For those who are not familiar yet with this lovely chamber music, this could turn out to be a beginning of a lifelong love...
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-3/hnum/2559050 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-3/hnum/2559050)
and
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-4/hnum/5821718 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Joachim-Raff-Violinsonaten-Vol-4/hnum/5821718)
Golly! At those prices I'm tempted to order second copies just in case my first ever wears out!
....I need volume 2. It seems to be gone everywhere.
Just came home from a holiday in Germany and Austria and found a batch of ordered CD's, most from Röntgen, the piano music by Urspruch (I will come back to that), some others and Vol. 3 of Raff's works for violin and piano. Since I already have the Tudor discs, I was not interested in the cpo releases. But Vol. 3 also includes Aus der Schweiz, op. 57 (13:55) and op. 63 no. 1, a duo on motifs from Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer (8:32).
Especially op. 57 is a truly sparkling, most delightful and well-crafted piece. According to the booklet notes the center of the musical texture [...] draws on the old melody of the Swiss cowherd's tune with its motivic surroundings.
I am very happy with this addition to my Raff collection. This lovely piece is another prove of Raff's great compositional skills.
Strongly recommended, and not only for the bargain price.
Thanks to you, Peter, I picked up the cpo/Raff CDs - and excellent they are too!