Paavo Järvi: Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik

November 17th 2007, by Tobias |

Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie have secured one of the awards at the prestigous annual German Critics' Prize “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”. Compared to the Echo, which traditionally draws a larger crowd but also heavy criticsm for its close relationship with the big record companies, the competition has a much more indendent ring to it and has been known to value musical quality higher than sales figures. Paavo Järvi snatched up the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for his recordings of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 3 and 8 for RCA Red Seal. “Out of the abundance of Beethoven symphony recordings, this SACD production clearly stands out as a prelude to a new complete works.”, the jury stated in its judgement, “This recording is both original and rousing in its transparency and its luminous impact, in its chamber-musical sophistication and its balance of analysis and emotion.” The award comes as a special treat for this site as well, as tokafi team member Dirk Fischer was part of the production as recording engineer.

A total of ten records have been selected from the flood of CDs on the German market and will be distinguished in a ceremony on November 17th at the museum of music instruments in Berlin. Next to Paavo Järvi, labels like ECM, composers like Luciano Berio and artists like Lars Vogt are among the laureats for the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”. The journalists were especially charmed by the decidedly modern touch of the album, which both embraces a contemporary sound and a historically-minded approach: “For the way that The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen plays under its conductor Paavo Järvi sounds historically-accurate and modern in equal measure: thrilling, trim, vivacious.” And: “The tempi, based on Beethoven's original metronome guidelines, also lend this production some additional authenticity.””

For Paavo Järvi, the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” comes as yet another sign of recognition in 2007, as he also announced on his blog that he had been chosen as this year’s recipient for the “Cincinnati MacDowell Medal” for those "whose cultural contributions to the arts in the Cincinnati area are deemed most significant."

Picture by Shelia Rock

Homepage: Paavo Järvi
Homepage: Sony BMG Masterworks