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Topics - Mark Thomas

#1
A new CD featuring the estimable Oliver Triendl playing Rudolf Moser's Piano Concerto, coupled with various of Moser's orchestral works, is imminent from Hänssler - details and audio samples her. Moser is a new name to me but his idiom, although clearly 20th century, seems to be within UC's area of interest.
#2
I understand that we can expect Raff's final opera Die Eifersüchtigen to be released on a major label later this year, probably sometime in the autumn. It's a live recording, taken from the 2022 Zurich performances, with some studio infill and I can vouch for its quality. More, as soon as I know it.
#3
For enthusiasts of Polish rarities, Grzegorz Fitelberg's Symphony in E minor is due out in digital format on Friday from Dux - audio extracts here. The Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Łukasz Borowicz.
#4
Recordings & Broadcasts / Joachim Raff: Symphony No.10
Saturday 02 December 2023, 08:40
Many thanks to Justin for uploading the recording of a recent broadcast of Raff's Symphony No.10 Zur Herbstzeit. At first hearing it's a more driven and dynamically varied account of it than we've had so far on disc and, as such, may be more in keeping with what Raff originally intended - we know that his requested tempi were generally regarded as brisk even for his time, and so the 20th/21st century "slow down" in tempi has rather misrepresented Raff's intentions (Järvi being an honourable exception). I'm very much looking forward to enjoying a more leisurely listen later on today.
#5
Recordings & Broadcasts / Ludvig Norman: Piano Concerto
Tuesday 14 November 2023, 08:31
Huge thanks to britishcomposer for uploading the recording of the completion of Norman's Piano Concerto to our Downloads Board here. More details about the work, including movement tempi, are to be found at the Swedish Musical Heritage website here.
#6
Recordings & Broadcasts / Raff: Octet
Thursday 21 September 2023, 09:14
A video of a fine performance in Switzerland a few months ago of Raff's Octet has just been uploaded to YouTube here. The opening and slow movements are taken at a rather more leisurely pace than is sometimes the case but are none the worse for that.
#7
Composers & Music / Mike Hopf
Wednesday 03 May 2023, 22:10
I'm very sad to report that Mike Hopf, a UC member of long standing known to many of us here, passed away last week after suffering a heart attack. Mike was a valued member of our community with a particular enthusiasm for unsung vocal works and he'll be very much missed. Ave atque vale, Mike.
#8
Due out at the beginning of next month from Sterling is a 2001 recording by Swedish Radio of Andreas Hallén's Waldemarsskatten, a four act romantic opera from 1898. Details and sound bites here.
#9
Recordings & Broadcasts / Raff: Violin Concerto No.1
Tuesday 21 March 2023, 15:14
I've uploaded to our Downloads Board here a recording broadcast by Swiss radio a couple of days ago of a concert performance last year of Raff's First Violin Concerto. The soloist, Anatol Toth, was only 19 at the time, which maybe accounts for the very short break between the second and third movements - the work is intended to be played attacca.
#10
Anyone who has enjoyed Joncières' Gounod-esque opera Dimitri, recorded by Palazzetto Bru Zane, may be intrigued by the prospect of some purely orchestral music by him - a symphony no less. A recording of his Symphonie Romantique, played by the Brussels Philharmonic under Hervé Niquet is on YouTube here. Much as I enjoyed Dimitri, it isn't the subtlest or most finely wrought piece of work, so my expectations for the Symphony weren't high, but unfortunately even they weren't met. Joncières piles on the orchestral colour in its four short movements (the work lasts just 23 minutes) but, as his thematic material is trite and symphonic development largely absent, it's very much an empty succession of "effects without causes". At best it's a Suite Romantique but, for me a least, it's not a work to which I'll bother returning.
#11
Composers & Music / Hurwitz gets it right...
Thursday 10 November 2022, 21:34
In contrast to his stark demolition of Rauchenecker last week, this time David Hurwitz is spot on in his YouTube video about Gernsheim.
#12
The tireless Dario Salvi directs the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra in an interesting selection of very early orchestral works by Meyerbeer, the major piece being a ballet: Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen. Full details and audio extracts here. Released today in the UK.
#13

Just released by Naxos is a CD with several previously unrecorded (I think) works for violin and orchestra by Vieuxtemps, including his unfinished Violin Concerto No.8 - he had only completed the first movement with piano accompaniment when he died. It was published posthumously and has now been convincingly orchestrated by Christoph Baumgarten. I've yet to listen to the other works, but the concerto movement is a substantial 13+ minutes, and well worth a hearing.
#14
Composers & Music / Raff opera premieres
Saturday 13 August 2022, 15:48
As I've mentioned previously, as part of the Raff bicentenary celebrations two operas by Raff are receiving their premieres in the next few weeks. Firstly there's the Zurich Opera Collective's production of Raff's final opera Die Eifersüchtigen in the Theater Arth, Switzerland on 3 and 4 September, followed by performances in Zurich itself on 16 and 17 September. Full details here - tickets bookable now. The poster promises an appropriately light-hearted staging, though clearly not 16th century Florence as intended by Raff.



That's followed a week later by Raff's second opera, the five act music drama Samson, which will premiere at the National Theatre in Weimar, Germany on 11 September, followed by a further eight performances. Full details here - tickets bookable now. Weimar has been one of those venues which in the past has indulged in some controversial Regietheater stagings, so all bets are off as regards the production itself, but judging from this publicity shot it does at least look as if Samson's hair loss will feature:



For any Raff enthusiast this is a dizzying prospect and I'm delighted to be going to both first performances, following each of which I'll post a report here. Samson (but not this production) will definitely be recorded next year by the Schweizer Fonogramm label as reported in this thread. I believe that a recording will be made of the Die Eifersüchtigen production, but it's not yet clear whether this will be a commercial release or just for private circulation. Interest has also been shown in recording Dame Kobold, Raff's most successful opera, but I've nothing concrete to report unfortunately.
#15
Raff's Symphony No.3 Im Walde will be played at Hamburg's prestigeous new Elbphilarmonie on 13 November this year to celebrate the composer's bicentenary. Simon Kannenburg (author of the award-winning two volume complete Raff/von Bülow letters) will conduct the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg in Weber's Der Freischütz Overture and Strauss' Horn Concerto No.1 as well as the Raff. Full details here.
#16
Recordings & Broadcasts / Raff Piano Suite CDs
Tuesday 14 June 2022, 11:42
I have a few four-CD sets of the AK Coburg recordings by Alexander Zolotarev of all seven of Raff's piano suites and Raff's arrangement for piano of J.S. Bach's Suites for solo cello. Full details of these now commercially unavailable recordings are here. The piano suites are important works in Raff's catalogue and the four later ones in particular are large scale works each lasting well over 30 minutes. For an assessment of the Bach arrangements see John Boyer's recent post. I'm very happy to send anyone a set just for the cost of shipping from the UK and if you're interested then PM me for more details.
#17
Is Records International still in business? If I try to visit the website I get an "Account Suspended" notice.
#18
Suggestions & Problems / Updating UnsungComposers
Sunday 05 June 2022, 10:24
During the next few hours the software which powers the forum will be updated. This should be a straightforward process, but will involve UC being offline for a short while. Please bear with us.
#19
Recordings & Broadcasts / More Mayer
Saturday 28 May 2022, 11:01
Due out next week is a recording of three piano trios by Emilie Mayer, to add to the two (different) ones already available from cpo. These are trios in A minor, D major and E flat major. The Klaviertrio Hannover are the artists and it's from the Genuin label - details and audio extracts here. I have now deleted from our Downloads Board britishcomposer's recording of last year's broadcasts of the A minor and D major trios.
#20
Thanks to britishcomposer for uploading this radio recording. The work's title might mislead some into thinking this a minor piece, but it turns out to be a major four movement work lasting 34 minutes on the scale of a violin sonata, but perhaps rather lighter in character - there's plenty to charm the listener. The movement titles are:

I. Allegro grazioso
II. Affetuoso non troppo lento ma con tenerezza
III. Allegro molto
IV. Allegro ma non troppo - Allegro con spirito