I see, from your latest e-mail on up-dates Mark, that the Raff web site has at last risen like the Phoenix from its ashes. Congratulations on what must be the culmination of much hard work on your part! :)
Thanks John. Actually, the site has been back online since late April, less the Forums of course. What I haven't done since then is update it. Mainly that was down to what I can best describe as a general computer/internet weariness after the hacking attacks and a major domestic hard disk failure. Also "real life" got in the way! Anyway, it should be back onto a regular beginning of each month update schedule by the end of the year, with the next update at the beginning of September.
Mark, I can say without hesitation that the Raff website is the best of the websites on composers I know. Beautifully designed, very informative in every respect, nice selection of music excerpts, frequently updated with news; I think it must give any interested visitor a very good idea what Raff is all about. In fact it's a fantastic Raff promotion. Congratulations for this great job!
If you have some spare time... Anton Rubinstein.... ?? No, no, please don't respond. ;D
Thanks, Peter. It's a labour of love and I don't love Rubinstein enough I'm afraid...
I would like to point out an additional upcoming concert to add:
On Oct. 25, the Fine Arts String Orchestra, an offspring of Warren Cohen's MusicaNova has the Raff string quartet no. 7 scheduled in an arrangement for larger string ensemble.
I can't agree more with Peter about your new Raff site Mark. What I cannot understand is why you never apparently publicised the fact that it was back up and running in April. You're far too modest Mark! ;D
Thanks for the heads up about the Fine Arts String Orchestra performance, Martin. I'll add it to the News page. Do you happen to know the venue and time? The MusicaNova site gives neither.
That info is still be worked on.
I see. Thanks, Martin.
Do you have a link to this site? Thanks!
www.musicanovaaz.org
Off-topic, but wow... Raff's gorgeous PC is scheduled for broadcast on the Dutch Radio 4 on Saturday the 29th between 17:00 and 18:00 hours (local time) in a programme on "forgotten piano music". How many years ago was the last broadcast? It's the VOX CD with Michael Ponti on the piano and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Knapp. Many listeners will be dining or wining at the time, so I hope they are going to be overwhelmed by Raff's masterpiece, undoubtedly one of the greatest neglected jewels of the romantic era. Let's hope many CD dealers will face backorders in the following week...
And the German WDR 3 will broadcast Raff's Othello on Friday the 4th between 12:00 and 15:00 hours.
What a pampering so suddenly... :)
I bought the Raff 5 (Tudor),after reading comments on
this website. Never heard him before. Wonderful music.
I will try the 3rd next as I like forests (not that there are
many round here!).
A few days ago I came home from Canada, where I almost got lost in the forests... :)
Raff won't disappoint you, I know for sure!
Birmingham has probably got more trees than Wales!
It depends what part of Wales. I'd rather live in most parts of Wales than any part of Birmingham.
Mark, what a wonderful, informative article on Tchaikovsky's view of Raff you have added to the Raff website. My congratulations!
How I love Tchaikovsky's Orchestral works (except his op. 56) and the Piano Trio, but what a strange, pathetic attitude the man had towards Brahms.
So would I Gareth.A purely rhetorical statement, It is merely strange to live in parts of Wales where there are hardly any trees,and then you live in parts of Birmingham with all these tree lined streets & parks full of huge trees. It is indeed a statistical fact that Wales is one of the least wooded countries in Europe. Where I live all they do is keep cutting them down,yet London itself is full of trees,and England has far more trees than Wales. At the same time,like you, I would prefer to live in Wales,where I have, incidentally. lived all my life,except for that short period in Birmingham. Anyway,enough of this......it is ,after all, an 'Unsung Composer' forum,not an 'Unsung Birmingham Woodland' forum..............
To get further off topic, since some of you live there, I have some questions that my public school education overlooked.
1. What is the relationship between Great Britain, the United Kingdom and other political descriptions? And Ireland?
2. I was watching a very good, old movie and the character was talking about something costing half a crown. Is that a lot, a whole lot, or not much (by say 1950 reckoning).
3. I was watching this funny show on BBC (The Hotel Inspector). She mentions a room costing 30 quid. What's a quid?
4. Another BBC show You Are What You Eat weighs everyone in Stones, which I discovered is about 13 pounds. Do people in England use stone weights for other things, or just body size?
5. Is wallpaper as popular in England as it would seem if you watch enough of BBC TV? Over here it's been on the way out for many years and I don't know anyone who uses it at all. We just paint everything to death.
6. What's the most popular beer that people in England drink? Please don't tell me it's Bud Light! Personally, I'm a Newcastle junkie.
Thanks in advance for your consideration!
To knock this diversion on the head:
1. Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales
United Kingdom = England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Ireland = Eire, an independent country.
2. A crown = 5 shillings (today: £0.25)
Half a crown = two shillings and six pence (today: £0.125).
When my grandfather gave me half a crown in the 1960s I thought
I had become a millionaire!
3. A quid = £1
4. One stone = 14 lb (14 pounds). We only use stones to measure
weight. We almost never use pounds on their own to measure
someone's weight!
5. Dunno - depends. We don't have any. My mother has it everwhere.
6. It's probably not beer at all - it's almost certainly lager, such as Stella
Artois. Personally, I hate the stuff. I like Belgian fruit-flavoured beers!
BTW in the UK, a 'public school' is an expensive species of private school, e.g. Eton or Harrow. What you know as 'public schools', we call 'state schools'.
Thanks, Alan. I had forgotten what you guys called your "public schools". And it is nice to take a little break from the music to learn a thing or two about other lands that it might be hard to find out any other way.