You'd expect me to beat the drum for Raff and so I shall.
The Piano Quintet is one of his masterpieces and I recommend that you buy the new Divox recording with Il Trittico. You get the added bonus of the substantial Fantasie for Piano Quintet (itself a delight) and Goetz' Piano Quintet. Avoid the MDG disk which couples it with the String Sextet. That's a fine interpretation, but the Piano Quintet is dire.
Then there are the four Piano Trios, any and all of which are superb. There are two cycles: Il Trittico once again on Arte Nova (discontinued but easy to find) is a fine budet option and there are also two separate disks from Trio Opus 8 on cpo. All these recordings are reviewed at Raff.org.
Coming up, possibly as early as the end of the year, is a second Divox CD which features the premiere recordings of the two Piano Quartets. The players are Il Trittico once again and these are stunning performances of two more glorious works.
Raff really is at his consistent best in these eight works. If you like his orchestral music you'll be bowled over by his works for piano and strings.
The Piano Quintet is one of his masterpieces and I recommend that you buy the new Divox recording with Il Trittico. You get the added bonus of the substantial Fantasie for Piano Quintet (itself a delight) and Goetz' Piano Quintet. Avoid the MDG disk which couples it with the String Sextet. That's a fine interpretation, but the Piano Quintet is dire.
Then there are the four Piano Trios, any and all of which are superb. There are two cycles: Il Trittico once again on Arte Nova (discontinued but easy to find) is a fine budet option and there are also two separate disks from Trio Opus 8 on cpo. All these recordings are reviewed at Raff.org.
Coming up, possibly as early as the end of the year, is a second Divox CD which features the premiere recordings of the two Piano Quartets. The players are Il Trittico once again and these are stunning performances of two more glorious works.
Raff really is at his consistent best in these eight works. If you like his orchestral music you'll be bowled over by his works for piano and strings.