Rufinatscha 6

[Alan Howe]

Friends will be interested to know that firm interest in recording Rufinatscha's 6th Symphony has now been shown by one of the major independent labels. More news as it happens - and as and when I am able to reveal it!

[Mark Thomas]

This is very significant news indeed. Well done on behalf of us all, Alan!

[sdtom]

May I ask the name of the label?
Thomas

[Alan Howe]

I'm afraid I cannot reveal the name of the label involved. Suffice it to say that the boss is now convinced of the quality of the music...

[Peter1953]

Like other Forum members I am very grateful to Mark and Alan. The Forum offers an enormous source of information, particularly for lovers of classical music searching for unsung composers. And look what happened to me. Thanks to Alan's enthusiasm for Rufinatscha I recently bought some CD's, namely his symphonies 1, 2, 5 and 6, the piano quartets and the four-hand reduction of the piano concerto (I am still waiting for the last 2 CD's, ordered a few weeks ago, which might prove that the postal services in Europe are not as quick as in Rufinatscha's days...I should have gone by car to Tirol myself). Before reading the discussions on the Forum, I have never heard of Rufinatscha. And now I can say that to me Rufinatscha is absolutely what the French call a "trouvaille". Thanks Alan for introducing me to Rufinatscha's music!

The artwork of the CD's shows some parts of the scores and looking at Rufinatscha's beautiful and careful hand-writing you could expect the same care for his compositions. And indeed. What a wonderful music!

Symphony #1 is very pleasant to listen to, and has a beautiful, lyrical adagio. Symphony #2 offers true romantic 1st and 2nd parts, however, the themes of the 3rd and 4th parts are, as I feel it, rather simple and more in the early Haydn style. By the way, in the 1st part after some 6:30 minutes a very strange flute can be heard a few times which sounds to me as an almost disturbing dissonance. Is it Rufinatscha's intention or a playful idea of a flutist of the Cappella Istropolitana Bratislava? Both overtures in C minor and C major are delightful works as well.
But then his 5th and 6th! Masterpieces of the highest calibre. I have a slight preference for #5 because of the heavenly adagio. I can say that these two symphonies belong to the most overwhelming symphonies of unsung composers I have heard in a very long time. These wonderful symphonies remind me strongly of Schumann, just like both Norbert Burgmüller's symphonies.

It is good to learn that symphony #6 attracted the attention of another label. Maybe that label will be interested in releasing Rufinatscha's concert for piano and orchestra as well...

If you read Manfred Schneider's booklet notes, the Viennese demanding concert hall audience reacted very enthusiastic after hearing Rufinatscha's C minor symphony. We can only hope for a miracle and that is that the complete scores of the lost F major and C minor symphonies will turn up after all during our life...

Yes... RaffRubiRufi, the Great Triple R.

[Ilja]

This is good news indeed. For although I appreciate Seipenbusch et al.'s efforts, the sixth more than any of them could really do with a more fleshed out view. The current recording always gives me the feeling that there is much more to be had from this music.