Rufinatscha from Chandos

[eschiss1]

under a rock? (in response to the question, not referring to the music. which I am hoping to catch if I can on BBC 3 this coming week, or before at all long. the brief excerpts in an issue of AMZ though 2-piano reduced themselves mostly and mostly incipits, were very tempting...)

[alberto]

I will certainly remember your wishes to Maestro Noseda, Alan.
I am a fan (I would not dare to say a full enthusiast) of Draeseke Third . I have got both the recordings by CPO and  MDG.
But apart from Simphony 3 (and the couplings in the two recordings), I know only his " Sonata quasi  fantasia" op.6 (I've got the MDG recording).

[Revilod]

I see that Rufinatscha 6 is being broadcast by Radio 3 this coming Tuesday (March 22nd) at 3.05 p.m. and the overture to "Die Braut von Messina" shortly before 3 p.m. on Friday....so the uninitiated can try before they buy!

[Alan Howe]

Just a quick reminder if I may: notifications of broadcast performances belong elsewhere on the forum. It helps that we all know where things are, I think.

And thanks in advance, Alberto, for passing on my best wishes and my enquiry about Draeseke...

[Alan Howe]

For those of you who are curious to hear what Rufinatscha's music is like, excerpts from the new Chandos CD are available here...
http://www.theclassicalshop.net/Details.aspx?CatalogueNumber=CHAN 10665

[alberto]

Yesterday late evening I met Maestro Noseda after a concert conducted by him. He exchanges gratefully wishes to Alan (Howe). He (very satisfied about the Rufinatscha) told me he has found intriguing Draeseke Third Symphony, but at present he has no plans about it.
(By the way some years ago I presented Maestro Noseda with two operatic scores for voices and piano, dating back to remote years and belonged to an amateur pianist grandmother: The secret of Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari and Siberia by Giordano. These scores are not on the top of my preferences. I presented them as a sign of esteem to a conductor often present in Torino and living (indeed when on holiday, and not touring around the world) in Piedmont, Torino's region. As "The secret of Susanna" takes place in Piedmont; Giordano spent his holidays (like Noseda) on Lake Major, Piedmont, and Siberia has association with S.Petersburg, where Maestro Noseda conducted a lot (and still conducts).

[Alan Howe]

Thank you, Alberto. It's good to hear news from maestro Noseda. What a fine conductor he is!

[ivorykeys43]

Hi all,
This is my first post on this site which I found by accident - just what I have been looking for.
I am just listening to Radio 3 playing Rufinatscha's Symphony No.6 and wonder what your impressions are.
As a former professional musician, I have never heard of this work or composer though I have been a collector of rare nineteenth century piano concerti for several decades. I am looking forward to the piano concerto on Chandos (or Hyperion). Any comments?

[eschiss1]

is that Piedmont as in Sinigaglia's Rapsodia Piemontese? ... just to wonder. Looking forward to hearing the present and future instalments of the Chandos Rufinatscha series (indeed, will audition samples of the present one now or asap...) also, a reminder: some incipits of the Rufinatscha 6th can be seen, to follow along your listening if like me you don't have a complete score (full or reduced), in the US only for some odd reason (this latter review was written in 1872 - I'm not sure where the copyright issue is) - in a review available at Google Books here (and seq., at least one example for each movement. From the extremely well-known magazine Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, vol.7?, 10 Jan. 1872 issue, pp.32-6.) - Eric

[alberto]

Yes, Piedmont is in Italian "Piemonte" (North-West of Italy). Leone Sinigaglia, born in Torino in 1868, Composed a "Rapsodia Piemontese" for violin and orchestra, two"Danze Piemontesi op. 31" (the first recorded by Arthur Fiedler and Boston "Pops" Orch.), and an orchestral Suite "Piemonte" op. 36 (premiered by Toscanini).Exists, at least in Italy, a CD of lieder (very Brahmsian) and romances sung by Anja Kampe (label Stradivarius).
Also Alfredo Casella was born in Torino.
Third composer from Piemonte of value is Giorgio Federico Ghedini (neo classical in style, there were some remote recordings by de Sabata and Cantelli I have got and an interesting Naxos with composer conducting).
Maybe someone has read the name of Lodovico Rocca, also born in Torino. He acquired the right for "Dybbuk", preventing Gershwin composing an opera above the same subject (another worthy opera is "Monte Ivnor").
In classical era from Piemonte came Giovanni Battista Viotti (by the way dead in London in 1824) whose Concerto n.22 (in 29!) was said to have been object of praise from Brahms (recorded at least by Stern, Perlman, Accardo, Ughi).
One daughter of Schumann, possible bride for Brahms, preferred to marry a Piedmontese Count.   
I am digressing too much...

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome Ivorkeys!

Rather than repeat what has been said several times over on the Forum, for an impression of what others think of Rufinatscha's music I suggest that you just do a search for Rufinatscha, or skim back through this thread. I'd be very interested in your impressions of the work, though, bearing in mind that you've never heard a note of Rufinatscha's before.

[oldman]

The Chandos Rufinatscha CD will be available in mp3 format 4/5/11 at

http://www.amazon.com/Rufinatscha-Orchestral-Works-Vol-1/dp/B004SC9IKY/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300822404&sr=301-1
At a very reasonable cost.

[dafrieze]

The Rufinatscha CD is already available for download at http://www.theclassicalshop.net/.  I know, because I've downloaded it and have now listened to it a couple of times.  Having been completely ignorant even of Rufinatscha's existence until I came across this blog, and having seen his name bandied about here in terms of awe and yearning, I was almost wary of finally hearing him and being disappointed.  Well, I wouldn't call his music a life-changing experience, but it's certainly of sufficiently high quality to render him more than worthy of revival.  On the evidence of this one symphony and a very attractive overture, I'd describe him as a sort of missing link between Schubert and Raff, with some of the former's "heavenly length" and some of the latter's harmonic and textural clarity.  Anyway, thank you to introducing me to him!  I'll be looking forward to future Chandos releases.

[oldman]

The amazon copy will be available for $8.99 US. I think I can wait two weeks 

[eschiss1]

it's already available in MP3 format at the classical shop, Chandos' own site I think?..., Here.  ah. sorry to duplicate - hope the more specific link is good though.