The label audite has developed into a highly regarded address in the classical scene during the past few years. Above all, the professional press has bestowed the highest praise on Rafael Kubelik's Mahler cycle with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as on the rediscovery of the composer Eduard Franck. Besides these series, which are being continued, we commit ourselves to first-class artists, unusual repertoire and audiophile quality.
Sound engineer Ludger Böckenhoff is the motor and centre of audite. For many years he worked for companies such as Deutsche Grammophon, Sony and BBC, and is still active today as a producer for other high-standard labels.
The close cooperation with a growing nucleus of first-class artists so typical of audite has also arisen out of this activity. This guarantees a clear programming line, consistently high quality and polished productions in the most minute detail. The audite programme is thus based on three pillars - legendary recordings, interesting, at times unusual repertoire and large editions.

Many factors must work together to make an unusually good CD out of a recording idea:

The Philosophy

audite considers itself an audiophile label. Our recording equipment is not only completely up to date, but usually also a bit ahead of its time. For example, we have been recording in multi-track 96kHz/32-bit technology for years. However, the technology only forms the basis upon which recording starts to become exciting - namely, in the creative collaboration with the musicians. For it is only when the artists and the sound engineer work together on the musical and emotional level that the result can become extraordinary. That is why, at audite, the musicians are involved in the entire production process. And that is also why the recording supervisor's work is an equally important part of the musical-creative process. The wheat can only be separated from the chaff through this intense collaboration. Only then can standard productions be distinguished from the individual, extraordinary recordings which are audite's hallmark.

The Individual Effort

We do not believe in supposed "ideal" standard solutions - each CD is unique. And that is why each audite production is newly conceived and prepared from the very outset. Each time, we carefully select the best hall, the best instrument and the equipment best suited to this very recording. And this detailed work continues throughout the whole production process right up to the cover design and the writing of the booklet text. The booklet's graphic design is individually matched to the music; the extensive, multi-lingual accompanying texts are written by established experts, but are also comprehensible to the layman.

The Artists

Since his years as a free-lance sound engineer, Ludger Böckenhoff has gained an excellent reputation, and not only amongst musicians. Thanks to this - and also through audite's persistent and reliable repertoire policy and worldwide distribution - we have been able to plan several large projects for 2003:
Dominique Tassot will record original twentieth-century French literature for saxophone and orchestra with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Neuman. A treasure-trove of tone colours, including premiere recordings.
The Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Johannes Wildner will record major repertoire for organ and orchestra, with Christian Schmitt at the Kuhn Organ at St. Arnual in Saarbrücken.
The Mandelring Quartet will record Schubert String Quartets.
Violinist Christine Edinger will continue the rediscovery of the romantic composer Eduard Franck with further premiere recordings.
Finally, let us not forget the artists on our "legendary recordings:" Rafael Kubelik, Edith Mathis, Dame Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt, to name only a few.

The Repertoire

The audite repertoire goes right through the entire history of music, from the Middle Ages to the moderns, from the piano sonata to the symphony for large orchestra. The only thing that counts is the quality of the music and the interpretation's power to convince the listener.

The programmes are based on three pillars:

• Legendary Recordings

For example the excellent recordings of Rafael Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra which were made from the 1960s until the 1980s for radio and then disappeared in the archives.
• Unusual Repertoire and First Recordings
  For example the rediscovery of the romantic composer Eduard Franck and the viola works of the violin virtuoso Henri Vieuxtemps. Or well-known works clothed in a new sound, like Heidi Kommerell's recording of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words on an 1829 Nanette Streicher fortepiano with an upper-striking mechanism.
• Large Editions
  For example Franz Schubert's String Quartets with the Mandelring Quartet and Beethoven's Cello Sonatas with David Geringas

But not everything can be categorised in these three areas, for the individual project is always our chief concern.

The Sonic Ideal

We do not try to duplicate a concert situation in the living room on our CDs. Rather, we consider the CD to be a medium with its own sound aesthetic . That is why audite CDs are truly audiophile, in every sense of the word. To quote Ludger Böckenhoff: "Music transports emotions through sound. A good recording can intensify the emotional effect attempted in the score; the prerequisite for this, at any rate, is that the sound engineer first confronts this attempted emotional effect himself and consciously perceives it. Not everyone can do this.

"Besides the commitment to the score, the precise placement of the instruments is important to me; this creates a feeling for space. I try to depict the instrument in a graphic way. The point is not to duplicate an actual hall, disregarding the fact that subjective decisions would be necessary in order to do this."
We do not use a standard system that we would use for all recordings, but rather apply the use of the technical equipment individually to the music at hand.

The Recording Media

Concerning the question of recording media, we take a major risk, for the CD still dominates the picture. But the future belongs to the multi-channel. And that is why, for years, we have been recording each new production with a view towards possible issue on the multi-channel medium SACD/DVD.
On the other hand, vinyl has its aficionados as well, and so we have produced an audite LP again after many years, from the analogue tapes in the Bavarian Radio archives: Mahler's Symphony No. 5 with Rafael Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Distribution

audite CDs are distributed worldwide through various partner firms. It doesn't matter where you want to obtain an audite CD - a dealer in your area has it in stock. Should that not be the case, he can certainly order it for you.
The closely knit distribution network is also an important component of the partnership between audite and the artists. For we guarantee them that their CDs are present on the world's most important markets. And through the close dovetailing of label and distribution in the area of PR work, we assure them a wide public.

History of the Label

audite is a young label yet a label with a rich tradition. It is been in its present form only since the year 2000. During that year, audite and Fermate melted together to form the new audite label. Fermate was founded by Ludger Böckenhoff in 1991. While still a student in sound engineering in Detmold, he recorded his first CD - for trumpet and organ. But only during the mid-1990s did the firm gain a professional structure. The label grew gradually; the repertoire, the nucleus of artists and the distribution network were built up.
The sound engineer Friedrich Mauermann had also founded a label considerably earlier in Stuttgart. This label - audite - rapidly achieved a good reputation amongst experts. When Mauermann once again wanted to start something new, long before the usual retirement age, and wanted to put his "baby" into good hands, the opportunity for a meaningful merger was given. Fermate took over audite - as well as the renowned label name.
In the meantime, the catalogue has grown to include approximately 130 titles, including older audite CDs.

Current Information

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Biography

As a youth, Ludger Böckenhoff resumed the piano lessons that he had given up for two years. Something was missing in his life, without music... At the same time he was fascinated by the illusion produced by the sound of a good recording, and became interested in audio technology.
There was just one question in selecting a profession: how can one bring these two main interests, music and technology, into one's professional life? And there was only one answer: become a sound engineer.
During his student years in Detmold he was already working for the WDR, the SWF, the Sonopress firm (Bertelsmann) and the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft.
Towards the end of his studies he founded the "Fermate" label, continuing to develop it during the following years.
He simultaneously worked as a free-lance co-worker and producer for firms such as the BBC, Dinemec, New Morning Productions, PolyGram, Canterino, Deutsche Grammophon, DeutschlandRadio, FunHouse (Japan), Hyperion (Great Britain), Saarland Radio/SR, Sony Classical, Southwest German Radio/SWR, VictorRCA (Japan), West German Radio/WDR and Yamaha (Japan).

Since the year 2000 Böckenhoff has concentrated on larger firms and his activity as a producer, due to the ever growing burden from his own label and from finally taking over the audite firm. He is presently active as a producer for such firms as Hyperion, amongst others.