The musical album George Enescu Symphonies 1-3 – Romanian Rhapsodies 1&2, with Orchestre National de France conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, has been named the winner of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for “Symphonic Music,” one of the most well-known and appreciated awards in the international recording industry, informs a press release of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

The Deutsche Grammophon production, previously awarded with the Classica Choc de l’annee 2024 and Diapason d’Or 2024 awards in the ‘Symphonic Music’ category, includes three discs: Romanian Rhapsodies no. 1 and Romanian Rhapsodies no. 2, Symphony no. 1, Symphony no. 2 and Symphony no. 3, performed by the Orchestre Nationale de France conducted by Cristian Macelaru and the Radio France Choir conducted by Aurore Tillac, presented in concert at the Auditorium Radio France – Maison de la Radio et de la Musique of the Societe Nationale de Radiodiffusion Radio France, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute on the occasion of the ICR 20th anniversary concert in July 2023.

The first violin in the concert was Sarah Nemtanu, concertmaster of the Orchestre Nationale de France, decorated on October 1, 2024 by the President of Romania with the Order of ‘Cultural Merit’ in the rank of Knight, Category B – ‘Music.’

‘An exceptional work by Macelaru, who worked on the original manuscript sheets of Enescu; the Romanian Rhapsodies – where we feel something from the conductor’s Romanian soul and the first three Enescu symphonies, with the sonority and inventiveness required by these sheets with a French scent, performed by an orchestra that has a tradition of almost 100 years in interpreting French music at the highest level. A true discovery, both in terms of the works by Enescu and their interpretation,’ argued the ICMA jury, composed of professional music critics from relevant magazines, online magazines and radio stations, for awarding the prize.

The winners will receive their trophies at the ICMA Awards Gala to be held at the Tonhalle in Dusseldorf on March 19, 2025.

The full list of ICMA 2025 awards is available at https://www.icma-info.com/winners-2025/. AGERPRES (RO – author: Petronius Craiu, editor: Florin Marin, EN – author: Cristina Zaharia)