Recording of Raff's Samson

[Alan Howe]

This is absolutely fabulous news - especially about the casting of Pavel Breslik as Samson. He's a truly wonderful singer. Here he is in Rusalka:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KZaxGSlqu0

And here's Olena Tokar who will be singing Delilah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJidnjEBwRE

[John Boyer]

I would happily pre-order a set if it helps finance the recording costs. Some gaming companies do this. At GMT games, for example, they have a program called "P500". A new game is proposed and if a certain number of gamers subscribe to its production (500 in this case) they go ahead with the project.

[Alan Howe]

So would I - and I'd a donation too...

Fred: how about setting up a crowdfunding appeal?

[Mark Thomas]

I'm all in favour of that too, and I'd certainly contribute. The new cast looks spectacular.

[adcsound]

Thank you for your encouraging feedback.

I have already recorded a symphonic disc with Philippe Bach and we get along very well. In fact we became friends. He was conductor for years at the Meiningen Opera and has a great knowledge of the repertoire. Now he is back in Switzerland.
I have already recorded the Bern orchestra under Mario Venzago.
They enjoy working with Philippe, so on this side of the production I have a solid foundation.

I will be doing a CD with Olena in May 23, so we will get to know each other before the Samson recording.
There is also a project with Pavol but in '24.
I'm looking forward to Thomas Bauer: He is an exceptional singer of German Lied but also sings Wagner. I already know that this meeting will be a special moment for me. There is a 'Winterreise' on youtube, another Covid recording...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lws8tK798R4
I invite you to listen to "Auf dem Flusse" at 25'10". For me exceptional, no show, just music. I am sure he will tell us a great story in Samson.

I will talk with Graziella about this idea of subscription or crowdfunding but I can imagine that she has already considered this option.

I am used to work on symphonic productions and to manage singers. From an artistic point of view I have no stress, but it is extremely heavy to manage an opera in pre-production. Especially this production which has changed the theatre, the orchestra and the conductor along the way... and the dates!
With a difference of one week I lost 2 singers.
I am nevertheless very happy with this new cast and am convinced that everything is in place to make a great production.

Very long post from me, but now back to work: I have to finalize the last CD of the Bienne orchestra dedicated to Hans Huber before the Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott for Dieter Ammann! Lots of Swiss composers in my mind at the moment!

Salutations à tous, Fred.

[eschiss1]

I hope the Huber CD contains the symphony in A premiered in 1889 (or if not, eventually some will maybe...)

[Alan Howe]

Do consider the crowdfunding or subscription idea, Fred. Even if only a few contributed, it would surely help to finance this great Samson project.

[adcsound]

Dear friends,

I must say that managing an opera production is much more complicated than managing a symphony production! It's a bit like a bad TV series, when everything seems to be ok there are problems again.
I will finally be happy behind my microphones when we shall all be on stage with the red light!

Pavol Breslik is not in the cast anymore, his management is really too complicated.
I'm happy to announce Magnus Vigilius as Samson.
Philippe Bach, our conductor, has already worked with him and he'll be a wonderful tenor for this recording.

I'll have the pleasure to produce a recording with Olena before this Samson, so we'll have worked together already.

Yesterday we had a meeting at the theater with the technical team, Philippe, Graziella and the orchestra management. I must say that everything is done to have a real "à l'ancienne" production. There will be an acoustic shell installed on the stage to optimise the sound quality: it's an opera theater, not a concert hall.

You can see how it looks here:
https://www.hoac.de/projekte/konzertzimmer/#buehnen-bern

To be continued... 

Salutations de Bern,
Fred.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for the update, Fred.

[Justin]

The crowdfunding effort is now underway for this recording, which is scheduled to take place in September this year:

https://wemakeit.com/projects/opera-samson-by-joachim-raff

You can choose different donation amounts which give you different kinds of rewards, from signed CD copies to invitations to the concert or recording sessions in Bern.

[TerraEpon]

And I reading that right, that the lowest tier to get the CD is equivalent to $163?

[Justin]

That is to receive a signed CD box, TerraEpon. My guess is that most of the value comes behind it behind signed, with it possibly being released to you sooner. The general release of the album should be less than that on the label.

[Mark Thomas]

You don't have to participate in the crowd funding to "buy" a CD set. Just wait until the set is released and I imagine that the price will be in line with normal CD pricing. Crowd funding is essentially asking for gifts beforehand to help pay for the recording, and as an enticement to give larger amounts we are offered a tiered set of rewards. I'm certainly participating and I do hope that other friends in our community will do so. There's no fixed or minimum amount and it's difficult to think of a more important or ground-breaking project which would aid the cause of not just Raff but unsungs generally. Dig deep!!

[TerraEpon]

I've contributed to many crowd funding campaigns. I know how they work. But I've never seen a one where the lowest tier to get the product is such an investment compared to the eventual probable retail price of it.

[Mark Thomas]

My apologies, I (and I'm sure Justin) didn't mean to be patronising.