Raff: Complete music for cello and piano

[Wieland]

Toccata announces for September 1 a new recording of all pieces for Cello and Piano by Joachim Raff. Joseph Mendoes, Cello and
Taeyeon Lim, Piano will be the soloists.

https://toccataclassics.com/product/joachim-raff-cello-piano/

[Alan Howe]

I've merged your new thread, Wieland, with the existing thread on this topic.

[Wieland]

Thanks. I seem to have problems with the search function. I will work on it .

[Mark Thomas]

Unfortunately there may well be a short delay before this recording is available. The CDs were delivered to Toccata Classics with a major fault in the last track, and so will have to be manufactured again. This is already in hand and so the delay should be weeks, rather than months. As soon as I know more I'll post here. I don't know whether this will also affect the 1st September availability of the download tracks. In the meantime, you can sample each track and download the booklet here.

[Alan Howe]

The Sonata's a wonderful work, by the way. Tunes galore, dynamism, plus some interesting harmonic byways - try the finale at the link Mark supplies (above).

[Mark Thomas]

After a short hiatus, both CDs and downloads are now fully available.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I wonder if Mark would be kind enough to offer some clarification? Did the initial batch of CDs with a fault not get beyond Toccata itself? Or to put it another way, are there any wonky CDs in the hands of retailers? Can we order a copy from a customary retailer such as MDT and be confident in getting, as it were, some non-wonky Raff?

(A friendly note to friends beyond the UK: retailers such as Sainsburys now offer such things as wonky carrots at reduced prices which - quite unlike wonky Raff - can be consumed with delight.)

[Mark Thomas]

You can order the Raff CD from any retailer, Peter, and be confident that it'll be completely wonk-free. I understand that the fault was spotted on delivery of the original CDs to Toccata and before distribution to retailers, so no wonky CDs should have escaped into the wild.

[Alan Howe]

The Cello Sonata is a typical Raff composition, featuring quicksilver passage work, broad, singing melodies and some harmonically adventurous sections. It is played with virtuoso abandon here; how on earth such a fine composition can have been overlooked by cellists for so long is anyone's guess. And the slow movement is just gorgeous.

[TerraEpon]

This is a nice CD but I'm slightly disappointed by the very strange sound quality (and this is the whole CD, no issues with the last track specifically). The cello especially sounds very weird....I don't know how to describe it.

[Mark Thomas]

For me the cello is too closely miked, so that there's no space around the sound and maybe it's that artificial intensity which is the problem. I'd prefer a more natural acoustic, of course, but for me it doesn't detract too much from the music and the fine performances.