Тёмный

Review: A Big Box of Raff Symphonies 

The Ultimate Classical Music Guide by Dave Hurwitz
Подписаться 44 тыс.
Просмотров 6 тыс.
50% 1

Joseph Joachim Raff, although largely forgotten now, was a major symphonic composer in the second half of the nineteenth century. He wrote eleven symphonies, including a "Four Seasons" quartet of them, and his most famous, No. 5 "Leonore," has never quite left the repertoire. This box of symphonies, overtures and suites on the Swiss Tudor label will appeal to all fans of romantic orchestral music.

Опубликовано:

 

18 сен 2024

Поделиться:

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист
Посмотреть позже
Комментарии : 72   
@martinhaub2602
@martinhaub2602 4 года назад
This is the kind of music that orchestras should be playing in the numerous summer festivals. Nowadays, well before the coronavirus, they all were just recycling the same old warhorses from a regular season. The 3rd and 5th in particular would be audience pleasers. They were good enough for Mahler and Toscanini!
@bigg2988
@bigg2988 4 года назад
YES. I second the idea. This is perfect summer festival music if there ever was one - catchy and light, but with enough substance where you feel you spent a good time... and may even come away humming. :))
@presterjohn7789
@presterjohn7789 10 месяцев назад
I love the 9th symphony.
@bomcabedal
@bomcabedal 4 года назад
Neeme Järvi's recent recording of Raff's 2nd and 5th symphonies (on Chandos) show how you can make this music a lot more coherent by keeping the pace going a bit better. Compared to Stadlmair, he shaves around 10 minutes off the 5th and 5 off the 2nd symphony. "Lenore" is virtually transformed. In general, I think Raff's best music is in the concertos though, where his tendency to meander is kept in check by the practicalities of the genre, and where the program is largely absent.
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
Good points.
@bigg2988
@bigg2988 4 года назад
Yes, Raff indulged in programs excessively, sometimes (not always!) to the detriment of final results. I am on board about some of his "abstract" work being the best.
@nickb220
@nickb220 3 года назад
yes. the raff symphonies are difficult, but so incredible if performed well
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
The 2nd Violin Concerto is programmatic, but still a marvelously concise work. So are the 2 programmatic konzertstücks (Die Liebesfeen for viollin and Frühlingsode for piano). It wasn't Raff's attempts to use programmatic elements that led to his longeurs. Quite the opposite. In attempting to pour "old wine into new bottles" (as Liszt put it), Raff insisted on utilizing every contrapuntal and motivic transformational (augmentation, diminution, etc.) trick in the book in his symphonic development sections, stretching them out to extravagant proportions. Plus, his recapitulations are almost slavish reprises of the expositions. Even Bruch had the good sense to withhold the transitional materials from his expositions until the codas of his sonata-form movements; truncating the space between the first and second subjects in the reprise. Not Raff. With Raff, you have a modified, but equally lengthy repeat of the transition to stay in the tonic, right where the transition was in the exposition, and a coda with a terminal development to boot. You just don't mind it because the contrapuntal skill and felicitous orchestration are sooooooooooo wonderful.
@theyoutubetroll6679
@theyoutubetroll6679 Месяц назад
Any recording besides Jarvi's of the 5th is unlistenable to me. He did it exactly right.
@edwinbaumgartner5045
@edwinbaumgartner5045 4 года назад
Thanks for this review. Not one of the greatest composers, but as my composition teacher used to say: The geniuses do the skeleton, the talents the flesh. I like the "Leonore" because of the increasing tension. Very well written and scored.
@frgraybean
@frgraybean 4 года назад
I ordered this set recently...it hasn’t arrived yet. Your video has helped prepare me. Thank you!
@frgraybean
@frgraybean 4 года назад
Dave, how about a review of the Spohr Symphonies box on CPO?
@Zezahn
@Zezahn 4 года назад
The Raff Piano Concerto is so, so good. Should be played live, damn it! But hooray for records!
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
Yes, it really is a neglected gem.
@Zezahn
@Zezahn 4 года назад
@@DavesClassicalGuide Sort of Mendelssohn's bodybuilder cousin.
@martinhaub2602
@martinhaub2602 4 года назад
And yet it still has not appeared on the 80+ volumes in the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series. Go figure.
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
@@martinhaub2602 from what I heard, Mike Spring (who founded the Romantic Piano Concerto series, and I believe, is no longer with the company), didn't like the first subject of the first movement, so he didn't want to include it in the series.
@timothythorne9464
@timothythorne9464 Год назад
@@JAMESLEVEE shocking that Mr Spring didn't favor the exquisite Raff Concerto, yet approved of utterly mediocre and forgettable works by Kullak, Rosenhain, Draeseke and others, including Mendelssohn's two juvenile concerti for two pianos.
@frgraybean
@frgraybean 4 года назад
Dave, how about a review of the Spohr Symphonies box on CPO?
@clavichord
@clavichord 3 года назад
Spohr's complete clarinet concertos by Brilliant Classic are impressive and well worth a review in my honest opinion.
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
@@clavichord That must be a re-release of the Orfeo series.
@clavichord
@clavichord Год назад
@@JAMESLEVEE Recordings made in April 2013 in Cape Town. Soloist: Maria du Toit
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
@@clavichord I guess not.
@rafazdrajkowski466
@rafazdrajkowski466 2 года назад
Hi Dave, what do you think about symphonies of Theodore Gouvy, especially 1, 2 and 3? In my opinion they are small masterpieces, of course not the level of geniuses like Beethoven or Schumann, but I think the first 3 should be in the regular repertoire of orchestras, what do you think?
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 2 года назад
I discussed them in the Hyperion label video.
@hiphurrah1
@hiphurrah1 4 года назад
Your german is AWESOME!! 😄
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
That's what all my German friends tell me.
@albrechtwerner9746
@albrechtwerner9746 4 года назад
David Hurwitz I didn’t know that there are Germans with such a refined sense of humor
@colinwrubleski7627
@colinwrubleski7627 4 года назад
RAF's full-orchestration version of the J.S. Bach Chaconne from the 2nd partita in d-, BWV 1004, for violin alone "senza accompagnato" is indeed quite intriguing, and it was performed live by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra within the past two years.
@ftumschk
@ftumschk 4 года назад
Would an improvisation in the middle of one of his symphonies be a raff-riff? Sorry!
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
Yes!
@spqr369
@spqr369 4 года назад
I think it would be more like riff-raff.
@stanleymurashige7766
@stanleymurashige7766 4 года назад
Ouch!
@dianamcdougall9251
@dianamcdougall9251 3 года назад
Raff's symphonies are nice and light, definitely not heavy or deep even. They fit a day when something more breezy is in in order.
@Fafner888
@Fafner888 4 года назад
Hi David, what are in your opinion the best Raff pieces? (or pieces you would recommend for a Raff newbie). Thanks!
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
Symphonies 3-6, the Piano Concerto and Ode to Spring (for piano and orchestra), and some of the chamber music is lovely--string quartets and salon pieces for solo violin.
@Fafner888
@Fafner888 4 года назад
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks a lot :)
@mattestabrook
@mattestabrook 4 года назад
I'd add Symphony No. 2. Also, Neeme Jarvi started a set of Raff symphonies on Chandos a few years back, but it was abandoned after just two discs--Symphony Nos. 2 and 5. Those performances are a bit quicker than Stadlmair's.
@bigg2988
@bigg2988 4 года назад
@@DavesClassicalGuide I have his piano trios, and they have stood the test of time with me, even though, for a dilletante, I have been getting into a lot of Romantic chamber music lately (Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak et al.). Maybe my above-described status makes them more endearing to me than it would an expert with a trained ear - but the color, emotion, and flow make for a great listening.
@hyseo1121
@hyseo1121 3 года назад
Sym.2 is very good piece.
@kend.6797
@kend.6797 4 года назад
Haha,I just purchased and received this very box last Saturday as it had long been on my radar. Perfect timing. As a side note, I remember an episode of Jim Svejda's Record Shelf program from around 1986 where he butchered the Lenore symphony (sprawling) and I have always avoided these things, in part because of that.
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 4 года назад
Well, it is sprawling, but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable.
@kend.6797
@kend.6797 4 года назад
@@DavesClassicalGuide agreed. Which is why I decided to take the leap and buy this box. I am enjoying what I have heard so far.
@frgraybean
@frgraybean 4 года назад
Ken D. I miss that program!
@kend.6797
@kend.6797 4 года назад
@@frgraybean it's still on the air. I listen occasionally on the KUSC stream.
@markzacek237
@markzacek237 4 года назад
I remember that Svejda program. I recall his particular gripe as being the rum ti tum nature of the infamous march. I think in the same (?) program he was also on the attack of Smetana’s Festive Symphony, which is a piece that I happen to enjoy very much.
@TheCastlepoet
@TheCastlepoet 4 года назад
In the midst of watching this highly entertaining talk, I spooked Mrs D when I suddenly broke into the march from the Lenore Symphony. "What the heck is that music?" she asked. "Why, it's the march from Raff's Symphony No. 5. Everyone knows that," I replied. "It's the most famous tune Raff ever wrote (not that I've heard all the tunes Raff wrote). Once you've heard it, you won't be able to get it out of your head." She had never heard any of Raff's works--but now that she's heard that tune, she can't get it out of her head. And she's not thanking me for having said, at breakfast this morning, "Let's watch David Hurwitz's review of a big box of Raff symphonies!" But I thank you. One of these days I'll have to give a listen to Raff's musical depiction of the gnomes and sylphs and nymphs and what-not. (The Raffian take on "Forest Murmurs???) But not today.
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
The 2nd movement of the 9th is a hoot, with the elves right out of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (well, Titania and Oberon, anyway).
@colehazlitt1495
@colehazlitt1495 7 месяцев назад
he was an amazing orchestrator
@robinicus1133
@robinicus1133 3 года назад
Excellent review. Sigh. I wish other classical reviewers would put their money where their mouth is and release RU-vid videos of their reviews. One can only wish.
@JAMESLEVEE
@JAMESLEVEE Год назад
The only problem with this series is that the 1st Violin Concerto is the posthumous hack-job performed on it by its dedicatee (August Wilhelmj). The original score was subsequently discovered in, of all places, the Eastman Library in Rochester, NY, and recorded on cpo.
@michaelowens5394
@michaelowens5394 3 года назад
Sometimes enjoy putting his 11 on continuous play, takes about 7.5 hours. but the one I'm most likely to skip is #5. Way too much repetition, and not enough interesting melodies. I must be looking for something different than most people? If pressed for time, I'll just listen to 1, 3 and 8, the most rewarding for me. And #8 mvt 2 still my favorite of all.
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 3 года назад
Hey, you like what you like.
@nickb220
@nickb220 3 года назад
I agree with the 5th. I really enjoy the 1st movement, but it's a masterpiece on its own in my opinion haha. I enjoy them all but my favorites are 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11.
@rogernortman9219
@rogernortman9219 3 года назад
recorded on surface. I am a long-retired NYC Bd. of Ed. teacher, to be 79 on 12/21/20 who'd be honored and pleased to communicate with you!
@DavesClassicalGuide
@DavesClassicalGuide 3 года назад
Happy Birthday!
@NealSchultz
@NealSchultz 3 года назад
Most orchestral programming is like watching yet another Marvel Superhero..............BEEN THERE and DONE THAT. There should be a moratorium on the Jupiter and Beethoven 7th. ....and THAT children is why I don't attend hardly any live music concerts. More Raff, Glazunov, Elgar, Hanson, Weingartner ---oh the list of forgotten/unplayed 19th and even 20th century composers forgotten in todays concert halls and summer events etc.
@clavichord
@clavichord 3 года назад
No riff-raff jokes, please.... 😜
Далее
Repertoire: Holst Beyond The Planets
22:49
Просмотров 6 тыс.
Repertoire: The BEST Saint-Saëns Symphony Cycle
12:53
10 Amazing Stand-Alone Symphony Recordings
13:25
Просмотров 17 тыс.
Repertoire: The BEST Rossini Overture Albums
36:27
Просмотров 11 тыс.