Creating a full Raff collection

[TerraEpon]

So, let's say I decide to take the plunge and buy up all the discs to get most of the currently recorded works of Raff.
At the moment, I own:
-The Tudor symphonies box
-Shakespeare Overtures/Elegie/Festival Overture (Tudor)
-Suite for Piano and Orchestra/Overtures, etc  (Sterling)
-Works for Choir, Piano, and Orchestra (Sterling)

looking through Raff.org, it seems as if the following full discs would be needed:
-Works For Violin & Piano Vol. 1   CPO
-Works For Violin & Piano Vol. 2   CPO
-Works For Violin & Piano Vol. 3   CPO
-Works For Violin & Piano Vol. 4   CPO
-Piano Trios 1 & 4                 CPO
-Piano Trios 2 & 3                 CPO
-String Quartets 6 and 7         CPO
-Sonatillen, Morceaux De Salon               Tudor  (high prices at Amazon but available at Arkivmusic)
-Piano Concerto, Ode a printemps            Tudor  (high prices at Amazon but available at Arkivmusic)
-Cello Concerti                             Tudor
-Violin Concerto 1 & 2             Tudor
-Violin Concerto 1 and Suite     Sterling
-Sextet and Quintet                   MD&G
-Songs                                     Hungaroton
-Fantasie-Sonate and Piano Sonata            Cameo   (can't find this at all)

And these guys are upcoming:
-String Quartets 2 and 3   CPO
-Piano Quartets    Divox 
-Piano Music   (Major Label)

--There's also the piano suites discs, but apparently Raff.org will sell them directly somehow sometime soon?
--From what I can tell, the CPO is a better choice over the Arte Nova in the piano trios, especially as the latter commands prices higher than the two CPo combines. Out of curiosity, is the AN set in a thick case or two separate cases, or is a single 'two-fer' style?
--With the upcoming CPO, it looks like I'd still be missing string quartet 1...is this worth duplicating 7 for?
--CPO only had four volumes of violin and piano, right?
--Anything missing if I skip out on the Tudor violin and piano discs with the sonatas?


Again, mainly I'm concerned at the moment with getting the least amount of discs to get me the most different music (while not buying a clunker). As far as I can tell I'm not missing anything as far as all-Raff discs are concerned, right?

[albion]

-Fantasie-Sonate and Piano Sonata            Cameo   (can't find this at all)

The Cameo disc is here - http://www.cameo-classics.com/home.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=76&category_id=86

[Mark Thomas]

You've pretty much nailed it, though I would seriously recommend one duplication. The MDG CD of the Piano Quintet and String Sextet is a must as its the only way of getting the delicious Sextet. Unfortunately, the Quintet performance is dire - dragging tempi make it sound most un-Raffian. The Divox CD on which Il Trittico couple the Quintet with another tremendous work, his Fantasy for Piano Quintet, is a must in my view. You'd be astounded at the improvement over the Ensemble Villa Musica dirge. The disc also has the Goetz Quintet - a fine performance but that may also duplicate something you already have. That said, you don't want to miss out on the Fantasy and a tremendous performance of the Piano Quintet.

For the piano trios, the Arte Nova set is a single "twofer". I have warmed to these performances and, although they are very different interpretations, now think them the equal of those on cpo. The String Quartet No.1 is a must - it's one of Raff's best chamber works. Don't miss out. I prefer the performances of the violin sonatas, Six Morceaux and the  Sonatillen on the three Tudor CDs, but by buying them you'd miss out on the other violin/piano works on the four cpo discs and some of those, such as Aus der Schweiz, are well worth having. They're not mere make-weights. If you buy cpo then you miss nothing which is on Tudor, although the ten Sonatillen are spread over three CDs, which is a pain. As for the four CDs of the the Piano Suites and Bach Cello Suite arrangements, these AK Coburg recordings are currently unavailable whilst Alan Krueck's executor sorts out his estate. When that's done, I do indeed hope to be able to sell them through raff.org at a budget price.

As well as the upcoming Piano Quartets and String Quartets recordings, there will be three CDs of piano music, as you mentioned, and I'm also hopeful that there'll be a second CD of choral music coming out next year.

[eschiss1]

I like the Zurich Quintet performance of the quintet much more than enough to hope that it's reissued on CD at some point, but haven't heard the latest one.

[febnyc]

Don't forget the Octet.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Yes, I think you've nailed it - but then I'm a mere enthusiast rather than, like Mark, an expert! A great pity a couple of operas and more of the choral works can't be added to the list of Raff indispensable recordings! Maybe one day.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Sonatillen being spread across three of the four CPO Vn & Pf discs (Mark's pain threshold is obviously lower than mine!). No-one would surely want to listen to all ten one after the other (like delicious chocolates they are best taken individually, but there the analogy stops!) The CPO discs contain wonderful performances (and are very well recorded) and it strikes me there is nothing 'second best' about them. However I'm not really qualified to say that since I haven't heard the Tudor discs.

Nor have I heard the Divox CD that carries a high reputation amongst Raffians (Raffaelites?, Raffelations?, Raffalchians?) for the Quintet. I've got the MDG disc of the Ensemble Villa Musica performance, and to the probable horror of Mark, will say that I actually quite enjoyed it (that undoubtedly shows I'm not a discriminating Raff listener!) Nonetheless I continue to seek out the Divox disc - but it would seem easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle rather than actually find it.

One little whoop of joy was had last week when I got a new, cellophane intact, copy of the original Valentina Seferinova Cahoots disc from DiMusWeb for £5.99. Many years ago they were a really fine shop, stocked full of East European imports, in Wilmslow near Manchester - but these days are wholly Web-based. Might be worth trying to see if they have more copies in stock - I don't think I bagged the last one.

Finally, one question, and hopefully Mark might be able to shed some light? Why is progress so painfully slow with both the CPO and Tudor series of the String Quartets? CPO issued what they called 'Volume 1' (containing St Qts 6 & 7) way back in 2005. That was the Mannheim Quartet. Looking at their website they don't seem to be performing much Raff - have they given up on the project or what? Given my own preferences and quirks I'm much disappointed we have two whole cycles of the symphonies (plus other recordings of individual symphonies) - and even the possibility of Chandos throwing in its lot. But nothing like that is the case with the String Quartets. Frustrating indeed!

And incidentally, TerraEpon, if you're aiming to be a Raff completist (a worthy aim indeed) do throw in Helene Raff's 'Leaves from Life's Tree'. Its addition won't make a significant difference to your total costs, and you'll gain vivid insights into the world in which Raff lived, worked, and sadly died.

Peter

[Mark Thomas]

Of course! The String Octet, another tremendous piece, is coupled with Mendelssohn's in a great performance from the Academy of St Martins in the Fields on a Chandos CD.

Eric, the old Zurich performance of the Quintet, which was always my benchmark, never made it from LP to CD, but IMHO the new Il Trittico performance on Divox outshines even that.

[Mark Thomas]

My post crossed with yours, Peter. To address your points: if nowhere else, you can buy the Divox CD of the Piano Quintet and the Fantasy direct from Divox themselves. You can also sample the tracks and buy any of them individually at Classics Online. That may be the answer for the Fantasy, if I can't persuade you to splash out for the Quintet. Again. The Fantasy, by the way, is around 15 minutes long, not 1:44 as shown there!

cpo have recorded all the quartets, but I can only assume that the remaining issues are held up in that perennial log jam which is the cpo release schedule. They have also recorded the big Volker cyclic tone poem for violin and piano, but there's no sign of that either. My enquiries on these issues haven't been answered. Tudor aren't adding any more string quartet CDs to their existing couple, unfortunately.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Many thanks, Mark, for an informative reply.

Good news indeed about the CPO String Quartets. I didn't know they had completed recording all of them - but what a strange business indeed to record works, and indeed to have a complete cycle available, but not to release them! I suppose I can understand the business of laying down port in the cellar, but keeping recorded performances in the cellar of CPO would seem quite unintelligible!

Peter

[edurban]

The first cello concerto is a marvelous piece: I'd consider it a Raff must-have.  It's beautifully played on the Tudor disc.

Ditto the piano concerto, delightful throughout with a breathtaking slow movement.  It maintains a consistantly high level of inspiration.  I can't imagine what keeps this out of the repertoire except that pianists are spoiled for choice and orchestra boards are afraid of things they don't know...Peter Aronsky does it proud on Tudor.

Get these two asap!

David

[TerraEpon]

Nice to hear about the quartets on CPO -- they have strange release schedules. I think the Villa-Lobos 10th symphony took like five years to come out.

I'll have to add the Divox Quintet and Chandos OCtet CDs then, especially if the Mendelssohn is also as good (I only have that piece in Mp3 so a CD would be nice).

Actually it looks like Divox is releasing that disc - http://www.amazon.com/Swiss-Piano-Quintets-Raff/dp/B001O3ANWC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1297284748&sr=1-1
Never heard the Goetz....don't think I've ever heard anything by him.

[JimL]

Ditto the piano concerto, delightful throughout with a breathtaking slow movement.  It maintains a consistantly high level of inspiration.  I can't imagine what keeps this out of the repertoire except that pianists are spoiled for choice and orchestra boards are afraid of things they don't know...Peter Aronsky does it proud on Tudor.

I rather thought that Aronsky's tempo in the first movement is rather slow and draggy compared to Cooper and Ponti.  I really wish Nguyen would record the concerto and the Frühlingsode.  I'd give my Tudor away in a heartbeat!

[thalbergmad]

Has the Rapsodie Hongroise Op.113 been recorded??

Would love to hear that.

Thal

[Mark Thomas]

No it hasn't Thal, I'm afraid, and neither is it going to be on the three new discs which are coming out over the next eighteen months.

[thalbergmad]

That is a shame. There seems to be a lot of his solo works and transcriptions that have not been recorded.

All in good time i suppose.

Thal