Recording of Raff's Samson

[John Boyer]

Yes, of course, but ordering from Germany is time-consuming and expensive - hardly ideal.

Hmm.  Not to turn this into a JPC vs the others thread, but I'm curious about how JPC treats the UK market.  I've found JPC prices, if not the least expensive, at least competitive, and my last three orders (3 or 4 items each) had a flat shipping fee of €3.82 to the US, which is better than what I can get domestically.

Are the shipping fees higher to your area?

[Alan Howe]

I'm glad that you're working on this, Fred, because Samson is too important to be restricted to, say, German-speaking Europe. The danger is that, in current circumstances, the recording is never reviewed by the major publications or online reviewers in the English-speaking world.

All I'm saying, John, is that Samson is too important not to be advertised and made available more widely. I can think of a shedload of inferior operatic recordings that have had international distribution. As far as postage is concerned, I usually try to avoid the costs involved by putting in orders where postage is free. I would expect, for example, to be able to order Samson from Amazon postage-free and have it delivered within a day or two.

[Alan Howe]

Another review can be found here:
https://www.pizzicato.lu/lohnende-wiederentdeckung-von-raffs-samson/  (in German and English)

[Justin]

his ardent singing in Act 2 scene 2.

I believe you meant Act 3 scene 2, Alan?

Just finished listening to the work and I think the recording is spectacular. Not much to add to Alan's review regarding the cast, but just want to praise Raff's orchestral passages, particularly in Act 5 with the prelude and cello solo in the "Symbolic Dance of the Kedeshot."

It's undeniably him with the characteristic woodwinds and this sentiment of the work being sprightly without losing textural depth. Describing it is difficult, but there is a heavy-handedness in Lohengrin that isn't present here, and I think the work benefits from that as it doesn't get dragged down in its leitmotifs.

Special shoutout to Fred for his excellent balancing work. You have done a great job with the forwardness of the harp, and I feel many opera recordings have it being drowned out; the harp helps fit that atmosphere of pastoral life.

How many completed operas are there left to be recorded? Also, I am curious as to what people think of the libretto and Raff's ability to create drama in the work.

[Mark Thomas]

How many completed operas are there left to be recorded?

Die Eifersüchtigen is due out on Naxos in a few months (see this thread), which will make three operas available commercially, joining Samson and Benedetto Marcello. That leaves another three unrecorded: König Alfred [King Alfred], a grand Meyerbeerian four act drama from 1851, and two three-act comedies from 1869 and 1871 respectively, Dame Kobold [Phantom Lady] and Die Parole (The Password]. Dame Kobold was the most successful of them with a decent run of performances. König Alfred had maybe half a dozen in Weimar and Wiesbaden in the early 1850s but Die Parole has never been staged.

There is a chance that one of them will be recorded soon, but I can say no more at this stage.

Also, I am curious as to what people think of the libretto and Raff's ability to create drama in the work.

Raff wrote the librettos of Samson, Die Parole and Die Eifersüchtigen. I'm far from being a man of the theatre but most German speakers I've spoken to regard Samson's libretto as being a pretty fair effort. Having seen the work staged in Weimar, the drama never flagged and I can attest that its portraits of Samson, Delilah and Abimelech in particular are convincing portrayals of three conflicted individuals. Their reactions to the dilemmas they face are believable. I'll be very interested to read Adriano's view. Die Eifersüchtigen is undoubtedly a dramatic dud. The first of the three acts is twice the length of each of the other two and is given over to an endless exposition of the ridiculous and inconsequential plot. The characters are cardboard cut-outs and there's precious little humour. Best to ignore the words and enjoy the music, which is late Raff at his sweetest and most lyrical. I've always been intrigued by Die Parole. The plot has a lot of comic potential and the work was written when Raff was at the height of his powers. Whether the libretto itself, which Raff modelled on a play by a friend, lives up to the plot's potential I can't say.

[Alan Howe]

I believe you meant Act 3 scene 2, Alan?

Quite so. Never could follow librettos...

[Alan Howe]

I would really love to hear the even earlier König Alfred. Here's the fabulous Overture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZcd82TL24c

[eschiss1]

Do complete parts/performing materials of some kind exist for all the operas?

[Mark Thomas]

Yes the do. The autograph full scores of Die Parole and König Alfred remain unpublished but that of Die Parole has been digitised; it's available at IMSLP. There is also a full set of handwritten parts for König Alfred but, as they're 175 or so years old, I guess they're too flimsy to use. Dame Kobold is available from Edition Nordstern in a modern edition.

[eschiss1]

Well, at least they're not lost as some of his works still are, which was more my question, I guess. (Though April Fools jokes (ehrm) aside, long-thought-lost works continue to get discovered. )