New Raff CD due in February 2022: complete works for cello and piano

[Mark Thomas]

Duplicating the existing compilation which has been available from Toccata for the last five years, the Avie label will be releasing a new survey of Raff's compositions for cello and piano in February next year. Both discs actually miss out a couple of obscure, unimportant arrangements which Raff made early in his career, but that's of no import. This new offering features the very impressive young Swiss cellist Christophe Croisé, whose fine reading of the First Cello Concerto is already available on YouTube, and it will be interesting to see how his interpretations of these grateful works differ from those of Toccata's Joseph Mendoes. Full details of the new Avie release are here.

[Alan Howe]

Mouthwatering. Thanks for the heads-up, Mark. My guess: Croisé will be found to be the superior cellist.

[TerraEpon]

The Toccata CD doesn't have the greatest sound quality either, so that might make it a good replacement on that count as well.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I too am hopeful on both counts.

[FBerwald]

I believe he has plans to play the 2nd cello Concerto sometime next year. A recording of both these would be very welcome, however beautiful the Daniel Muller-Schott's Tudor Version is.

[Alan Howe]

The new CD can be pre-ordered now:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joachim-Raff-Complete-Works-Cello/dp/B09NYMBDBV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X9HSV28TU92O&keywords=raff+cello+avie&qid=1640542169&sprefix=raff+cello+avie%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1

[Sharkkb8]

More availability now, per below:  Amazon, Presto & Apple Music:  4 February.  (Alan already posted link to Amazon UK)

Presto:  https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9308501--joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano

Amazon USA: https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Cello-Christoph-Croise/dp/B09NYMBDBV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WZF21XRW0ITC&keywords=raff+cello+avie&qid=1643512836&s=music&sprefix=raff+cello+avie%2Cclassical%2C146&sr=1-1

Apple Music:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano/1600745826

[Justin]

I just listened to the "Andante" from his Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 183. Heavy breathing and inhales by the performers on the recording which makes it very distracting. Hopefully this isn't the case on the other tracks.

[Mark Thomas]

I hope so too. This is all too common now on chamber music recordings. It's supposed to add versimilitude but I really dislike it

[Gareth Vaughan]

It's supposed to add verisimilitude

Or is it just that they are too closely miked? Either way, I agree that it is something we can very well do without.

[John Boyer]

I don't think it's close miking.  I think it's how string players are taught today, because closely miked recordings before the 90s didn't suffer from this.  They seem to be taught to hold their breath (or slowly exhale) for the duration of each phrase, forcing them to loudly gasp for air before beginning the next.  I don't know how many otherwise good recordings I have that I can't listen to because of this increasingly common habit.

On the topic of cello concertos, it would be a joy if someone would look into them, as the Tudor recording is so badly marred by the distant and weakly recorded orchestra (compared to the in-your-lap perspective of the cellist).

[Justin]

Fortunately we have the Toccata recordings in case this entire album sounds like a wind tunnel.

[Alan Howe]

True, but the Toccata CD is hardly ideal either.

[John Boyer]

I listened to the Presto samples.  The breathing wasn't too bad, but it's there.  Still, I've heard worse (the CPO disc of Robert Kahn cello sonatas, the Hyperion disc of Rubinstein cello sonatas, for example).  We are not alone in being annoyed by this.  I found this interview with Mark Morris, who finds it just as irritating:

"I won't allow people to lead each other, string quartets in particular, by sniffing [as an upbeat to a piece]. (Sniff.) Even just a small (sniff). First of all, it's not breathing; it's fake breathing. The other thing is, it's making a sound. Why can't you count off? You know: 'Ready? Five, six, seven, eight, play!' Instead of (sniff). I don't allow it. I stop people. And it's bull****. It's fake. (Sniff.) If you fill everything with sound, it loses all proportion. I bought the complete Haydn string quartets because I've worshipped Haydn for years. I was like, 'What's wrong with this?' Every movement started (sniff). So it was like, fast-forward: (Sniff.) (Sniff.) (Sniff.) And seven hundred quartets later, I had to give it away. I had spent hundreds of dollars, I couldn't afford it, but I had to get it out of my house. I couldn't listen to it, because it was (sniff sniff sniff). It's pretend."

Listen Magazine
"American Choreographer Mark Morris on the Relationship Between Classical Music and Dance"
by Ben Finane
June 29, 2018

[Alan Howe]

My copy's on its way...