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Moscow-based recording company gets international prize in classical music

Melodiya received the award in the Historic Records nomination for a complete set of recording of all the symphonies by Ralph Vaughan Williams

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Moscow-based recording company Melodiya has won the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) prize, the company’s Director General, Andrey Krichevsky told TASS.

Melodiya received the award in the Historic Records nomination for a complete set of recording of all the symphonies by Ralph Vaughan Williams. They were recorded back in the last years of the Soviet era by the Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture under the baton of maestro Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Ralph Vaughan Williams, a classic of English music of the turn of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, is broadly believed to be the founder of British symphony school. He became known to the audiences in the former Soviet Union thanks to the initiative of maestro Rozhdestvensky, who performed the cycle of his symphonies in the world-famous hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic Society in 1988 and 1999.

The ICMA awarding ceremony will take place in Ankara on March 28.

Melodiya has received ICMA prizes in the Historic Recordings nomination on two occasions in the past.

In 2011, the prize was awarded for a CD of symphonies of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in the rendition of Radio Moscow Grand Symphony Orchestra, also conducted by Gennady Rozhdevstvensky who is one of the most widely acclaimed Russian conductors along with Yevgeny Mravinsky, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Valery Gerghiyev.

The prize for 2013 was awarded to the company for a CD titled ‘Igor Stravinsky: the Russian Seasons’. The music was performed by Moscow Philharmonic Society Orchestra, the Moscow Conservatory Orchestra, and Radio Moscow Grand Symphony Orchestra.

Melodiya was founded in 1964 on the basis of an LP-manufacturing factory located in the township of Aprelevka near Moscow. Its task was to produce, store and distribute recordings of most diverse genres.

ICMA is the only independent international award in the field of classical music. Its panel includes professional music critics from the top-rated music magazines, online services and radios.