A quick glance at the
amount of compositions that the Swiss
born composer Raff wrote, displays just
how prolific a composer he was. Raff
wrote over three hundred works, almost
half of which were solo piano pieces
mainly intended for the salon. Virtually
all the opus numbers prior to the Symphony
No. 1 in D To the Fatherland op.96
in 1863 were for solo piano. His relative
popularity in part of the second half
of the nineteenth century waned considerably
and very little of his music was played
for the next hundred years. The subsequent
obscurity of Raff’s music remains unmerited.
His distinctive music, as displayed
on this CPO release, is of the highest
quality. Thankfully, enterprising record
labels such as CPO, Marco Polo, AK Coburg
and Tudor are making considerable inroads
to make Raff’s music available to a
wider audience.
The catalogue of Raff’s
works after 1856, when he departed the
coterie of Franz Liszt in Vienna for
the relative calm of Wiesbaden, reveals
a classicistic return to time-honoured,
formal and serious concepts as far as
his choice of genre is concerned. Although
Raff had composed the first of his eight
string quartets while still in Vienna,
most of his symphonies, his concertos
and the remaining chamber music that
ranged from the Duo to the Octet,
were composed in Wiesbaden.
At the beginning of
the 1870s Raff numbered among those
composers whose works were most often
performed in German-speaking countries.
Raff admirably satisfied the public
demand of the times and promptly published
one work after another. Most notably:-
Italian Suite for large orchestra
in E minor WoO.36 (1871);
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1871);
String Octet in C major op.176
(1872);
String Sextet in G minor op.178
(1872);
Symphony No.5 in E ‘Lenore’ op.177
(1872);
Piano Concerto in C minor op.185
(1873);
Cello Concerto No.1 in D minor op.193
(1874);
Suite No.2 in F ‘In Hungarian Style’
for large orchestra op.194 (1874);
String Quartet No. 7 in D major
‘Die Schöne Müllerin’ Op.
192/b (1876);
Violin Concerto No.2 op.206;
Symphony No.11 in A minor ‘The Winter’
op.214 (1876-77);
Symphony No.9 in E minor ‘In Summer’
op.208 (1878);
Symphony No.10 in F minor ‘To the
Autumn’ op.213 (1879)
Oratorio: ‘World’s End-Judgement-New
World’ op.212 (1880).
The two string quartets
contained in this CPO release form part
of a set of three with the opus number
192, composed in 1874. At the time of
publication all three provoked criticism
for their retrospective associations
with the baroque-suite; a form that
Raff frequently used.
The baroque-inspired
String Quartet No.6 in C minor, Op.192/a,
is given the additional title of ‘Suite
in older form’. In the five movement
format: Präludium - menuett
- gavotte and musette - arie - gigue,
the work is given an enthusiastic
reading by the Mannheim Quartet. It
is easy to get swept along with the
proceedings and wonder why it is that
Raff has been ignored for so long. This
is an impressive performance right from
the start of the deeply-felt section
of the opening prelude to the lively
and imaginative gigue that concludes
the score. The melodic and heartfelt
nature of the arie movement is
especially well conveyed by the leader
Andreas Krecher.
The six movement
String Quartet No.7 in D major, ‘Die
schöne Müllerin’ (‘The beautiful
maid of the mill’) Op.192/b, apart
from using the same title Schubert used
in his famous 1823 song cycle there
is no other connection. The Mannheimers
generate plenty of excitement and enthusiasm
throughout the score. They offer an
appropriate measure of melancholy in
the Die Müllerin, andante
and particularly glorious playing in
the Zum Polterabend final movement.
The sound quality is
most acceptable, however the booklet
notes are rather technical at times
with several errors. Lovers of the string
quartet genre will be in their element
with this release. Really fine playing
and performances with commendable spirit,
without ever pushing too hard. A welcome
addition to any serious chamber music
collection.
Michael Cookson
Mannheim String Quartet 
