International Record Prize
25th anniversary
International Record Prize "Toblacher Komponierhäuschen"
A hall of fame of the best Mahler-recordings
„My time will come!“ – With such statements world famous composer Gustav Mahler used to react to the general disinterest in his works: Never would he have imagined that towards the end of the century - contradictions and frights of those years already penetrated his music - he would have become one of the most-played symphonic composers of the world.
No question: Mahler’s posthumous rise to a new “classic” of musical history has been sealed for decades now. Thus, there is no need to justify his value as a composer, even if he has been nominated as “unrecognized genius” for a long time.
Mahler’s prominence in the 21th century is huge: Not only take his symphonies an inherent part in concert programs all over the word, but also the recordings of his works are extremely popular. By 2010 – Mahler’s 150th birthday – more than 2774 recordings were reached, meanwhile there are even several hundred more. Thereby Mahler is recognized as one of the most popular symphonic composers in musical history, besides Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Brahms.
To cope with this new situation of Mahler as a record-star and to appreciate the increasing importance of the “record” for the reception of Mahler’s music, 25 years ago, the initiators of the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks in Toblach decided to establish an International record Prize to classify and evaluate some of the innumerable Mahler-recordings. Since then every year 4 Mahler-experts from all over the word meet during the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks to determine the outstanding Mahler-recordings of the past year. The winning recordings are awarded with a miniature copy of the „Toblacher Komponierhäuschens“ (Mahler’s Composing Cottage in Toblach).
The international press coverage for this independent critics' prize has been positive from the beginning. Meanwhile the „Komponierhäuschen“ has become a greatly demanded record prize among prominent Mahler interprets.
More than 30 jurors of seven different countries have done an excellent job over the years: The awarded recordings are perfectly suitable as a “basis” for every private Mahler-compilation and the conductors and orchestras awarded with the special price belong to the inner circle of the most important Mahler promoters and enthusiasts of the 20th and 21st century.
(You can find the listing of all the prizes here: www.gustav-mahler.it)
Attila Csampai
President of the jury„Toblacher Komponierhäuschen“
(On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Record Prize 2015)
