Rufinatscha from Chandos

[Alan Howe]

...and spreads:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rufinatscha-Orchestral-Works-Vol-1/dp/B004SCPJ3O/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_4

http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=9152

[JimL]

Notice how Hodgson got Rufinatscha's birthplace wrong?  "Viennese-born"?

[Alan Howe]

But how right Hodgson is about the music...

[JimL]

He had some criticism (order of movements).  But, we'll take what we can get.

[Alan Howe]

Well, he's not perfect...

[Alan Howe]

Another insightful review...

http://www.classissima.com/en/news/359535-vienna-before-brahms/

[Alan Howe]

Anna Picard reviews the CD in the Independent on Sunday today. She does a reasonable job, but gets the musical idiom wrong, saying that the Symphony 'sounds like Schumann minus the neurosis and genius'. That's roughly equivalent to saying that Schumann sounds like Rufinatscha minus the grandeur and symphonic ambition. In other words, complete nonsense. Rufinatscha must be accounted like Berwald - a symphonist in his own right and to be judged on his own terms...

Here's the link...
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-rufinatscha-orchestral-works-vol-1-ndash-bbc-philharmonic--noseda-chandos-2277598.html

[JimL]

That's the biggest criticism I have of music criticism in a nutshell right there.  The utter inability to say anything about the music without making a meaningless, inane statement about it in comparison to someone else's music.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Ach, Alan, you really must switch to a decent paper! I grinned at your comment, and then out of interest opened the link. What piddling nonsense!!! It's the kind of thing I dislike heartily. On account of the 'historical' remarks it pretends to a supposed authority, but in fact says precisely nothing. This kind of thing does Rufinatscha no positive harm, I suppose. But then it also does him no good whatsoever. The mildly curious might read it, mutter a none too sincere 'Hum, looks slightly interesting, maybe one day I'll have a listen if I come across the record' and then proceed straight to the gardening page. The review (or rather platitudinous burble) won't get a reader off his backside and persuade him order the thing let alone investigate it further. Rufinatscha (and Chandos) deserve better than this.

And no prejudice intended against gardening, which is a noble enough pursuit!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Anna Picard's "review" (if such it can be called) is nothing more than worthless (and, indeed, thoughtless) superficiality. Who is Anna Picard anyway - and what are her qualifications for writing about music?

[albion]

Says it all - http://journalisted.com/anna-picard#tab-bio 

[Alan Howe]

This is a real problem, isn't it? Instant journalism requires instant reviews and instant reviews require instant opinions. To do the job properly you've got to live with new music - listen to it repeatedly, breathe it, research it and write about it (in public, at least) with fear and trembling. My opinion of Rufinatscha - which is worth nothing - has taken about four years to form.

No wonder it's so hard to break down the barriers of the received repertoire....

[Syrelius]

Finally getting hold of a copy of the Chandos CD of the Rufinatscha 6th symphony, I was a bit nervous. There had been so many positive reviews on this Forum, so I felt I could only get disappointed...    After the first listening, I was impressed by the symphony, but felt that I didn't really grasp the work. However, just as Jim said, after a third listening things were very different. This is indeed a masterpiece (and I know I have Alan with me on this one...  )

[Peter1953]

A masterpiece indeed. Wait until you hear the Fifth... My favourite and a masterpiece +   

[Mark Thomas]

"This could be the best Germanic Romantic discovery since the four Gernsheim symphonies" - Jeff Joneikis of Records International.