Raff, Jadassohn & Schreck: works for wind ensemble

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo, featuring Raff's Sinfonietta Op.188, Jadassohn's Serenade Op.104 and Gustav Schreck's Nonet (Divertimento) Op.40:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/joachim-raff-sinfonietta-op-188-fuer-blaeser/hnum/11164031

[TerraEpon]

Oh man, finally. I've had this preview video in my bookmarks forever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XaDK301ibE

[John Boyer]

I was surprised to read, while doing some research on the Raff, that the Boston Symphony played the Sinfonietta as recently as 2005. 

Anyway, it's on order. 

[eschiss1]

It does seem to be performed more often than some other works of his- more than a half-dozen performances in the last decade just according to the Wind Repertory Project, and they only count performances information about which is submitted to them.

[Mark Thomas]

Given the frequency with which Raff's Sinfonietta is programmed by wind ensembles, it's surprising that we've had to wait 42 years for a new recording. Until this cpo release and aside from a few performances of variable quality on YouTube, the only recordings were a very obscure 1971 Swiss LP (on which the finale was cut) and a 1981 recording from the Tudor label, coupled with the 11th Symphony. That's a solid performance but the sound quality is poor. What a contrast then to enjoy the quality of cpo's new recording and hear the Jena ensemble's vibrant, lively and virtuosic performance in pin-sharp detail. The CD's title is "Wind Serenades" but Raff called his work Sinfonietta and the players bring out the "little symphony" pretensions of at least the opening and slow movements with nuanced changes in dynamics which introduce more drama and depth to the music than I've heard in any previous performance. The scherzo and finale fairly fly by in whirls of fast-paced but always finely-articulated playing. This is as vivacious, joyful and downright perky a work as you'll get from Raff and it gets a performance to match its quality here. Well worth the wait.

The other two pieces are recording premieres and more closely match the CD's title. Each is also in four movements and shorter than the Sinfonietta but no less engaging or well played for that. Schreck's Nonett is a mellower work than Raff's, the timbres darker, the harmonies less sparkling, but it's unfailingly lyrical, makes for an effective contrast with the larger piece and whets one's appetite to hear more of his music. Jadassohn is not quite such an unknown quantity and his Serenade is pretty much what you'd expect from him: craftsman-like and modestly proportioned, it's charm on a stick but definitely a slighter work than the other two.

[Alan Howe]

The Raff is a marvel. The man was irrepressible! What imagination, wit and sheer delight in composing. Hut ab!

[eschiss1]

First- I see that this recording was posted about several times - see this too.

Now it's out and reviewed at Musicweb. (I feel weird that unlike the reviewer or most anyone, I actually -have- heard of Schreck*, if only because a bassoon sonata and a few other works of his digitized at other sites (or in the case of the oboe sonata, scanned from print by the uploader- not me ) caught the attention of some IMSLP uploaders - me among them.)

*No, not Shrek...

[Ilja]

The only Schreck I know is his really rather excellent oratorio Christus, der Auferstandene (Christ, the Resurrected) from 1896*. And I have to say that I like this nonet. It's a pleasantly lightweight piece - in a good way - and exquisitely crafted.

* I am a sucker for large-scale oratorios, so your mileage may vary.

[eschiss1]

btw both Schreck's oboe and bassoon sonatas are on YouTube (the bassoon sonata in multiple live performances), so that's two more works to be sampled, albeit apparently rather earlier ones. Christus seems to be from only a couple of years after the publication of the 1889 oboe sonata, though.