Even more Raff on its way from Sterling

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks Martin,. I was prepared to be convinced until the Turin Shroud made an appearance. Who knew Erich von Däniken was a musicologist??

[Alan Howe]

It's all fake noos from bad people, terrible people...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Apparently, so I was told once, Elgar gave a radio interview shortly before his death in which he was asked whether he would ever reveal the identity of the theme of the Enigma Variations, to which he responded, very deliberately, "Never, never, never." On this basis it has been suggested by some that the theme is just those 6 notes from the refrain of "Rule Britannia". I rather like this theory, in as much as I like any theory about this question.

[Mark Thomas]

If it's true then that is really neat.

[Wheesht]

Quite a bit earlier in this thread a concert by the Musikkollegium Winterthur in March 2017 was mentioned: "Conductor Lorenzo Coladonato (a friend of mine). will present Raff's Ninth Symphony and his "Eine Feste Burg" op.127 in Schaffhausen, on Saturday March 18th, 2017. The Orchestra will be the Musikkollegium Winterthur. In the same program, a Mozart Piano Concerto will be performed by Andrew Tyson. I have just found out that this concert will be played twice, on Friday, 17th March at 7.30 pm in Schaffhausen and on Saturday, 18th March at 5.00 pm in Winterthur. This latter is a free concert where numbered seats can be booked for a modest fee: here
If any UC members are planning – like me – to attend the Saturday concert, then I'd be happy to meet up with them in person.

[Mark Thomas]

I'll be there.

[Mark Thomas]

Well, it was very good to meet Wheesht, and we were treated to a superb concert. Honestly, I have never heard a better performance of Ein feste Burg (and I've heard quite a few over the years),  and the Sommer Sinfonie was quite a revelation.  Coladonato (a name new to me) thoroughly understands Raff's idiom and 19th century performing practice, drawing from his fine orchestra performances which combined real vigour with lush sensitivity. I delighted in hearing inner voices which are obscured in all the recordings we have, and which added so much to the work's impact. The biggest surprise was the finale - often the weakest movement in a Raff work. Last night the packed audience in Winterthur's grand concert hall was galvanised by a conclusion in which Coladonato didn't crudely just go for speed, but subtly graded tempi and dynamics to show that Raff's finales really could work in the right hands. It was a welcome eye-opener, for me at least. Although not the focus of the forum, I should add that the Mozart concerto received an equally excellent rendition from both soloist and orchestra. The concert was recorded, but I'm not sure by whom. If I can get hold of the recording and share it legitimately, be sure I will. And now, back down to earth...

[Wheesht]

It was a pleasure to meet Mark, and I agree with everything he has written about the concert – it was recorded by Swiss Radio and will be broadcast on Thursday, 13th April at 20.00 CET on: SRF 2 Kultur

[Alan Howe]

...and hopefully recorded by one of us...

[Ilja]

I shall give it a go; it seems I have audio recording under control now.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for the news of the broadcast, Wheesht. Hopefully we'll get a good recording to share, and I do urge anyone interested in Raff to make sure they get to hear it. If it is at all a faithful record then it will prove as much of a revelation as Neeme Järvi's Chandos recordings did (although in a rather different way).

[Mark Thomas]

Ilja has kindly posted a recording of the broadcast of the two Raff works in the Winterthur concert in our Downloads Board here. I do hope that Swiss Radio has mangaged to capture just how special these performances were.

[Aragion]

Thank you!