Dave's Faves No 74 (Raff)

Joachim Raff: Ode au Printemps; Piano Concerto in C minor
Peter Aronsky (piano), Basil Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bamert & Meier (conds.) Tudor

[andrewhWTL]

My favourite Raff discovery so far is the Piano Trio no 2, Op 112, such warmth and high spirits.

[marktanney]

What a great discovery. Thanks very much Dave!

[kylejohnson]

So glad you included Raff in this series! An uneven composer, perhaps, but anyone as prolific as he was is more or less bound to be! At his best, I find him to be on the level of Mendelssohn, Schumann, etc. The finale of the Piano Concerto has one of the catchiest main themes you’re ever likely to hear - Raff was so great at writing perky, march-like tunes like that (see also the 3rd mvt. of his wonderful 5th Symphony “Lenore”). I hold in high esteem his Symphonies nos. 2-5 and 9, Shakespeare Overtures, and the majority of his prodigious and consistently enchanting chamber output. Raff deserves to be taken more seriously than he usually is!

[tomfinot]

The 2 violin concertos on one Tudor disc and the 2 cello concertos on another
tudor disc are wonderful also.

[bloodgrss]

Regarding 'judgement' in Raff's day of composers efforts, Ernest Newman once wrote; "In the 19th century, professors and compilers of text-books used to concoct "bad" harmonic sequences and show how they could be converted into "good" ones-the only trouble being that, to a non-academic ear, the "bad" harmonies were often more appetizing than the "good". They were unconscious humorists, the professors of those days. Dear Ebenezer Prout, " (now, Dave, there IS a critic's name to conjure with!) "...when illustrating a certain melodic rule, wrote a phrase he qualified as 'very bad'-in blissful ignorance that it is with this very sequence of notes that Brahms begins one of his loveliest songs, Wie Melodien zieht es."

What they reflect, and as you imply, is that the audience itself of the day may have looked for such 'formal' technical 'achievements' as well. Hence, between critic and plebeian, motivation for much of the note spinning vapidity of later 19th century romantic orchestral writing? However, several times in the last couple of years I have taken pause while listening to Swiss Radio Classic streaming music, and discovered a piece by Raff, with much beauty in them. Glad you call attention to these pieces and his talents; gold amongst the dross!

[markcraven]

Absolutely beautiful music. Just enjoyed the entire disc and listened to these pieces for the first time. I saw you did a few other videos on Raff so I will be reviewing those as well.

[mike-williams]

By coincidence I discovered these works recently through Tra Nguyen's performance on Grand Piano label. She's also recorded six discs or so of Raff's solo piano music.

[Stephenjamesbutler]

These pieces appear in the Brilliant label, Romantic Piano Concerto box, played by Michael Ponti with the Hamburg SO conducted by Richard Kapp. Alongside plenty of other neglected composers.

[rbmelk]

This is an outstanding piano concerto and is my favorite in the 19th century repertoire after the Schumann and Beethoven 4. Raff’s symphonies are not terribly interesting overall, but I do very much enjoy his Lenore and In Summer symphonies.

[bomcabedal]

Tra Nguyen's recording of the Raff PC on Grand Piano (with the Prague RSO and Kerry Stratton) is a great one, too - at least as good as the Aronsky, I'd say. Antonioli's recording's not bad, either; the only really bad Raff PC I've heard is Michael Ponti's, who just doesn't get it at all.

[martinhaub]

Odd, isn't it, that with Hyperion having put out so many really obscure piano concertos in there wonderful series (and some very well known ones) they still haven't done any Raff.

[mickeytheviewmoo]

Dave, I wondering if you were going to cover Raff in this series. I was thinking if you did, which piece of music you have as your fav. I was gambling it would be his Sinfonietta, Op.188 (1873) (for Ten Wind Instruments).

[doctorzingo]

Tchaikovsky regarded Raff as "a giant" compared to Brahms.

[chadweirick]

Are there different versions of the ode to Spring? I looked it up on YouTube and there were versions between 7 minutes and 18 minutes!

[JAMESLEVEE]

All of Raff's concertante music is very good to great, including the 2 violin concertos and the 2 cello concertos. As far as performances of the piano concerto go, I actually prefer Antonioli's run-through on Claves. IMHO, Aronsky distorts the tempo of the first subject in the first movement, dragging it out in an inappropriate manner in its initial appearance that he doesn't replicate in the teprise; seemingly for no reason. Antonioli keeps the music moving. The only drawback in his performance is the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, which is a little thin in the strings. There is also Frank Cooper's world premiere of the Raff concerto on an old Genesis LP I owned as a kid, but Cooper's technique I always found a little shaky.

[philippborghesi]

I heard the Symphony Orchestra Basel today in Tchaikovskys 4th symphony. The chief conductor was ill and Urbànski stepped in. They did Tchaikovsky instead of Schubert. I was pretty excited because I love Tchaiky. But this performance was just horrible. 5 mistakes only in the opening bars of the horns and brass…😂omg