Another Raff opera to be recorded

[Justin]

Excerpt from the overture from this recording:

https://soundcloud.com/naxosmusicgroup/866061920-cd1-track01-excerpt

[eschiss1]

I remember when none of Raff's operas were recorded and many were unpublished except in (un-messy) manuscripts. Feels like this is most of them now, and I feel like applauding...

[Mark Thomas]

Audio excerpts from each track here.

[Mark Thomas]

The promo video:

[Gareth Vaughan]

How wonderful. Utterly delightful.

[John Boyer]

I finally released my copy from the shrink-wrapped prison that it's been languishing in since its arrival and treated myself to an operatic matinee, libretto in hand (or, more accurately, on screen).  This is a wonderful release, with excellent performances all around captured in full-bodied but transparent sound.  The orchestral details are clear and the voices are pleasantly integrated into the sound picture without being unnaturally prominent.

Reading the notes I was struck by Raff's awareness of the cost of an operatic production, producing a budget-pleasing work that requires only a minimal cast and recyclable scenery.  The only caveat?  The weak libretto, which, if not much worse than the typical opera buffa, feels as recycled as the scenery Raff conceived.  It's utterly generic, with only the character names changed and new music provided.  I once joked that it would be funny if writers used generic titles in the same way as composers of absolute music (Horror Novel #9, by Stephen King; Naturalist Drama #3, by Henrik Ibsen); here we have what could have been called Raff's Comic Opera #1.

The weak libretto, however, is something shared by many an opera, so it's the sort of defect we almost take for granted.  Raff, to his credit, has clothed it with delightful music and Naxos has given it to us in excellent performances with great sound.  It's a winner.

[Mark Thomas]

A very fair review by Richard Bratby in August Gramophone (good heavens!):

[...] The title has been translated as 'The Phantom Lady' but there's nothing of the Wolf's Glen here. The spirited Overture (which deserves to be a concert piece in its own right) isn't spooky at all.

[...] Raff throws in plenty of colour - choruses of students and gypsies, ballad-like arias and a brief ballet. Nothing here to shake the world, it's true, but there's no denying the warmth, the melodic invention and the bustling verve with which Raff sweeps his comedy to its happy ending. Under Dario Salvi, the Czech orchestra and chorus perform with zest. It's not what you'd call a luxurious sound, though the playing makes up in character what it occasionally lacks in finesse.

Nor are the cast exactly A-list, but they're reasonably well matched and if Gustav Wenzel Most is a slightly colourless tenor as Manuel, Matthias Lika (as Juan) and Lukas Krimmel (as the servant Rodrigo) both come across handsomely in the resonant acoustic. As Angela, Lara Rieken has an attractive, shaded soprano with just the right hint of pathos, and Julia Surushkina as her maid Beatrice is a soubrette with a slightly gamy tang that works well in dialogue with Rieken (the intonation in their occasional duets is less sure-footed). Overall, though, they're perfectly listenable and sound as if they're genuinely caught up in the piece. The heart of this recording is in the right place, and with music as appealing as Raff s, that goes a long way. Dame Kobold deserved a happier fate, and now perhaps she'll get one.

© Gramophone 2026

[eschiss1]

Or "Arrangement in Grey and Black" by Whistler?