When Joachim Raff died in 1882 he was among the most
famous composers in the world, with a reputation equal
to those of Brahms and Wagner. From that point on,
however, his star waned until by the 1970's he had
fallen into absolute obscurity. Since then, and
particularly in the last decade or so, a slow revival
of his reputation has taken place. For example, there
are now two complete cycles of his 11 symphonies
available, as well as a good cross-section of his
chamber works -- the two labels inv...(+)
When Joachim Raff died in 1882 he was among the most
famous composers in the world, with a reputation equal
to those of Brahms and Wagner. From that point on,
however, his star waned until by the 1970's he had
fallen into absolute obscurity. Since then, and
particularly in the last decade or so, a slow revival
of his reputation has taken place. For example, there
are now two complete cycles of his 11 symphonies
available, as well as a good cross-section of his
chamber works -- the two labels involved, Tudor and
CPO, deserve a great deal of credit for their efforts
in resuscitating Raff's legacy.
Raff's music is often almost immediately approachable,
full of catchy, lyrical melodies. There is a positive
feel to his music, a hint of gaiety always near the
surface. His approach to composition was, at least in
part, that music should be enjoyable to listen to, not
necessarily a tax on our ears or a challenge to our
intellect. Personally, I find him a joy to listen to.
It is very easy to understand why he was so popular in
the concert halls of his day and much harder to fathom
why we so rarely see him in the concert halls of our
day (in fact, I have never seen a live performance of
any of his works).
Raff's Op.99 Ten Sonatillen are transcriptions by Raff
of an earlier set of piano sonatas but you wouldn't
know it from listening. The ten small pieces vary
widely in style and mood, but never lack for quality or
interest. Though in the same salon style as the
morceaux, there is a little more bite in the
sonatillen, a little more edge. The Six Morceaux for
violin and piano, Op.85, are undeniably written to be
salon pieces, light and attractive to the ear. The set
contains the only piece of Raff's music which continued
to be performed long after all his other music had been
forgotten -- the Cavatina. And so what if they are
salon music? They still constitute beautiful music,
worth hearing.
Its clear from a study of his orchestral works, say,
that Raff isn't really in the same league as Brahms and
Wagner, whatever his reputation when alive, but then,
very few are. On the other hand, its equally clear that
his legacy deserves far better than it has so far
received. Certainly, his continued absence from the
concert halls and (in many cases) our music collections
is our loss.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Raff).
Although originally composed for Piano, I created this
Interpretation of the Sonatine I from 3 Sonatilles (Op.
99 No. 1) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
PARTITION