Stéphane Denève’s recording of Roussel’s Le festin de l’araignée (The Spider’s Banquet)/Padmâvatî (NAXOS 8.572243) has been awarded the 2013 prize for symphonic music by the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
The International Classical Music Awards are the only truly independent and international awards for classical music in the world. The jury consists of seventeen leading music critics representing magazines, online services and radio stations from across thirteen countries: 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). They selected 15 CD and DVD productions from among a total of 275 nominations. Remy Franck, President of the Jury said, ‘the winners are a selection made without any national motive and therefore provide reliable guidance to the global audience.
Recorded in Glasgow in 2010, the 2012 release of Le festin de l’araignée/Padmâvatî was the fifth and final volume in the critically-acclaimed Denève/RSNO/NAXOS series of Roussel orchestral works. Critic David Hurwitz wrote on ClassicsToday.com, “This final installment provides a worthy and memorable conclusion to the series… Denève has an unerring feel for Roussel’s idiom, for that combination of rhythmic drive, precision of accent, and elegant phrasing that somehow seems both personal to this composer as well as quintessentially French. Beyond that, he gets excellent, truly refined playing from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and he’s expertly recorded.”
Stéphane and his fellow winners will receive the ICMA Trophies during the annual Award Ceremony taking place this year in Milan, Italy, on March 18. More information can be found on the ICMA website.