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Hello Monafam

As you can see, I am a new member as of today. I have been reading many of the postings and I note that you are still on line.  I note that you have made postings on Rott, Gade and Berwald amongst others. During the past year, I have gradually expanded my horizons and actively sought out so-called "unknown composers". Re- the 3 composers referred to above, I am familiar with all 3 as follows and with each one, I give a brief opinion.

Gade : I have all the symphonies and some orchestral pieces. I sort of like his music but it doesn't really move me in the sense that I have to keep re-visiting his work. I do of course prefer some of his symphonies more than others. For me, no 1 is perhaps the best?

Berwald : Again,  I have all the symphonies and am very keen on him. There is a lightness, deftness of touch with his music which I find very appealing.

Rott : I bought the cd of his symphony because of the connection made to Mahler, particularly with reference to Mahler quoting from Rott. Mahler is one of my favourite composers and I had to listen to the Rott. Whilst I found the symphony interesting and was able to detect a couple of references to Mahler, the symphony as a whole is ok but I will only occasionally come back to it.

Have you any further comments to make on these 3 composers?

cheers Dennis

Thanks Mark for your comments on symphony no 11. I was aware that this symphony was published posthumously from the liner notes but it was stimulating to read your quote from Avrohom Leichtling suggesting that Raff was moving towards a sparer and more modern aesthetic.  This seems to make very good sense. Yes, I have a soft spot for this symphony but prefer the outer movements, as I find movements 2 and 3 marginally les satisfying.

Re- the Raff site, I tried to stream the extracts from the piano quartet no 2 but initially was not able to do so as the message came up in I tunes as "continuous". This has also happened with other more recent entries on the Raff site. As luck would have it, my daughter's friend was staying with us and he is, unlike me very computer literate. He said that the "links within .m3u files need spaces to be replaced by "%20". He showed me how to do this and I now have no problem streaming the newer musical additions on the site. Does this make sense to you or was it merely a problem on my computer?
Cheers
Dennis

As a new member as of today, I would like to start by saying that I am a committed Raff enthusiast, who firmly believes that Raff should be far better known than he is!

I am hugely impressed by both the official Raff site and also this site and look forward to having many interesting conversations with other members, not only on Raff but also on other lesser known composers ( I am also very fond of Kurt Atterberg for example), many of whom I have discovered thanks to the CPO label.

For my first posting, I would like to give my view on the topic of favourite Raff symphony. I have read other members views on this topic with keen interest. Generally, I am in agreement with both Mark and Alan that both historically and emotionally, symphonies 2-5 rank among his very best works, with the nod going perhaps to symphony no 5 as being his very best. Obviously the answer to this question is highly subjective and everyone has his or her own particular favourite. I love the Lenore symphony and although Mark finds the third movement march a little simplistic in a sense and I can certainly see why he might say that, at the same time, I find this particular movement very appealing and never tire of listening to it! So it seems I am saying number 5 is my favourite? Let me say however, that I enjoy all of Raff's symphonies and in each one there is always at least one favourite movement for me. At the same time, I would add that some movements succeed less well than others for me and we can all share that particular feeling.

That said, I have a particular liking for symphony no 11 and just like Ilya, I keep coming back to this symphony often. I find the first movement particularly evocative of winter with the first downfall of snow and easily imagine a scene of great beauty, with a winter landscape dressed in the purity of freshly fallen snow ( I get the same feeling when listening to Tchaikovsky's symphony no 1 Winter Dreams!).

So there it is - for me a toss up between no 5 and no 11.