Prize for CD box set of the Staatskapelle Dresden

The CD box set "475 Years of the Staatskapelle Dresden - 100 Years of Recordings" has received the German Record Critics' Award. The box set was released last year on the Hänssler Profil label to mark the orchestra's anniversary. "We are delighted to receive this great award and see it above all as a tribute to our predecessors, whose legacy we must preserve," the orchestra announced. The Dresden Staatskapelle was founded in 1548 as a court orchestra and is considered one of the oldest orchestras in the world.

The CD box is a musical journey through time to the Staatskapelle's most recent one hundred years. A total of 10 CDs feature recordings under General Music Director Fritz Busch as well as recordings conducted by Richard Strauss, Franz Konwitschny, Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli, the current chief conductor Christian Thielemann and others. The audio documents would reflect both the development of orchestral work and the modernization of recording technology from wax records to sophisticated digital technology, it was said.

The German Record Critics' Award Association is an independent association of around 160 music critics, journalists and music experts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The association presents new productions in quarterly lists of the best recordings.