The 2015 Grawemeyer Award has been given to Wolfgang Rihm for his 15-minute orchestral work IN-SCHRIFT 2. Awarded annually by the University of Louisville, the Grawemeyer Award is worth $100,000 and as such is the world's largest composition prize. Previous Grawemeyer winners include John Adams (1995), Thomas Adès (2000) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (2012).

IN-SCHRIFT 2 was premiered in October 2013 and commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Philharmonie concert hall. The award's director Marc Satterwhite said, 'The work evokes dark colors and uses mostly low instruments – no flutes, violins or violas, for example. It begins and ends in quiet and mystery, taking many interesting paths along the way.'

Rihm's works are frequently recorded and reviewed in Gramophone. In February last year, Fabrice Fitch listened to a new recording of Rihm's complete works for violin and piano by violinist Tianwa Yang and pianist Nicholas Rimmer (on Naxos). He wrote, 'One of the disconcerting things about listening to Wolfgang Rihm’s music is the impression of a composer thinking aloud, but on paper. It’s as though he’d lost his eraser, permanently: rather than edit, he reconsiders and rectifies but never corrects. The earliest of the pieces recorded here fit the young Rihm’s enfant terrible image, calculated tantrums pour épater l’avant-garde...The devotion that Rihm attracts from his performers is impressive and this young duo is no exception. Both deploy a full range of colour and nuance, and the ability to change mood in an instant. The early pieces might just have benefited from a touch more savagery, however: music as deliberately irritating as this deserves nothing less.'