Joachim Raff - Choral Works a cappella

[Justin]

Forthcoming from Capriccio:

Works on the album:

Ten Songs for Mixed Choir, Op. 198 (1860-1874)
Four Marian Antiphons, WoO. 27 (1868)
Ave Maria, WoO. 33 (1869)
Kyrie and Gloria, WoO. 31 (1869)
Pater Noster (Lord's Prayer), WoO. 32 (1869)

[Mark Thomas]

What a welcome surprise! The Op.198 set and WoO.31 are recording premieres.

[Alan Howe]

Further details here:
http://www.capriccio.at/joachim-raff-choral-works-a-cappella

[Gareth Vaughan]

A welcome surprise indeed. I look forward to buying this CD.

[Alan Howe]

Not usually my cup of tea, but this is too gorgeous to miss...

[eschiss1]

Ever since discovering that several composers of this general time-period wrote really, really wonderful and often almost-unknown (... to me) a cappella choral music (eg: Brahms, Elgar*, ...) I wouldn't be surprised at all to find this to be my cup of tea too. Thanks for the heads-up.

* "There is sweet music" ...

[John Boyer]

Ever since discovering that several composers of this general time-period wrote really, really wonderful and often almost-unknown (... to me) a cappella choral music (eg: Brahms, Elgar*, ...) I wouldn't be surprised at all to find this to be my cup of tea too.

Agreed.  Brahms's a cappella music is remarkable in its un-Brahmsian character —- some could be mistaken for Schutz or even Palestrina —- so I am keen to hear how Raff handles this medium. 

[eschiss1]

I agree. As to Brahms, he was a choral conductor and, I think, works by some of those composers were in his library, so I don't hear it as un-Brahms but a different side of him

[John Boyer]

Well it's here and it really is quite lovely. The secular part songs are like similar pieces by other contemporaries, tracing their lineage to Schubert, but it is in the sacred pieces, particularly the Four Marian Antiphons, harking back as the do to Renaissance polyphony, that this music really shines.

[Mark Thomas]

Gosh, that's early - UK release date is 7 October. This isn't the first recording of the sacred works (apart from the Kyrie & Gloria), they came out a few years ago on Sterling. I'm very much looking forward to comparing the two performances.

[John Boyer]

Funny, but I have that Sterling disc, yet somehow forgot about it.  I will compare it tonight.

I'm not sure how JPC gets these things to me so fast, but I'll not complain.  I listened to the secular songs again this morning.  You really can't go wrong with this. 

[John Boyer]

Well, I had forgotten how wonderful that Sterling recording was! I have already re-listened to it in its entirety three times. As for a comparison with the new recording from Capriccio, I can say that the Capriccio is a more detailed, close-up, chamber choir sound, while the Sterling is a more distant, fuller, and more resonant cathedral sound. Both approaches are equally valid and it's well worth the duplication to have the secular songs on the Capriccio and the Te Deum and De Profundis on the Sterling.

[Alan Howe]

I've been given this as a birthday present and all I can say how very beautiful the music is - and that I'd never have guessed Raff as the composer, except that it's all so melodically rich and expressive.