria), Kultura (Russia) MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Opera (UK), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Resmusica.com (France), Rondo Classic (Finland), and Scherzo (Spain).

ICMA President Remy Franck says: "Only an international jury like ours can get, at the end, such an impressive international result with productions from 15 labels and nine different countries. According to our criteria only really outstanding recordings are allowed to win a prize, and to get there, we will certainly never be misled by any chart rankings or the whatsoever popularity of artists. At ICMA, also less known musicians and smaller independent labels have a chance. It's all about musical quality and integrity!"

We are very happy about this prestigious award!

​The Award Ceremony and Gala Concert will take place on April 1, at the Kursaal in San Sebastián, hosted by the Orquesta de Euskadi (Basque National Orchestra) and San Sebastián European Capital of Culture 2016.

​On April 1st this year's International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) were awarded in San Sebastián (Spain). The audite production Edition LUCERNE FESTIVAL Historic Performances Vol. VIII won the award in the category Historical Recording. The winners were introduced and honoured with a festive award ceremony and a top-class gala concert.
 
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 makes the ICMA the most important international music award, a similar concept on international level cannot be found elsewhere.

Thus we feel particularly honoured to receive the ICMA!

The statement of the Jury:
"This recording is an important and exceptionally beautiful piece of documentation in the history of the Lucerne Festival. Both the Hungarian and the American pianists play with great sensitivity and maximum respect towards the intentions of the composers. The performances are characterized by extreme concentration, humility and lyricism."

The ICMA jury consists of professional music critics of important magazines, online services and radio stations: Andante (Turkey), Crescendo (Belgium), Fono Forum (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), HRT (Croatia), IMZ (Austria), Kultura (Russia) MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Opera (UK), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Resmusica.com (France), Rondo Classic (Finland), and Scherzo (Spain).
 
pictures:
ICMA winners & jury
Serhan Bali (Andante / ICMA), Sabine Wiedemann (audite)
Remy Franck (pizzicato / ICMA president), Sabine Wiedemann (audite)
Michael Haefliger (director LUCERNE FESTIVAL)
(photo credit: Juantxo Egana)

​Prokofiev's works reflect facets of Franziska Pietsch's own biography to a significant degree. As an emerging talent in the GDR, she enjoyed special state support; her musical training was thus initially shaped by the Eastern European school, bringing Prokofiev's music close to her heart. His two Violin Sonatas appear as two contrasting poles within his oeuvre - her life has also moved between extremes. The state support led to early success in the GDR. However, her father's escape to the West in 1984 was followed by two years of reprisals by the regime, intensively shaping Franziska Pietsch's understanding of music: deprived of any possibility of playing concerts or taking lessons, her chosen path towards hope - against desperation, refusal, fear and despotism - led inwards. Music became the only language in which she was able to express herself freely and which gave her the necessary strength to withstand external circumstances, continuing to hope for freedom. These were the origins of the intensity and artistic depth which characterise Franziska Pietsch's playing to the present day.

The two Violin Sonatas, written largely between 1938 and 1946 after Prokofiev's return to the Soviet Union, could not be more contrary: No 1 in F minor, Prokofiev's "Appassionata", is a tragic piece, whilst No 2 in D major, originally conceived for flute and piano, is predominantly joyful and serene. Prokofiev arranged it himself, with David Oistrakh advising him. The reworked version of the Cinq mélodies, composed in 1919/20 for voice (without text) and piano accompaniment, was also produced by Prokofiev himself. These chamber works expose three intrinsic aspects of his artistry: his ability to create a seamless, emotionally intense melodic line; his often concealed tragic side; and his classicist inclination.

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The video gives impressions of the latest audite-recording session in the Abbey Muri with its four galleries: The monumental Mass of Georg Muffat and church sonatas by his contemporaries fit perfectly into this octagonal space. Four ensemble groups are placed on the galleries, the fifth group in the middle of the church on the ground floor. Thus the recording creates a vivid, spacial and authentic impression of the imposing sacred music heard at leading Catholic courts during the High Baroque. The Abbey Church of Muri with its four galleries and its historical Bossart organs proves to be a performance venue with perfect acoustics for these polychoral works.

​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.

​For its latest CD featuring works by Camille Saint-Saëns, the award-winning Quartetto di Cremona draws on sixteen years of giving concerts and making recordings. Leading Italian pianist Andrea Lucchesini joins the ensemble for the Piano Quintet: the third movement of the work is presented here in the rare version adding a double bass (ad lib.).

These two chamber music works of the French composer represent crucial stages in his oeuvre: the Piano Quintet, a work of early perfection, demonstrates Saint-Saëns' engagement with German Romanticism, particularly with Robert Schumann and his formal idiom. The String Quartet, marking the transition into his late style, represents the first chamber piece in which Saint-Saëns leaves out his own instrument, the piano. Here, his version of the classical style - clear forms and a colourful expressive spectrum - becomes especially clear. Brilliance and an unerring sense of form; calm, melancholy resting and energetic gestures; romantic vocal qualities and exquisite compositional art - the contrasts characterising Saint-Saëns' musical idiom are perfectly realised by the Quartetto di Cremona.

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