It's beginning to look like Raff's operatic magnum opus, the music drama Samson, may be recorded in 2023. It would be a very big project if the piece is recorded in full: it lasts around two and a half hours and needs a large cast of top flight soloists (and therein lies a major worry). Still, great news if it comes off and I'll keep my ear to the ground.... Details of the opera itself here (https://www.raff.org/catalogue/catalogue_vocal.html#woo.20), by the way.
Which are the major roles - and for which types of voices?
Main roles: Samson (tenor); Abimelech of Gaza (baritone); Delilah, Abimelech's daughter (soprano); The High Priest of Dagon (bass); Micha, an Israelite deserter (tenor). Other roles: The High Priestess of Astarte (mezzo-soprano); The Seran of Ascalon (bass); A Gaoler (tenor) A Woman of the People (soprano). Plus a number of tenor and bass soloists or solo groups from the chorus: The Serans (rulers) of Asdod, Ekron & Gath; Three Syrian Seamen; An Israelite Spokesman, Two Levites & Two Israelite Citizens.
The original Samson was to have been Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, the tenor who created Tristan, which gives us an idea of the range and power of the part, and he was very enthusiastic about its challenges. Samson was to have been his next major role but he died shortly after the premiere of Tristan & Isolde and the planned staging of Samson was abandoned.
For Samson, I'd contact US tenor Andrew Richards: https://www.facebook.com/OperaRocksAndrewRichards/
I'm not involved in the recording in any way, but I'll pass that on to those moving and shaking this project. Thanks.
Or Joshua Kohl, again an American - who sings Eiolf in the forthcoming Naxos/Hulda set:
http://www.joshuakohltenor.com/about
Ta.
Dear Friends,
I'm in charge of this project. The recording session will take place in Basel with the Sinfonieorchester Basel under the baton of Ivor Bolton.
Sessions 'll be in August 2023 and I have two weeks to get everything in the box, which is something exceptional today!
Again for the Schweizer Fonogramm label.
Don't ask for the cast, I'll say nothing until the team is completed... :)
Cheers from Bern,
Frederic.
I am glad to hear that the recording will be done on a label with a high production quality!
Thank you Frederic, this is a tremendously exciting project and should prove to be a real revelation!
Yes, absolutely wonderful news! Great for us fans of Raff in general - and great for those (like me!) who want to find out where this opera fits in the history of the genre.
It's good to see a full-sized orchestra being used for this project. The instruments specified are: piccolo; 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; alto trombone; tenor trombone; bass trombone; tuba; timpani; triangle; cymbals; bass drum; snare drum; strings.
Plus English horn, bass clarinet and Harp.
There is also a stage music with trumpets, horns and trombones.
English horn = cor anglais (that's what we call it in the UK!!)
In other words: wow!
Sorry for the mistake, c'est donc comme en français. Merci Alan!
The Notes which Frederic has made available are from Edition Nordstern's modern edition of the score, and include the introductory comments from my own Book: The Music of Joachim Raff - an illustrated Catalogue. Samson is the nearest Raff got to Wagnerian music drama, and the work was at least begun when he was in thrall to Wagner, whom he'd encountered when working with and for Liszt in Weimar. By the time Samson was finished, Raff had become quite antipathetic to much of Wagner's musical philosophy, and so it'll be fascinating to hear how the opera turned out. It should certainly be spectacular on stage, something we're promised next year in a production in Weimar, although whether it'll be subjected to the awful German Regietheater aesthetic remains to be seen.
With Samson's composition dates being 1853-7 (with various revisions following until 1865), the only three of Wagner's mature operas that had been performed by then were The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser (Dresden version) and Lohengrin, so these would have been the major Wagner works that Raff had heard (Tristan und Isolde was performed in 1865).
I wonder whether we'll hear any influences from, say, Weber, Mendelssohn or Liszt?
Remember, when Raff was part of Liszt's circle, he may have been made aware of Wagner's unperformed works in sketch that Wagner was discussing with Liszt and his family, if the dates work at all.
True. I wonder what it was about Wagner's aesthetic that Raff rejected...
His letters are surprisingly vague on that, or at least the letters which I've seen of his so far are, but a couple of things are clear: firstly that Raff's disenchantment with Wagner came at the same time as he began distancing himself from Liszt and his circle. He wrote a short book Die Wagnerfrage which analysed Lohengrin but which they took as criticism of their idol, which it only was in the sense that it wasn't a complete and uncritical paean of praise, and this led Raff to disapprove of the "cult of Wagner" and its worship of a man who was, after all, in many non-musical respects a deeply flawed and sometimes quite reprehensible human being. Secondly there's no doubt that he didn't agree with Wagner's stance that absolute music was a dead end and the way forward was a melding of all the arts into the sort of music drama he attempted in the Ring. Although it's not relevant to the genesis of Samson, there's an interesting passage in a book by the American composer William Mason, who knew Raff in Weimar in the 1850s, when he was an ardent Wagner enthusiast, and met him again towards the end of Raff's life. Talking of that later meeting he wrote: "A quarter of a century had elapsed since I had seen Raff, and naturally one of my first questions was, 'Raff, how is the Wagner cause?' 'Oh,' said he, 'the public have gone 'way over to the other extreme. You know how hard it was to force Wagner upon them twenty-five years ago, and now they go just as much too far the other way and are unreasonable in their excessive homage'". Raff made a virtue of his own eclecticism and disliked "isms" of any other sort.
QuoteRaff made a virtue of his own eclecticism and disliked "isms" of any other sort
Yes, that must be it. Wagner's was a one-track answer to the problem that he saw post-Beethoven; but Raff's was multi-track. No wonder he fell through the cracks of musical history when the camps (New German vs. Classical) were so polarised. He didn't belong to either. The same was true of Draeseke.
Raff's case is complicated by being a protégé of, successively, Mendelssohn and Liszt. So the conservatives regarded him as a Lisztian revolutionary and the Liszt/Wagner school classed him as a traitor because he had distanced himself from them once he left Weimar in 1856. He compounded the problem by avoiding association with either camp and championing the one thing they both despised - eclecticism. He never made any attempt to found his own tradition, indeed he scorned the very idea when he was director of the very successful Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and so it's no wonder that as soon as he was dead his music died with him.
Dear friends,
The cast is completed.
I still wait some few weeks more: we have the "yes" from the singers, but I know that when it's not yet signed by the agencies, it can change...
If they are all confirmed, it is a wonderful cast!
I can already write that we'll have the Balthasar Neumann Chor with 60 people: the choir is very much in demand in this production.
More to come.
Fred.
Thanks for the update, Fred. It all sounds very exciting.
Extremely exciting!
Hear, hear!
I should have added that the Balthasar Neumann Chor are superb in everything I have heard them sing.
Dear friends,
Due to organizational problems, the production has cancelled the project with Mr. Bolton and the Basel orchestra.
We shall record this production with the Berner symphonic orchestra under the baton of Mario Venzago (with whom I have already collaborated).
An incredible piece of luck is that the Bern orchestra is available for a two-week period almost at the same time as the one scheduled with Basel, which allows me to almost keep the original cast.
This opera was marked by fate during Raff's lifetime and he never had the opportunity to perform it... I hope that we will finally break this curse with this recording!
The Weimar theater will produce the opera for the first time in september 22, in a shorter version.
We shall record the all score and give a concert just after in Bern, already planned on 2023 September the 8th.
I shall reveal the cast soon.
Cheers from Bern,
Fred.
Thanks for the update, Fred. That sounds like a very lucky break! Let's hope that that Samson's premiere in Weimar in two weeks time will break the "curse".
Will you still be able to use the Balthasar Neumann Chor, Fred?
Thanks for the update, Fred. We trust that all will now go well as you record this important work.
Dear friends,
Here is an update on this production.
The recording is scheduled from the 29 of August to the 6 of September 2023.
The recording label is Schweizer Fonogramm.
The Berne Symphony Orchestra and Choir will be conducted by Philippe Bach.
Delilah : Olena Tokar
Oberpriesterin : Christel Loetzsch
Samson : Pavol Breslik
Micha : Michael Weinius
Abimelech : Thomas Bauer
Oberpriester : Christian Immler
I do hope everything 'll be alright until then, it's a lot of money and it already took a lot of time and energy in preproduction to find the casting I wanted and move from one orchestra and theater to another one...
I must thank Graziella at Schweizer Fonogramm and the Bern theater team for all the work they have already done to make this possible.
I keep my fingers crossed !
Salutations de Bern,
Fred.
This is absolutely fabulous news - especially about the casting of Pavel Breslik as Samson. He's a truly wonderful singer. Here he is in Rusalka:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KZaxGSlqu0
And here's Olena Tokar who will be singing Delilah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJidnjEBwRE
I would happily pre-order a set if it helps finance the recording costs. Some gaming companies do this. At GMT games, for example, they have a program called "P500". A new game is proposed and if a certain number of gamers subscribe to its production (500 in this case) they go ahead with the project.
So would I - and I'd a donation too...
Fred: how about setting up a crowdfunding appeal?
I'm all in favour of that too, and I'd certainly contribute. The new cast looks spectacular.
Thank you for your encouraging feedback.
I have already recorded a symphonic disc with Philippe Bach and we get along very well. In fact we became friends. He was conductor for years at the Meiningen Opera and has a great knowledge of the repertoire. Now he is back in Switzerland.
I have already recorded the Bern orchestra under Mario Venzago.
They enjoy working with Philippe, so on this side of the production I have a solid foundation.
I will be doing a CD with Olena in May 23, so we will get to know each other before the Samson recording.
There is also a project with Pavol but in '24.
I'm looking forward to Thomas Bauer: He is an exceptional singer of German Lied but also sings Wagner. I already know that this meeting will be a special moment for me. There is a 'Winterreise' on youtube, another Covid recording...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lws8tK798R4
I invite you to listen to "Auf dem Flusse" at 25'10". For me exceptional, no show, just music. I am sure he will tell us a great story in Samson.
I will talk with Graziella about this idea of subscription or crowdfunding but I can imagine that she has already considered this option.
I am used to work on symphonic productions and to manage singers. From an artistic point of view I have no stress, but it is extremely heavy to manage an opera in pre-production. Especially this production which has changed the theatre, the orchestra and the conductor along the way... and the dates!
With a difference of one week I lost 2 singers.
I am nevertheless very happy with this new cast and am convinced that everything is in place to make a great production.
Very long post from me, but now back to work: I have to finalize the last CD of the Bienne orchestra dedicated to Hans Huber before the Suisse Romande and Jonathan Nott for Dieter Ammann! Lots of Swiss composers in my mind at the moment!
Salutations à tous, Fred.
I hope the Huber CD contains the symphony in A premiered in 1889 (or if not, eventually some will maybe...)
Do consider the crowdfunding or subscription idea, Fred. Even if only a few contributed, it would surely help to finance this great Samson project.
Dear friends,
I must say that managing an opera production is much more complicated than managing a symphony production! It's a bit like a bad TV series, when everything seems to be ok there are problems again.
I will finally be happy behind my microphones when we shall all be on stage with the red light!
Pavol Breslik is not in the cast anymore, his management is really too complicated.
I'm happy to announce Magnus Vigilius as Samson.
Philippe Bach, our conductor, has already worked with him and he'll be a wonderful tenor for this recording.
I'll have the pleasure to produce a recording with Olena before this Samson, so we'll have worked together already.
Yesterday we had a meeting at the theater with the technical team, Philippe, Graziella and the orchestra management. I must say that everything is done to have a real "à l'ancienne" production. There will be an acoustic shell installed on the stage to optimise the sound quality: it's an opera theater, not a concert hall.
You can see how it looks here:
https://www.hoac.de/projekte/konzertzimmer/#buehnen-bern
To be continued... ;)
Salutations de Bern,
Fred.
Thanks for the update, Fred.
The crowdfunding effort is now underway for this recording, which is scheduled to take place in September this year:
https://wemakeit.com/projects/opera-samson-by-joachim-raff (https://wemakeit.com/projects/opera-samson-by-joachim-raff)
You can choose different donation amounts which give you different kinds of rewards, from signed CD copies to invitations to the concert or recording sessions in Bern.
And I reading that right, that the lowest tier to get the CD is equivalent to $163?
That is to receive a signed CD box, TerraEpon. My guess is that most of the value comes behind it behind signed, with it possibly being released to you sooner. The general release of the album should be less than that on the label.
You don't have to participate in the crowd funding to "buy" a CD set. Just wait until the set is released and I imagine that the price will be in line with normal CD pricing. Crowd funding is essentially asking for gifts beforehand to help pay for the recording, and as an enticement to give larger amounts we are offered a tiered set of rewards. I'm certainly participating and I do hope that other friends in our community will do so. There's no fixed or minimum amount and it's difficult to think of a more important or ground-breaking project which would aid the cause of not just Raff but unsungs generally. Dig deep!!
I've contributed to many crowd funding campaigns. I know how they work. But I've never seen a one where the lowest tier to get the product is such an investment compared to the eventual probable retail price of it.
My apologies, I (and I'm sure Justin) didn't mean to be patronising.
I was definitely patronizing. ;D
But seriously, I'm sure there are factors we don't know about, such as cost margins for the label and expenses for the length of the recording sessions.
Looking forward to it nonetheless. I'll be contributing $150 to support the project. If I lived in Switzerland and was able to attend the concert, it would certainly be more. Very glad they are bringing Raff's lesser-known works to light with professional quality.
Quote from: TerraEpon on Wednesday 29 March 2023, 13:12[...] I've never seen a one where the lowest tier to get the product is such an investment compared to the eventual probable retail price of it.
It's meant to be a contribution.
Good news! The Wemakeit campaign has reached it goal with still a day to go, so it looks like the recording is going to go forward.
Excellent news!
Quote from: John Boyer on Thursday 03 November 2022, 11:53I would happily pre-order a set if it helps finance the recording costs. Some gaming companies do this. At GMT games, for example, they have a program called "P500". A new game is proposed and if a certain number of gamers subscribe to its production (500 in this case) they go ahead with the project.
It's nothing recent really. Opera Rara has functionned on this economic scheme from the start, with a subscription model to finance upcoming projects.... Now, of course, they have diversified their funding and have acquired a larger visibility, but...
I received Schweizer Fonogramm's newsletter today and the studio recording of the opera took place from August 29 to September 4. The album will contain 3 discs and be released "next winter," so I presume that means late 2024/early 2025. Our fellow forum member Frédéric Angleraux will be doing the mixing and editing!
Very much looking forward to this release.
It's great news that the recording's in the can. Thanks.
'Im kommenden Winter' (= lit. 'in the coming winter') is somewhat ambiguous as it might also be translated 'next winter'. It would be interesting to know what our friend Fred at Schweizer Fonogramm says about a possible release date - if he is permitted to do so, that is.
Dear Fred,
Have you any firm news about a release date for Samson? We're all very much looking forward to this important release!
Having heard the performance in Bern I can say that it was superior to the Weimar performance last year in every respect. The singers were first rate, even in the smaller roles, and everyone sang the text perfectly, the native German speakers as well as the singers of other mother tongues. As I heard in the theatre the recording is scheduled to be released in December.
The performance was not complete, but the recording, which was made during the week before, will contain the unperformed music, too.
Quotethe recording is scheduled to be released in December.
Aha! Not next winter, but this coming winter. A great Christmas gift...
Great to hear. Schweizer Fonogramm is doing a tremendous service to Swiss Romantic music, let alone Unsung Composers in general.
Indeed they are, Justin. Samson for Christmas is a great prospect!
Dear friends,
It's been a long time since my last post. I had to finish another Swiss production for Schweizer Fonogramm dedicated to Othmar Schoeck just after the recording of Samson...
I'm now editing the opera and it sounds fantastic. We did it in 5 days, one day per act.
The Bern Symphony Orchestra is really excellent. They only had two rehearsals before (including my soundcheck). The choir was very well prepared and contributed to the quality of the takes, as did the stage orchestra.
In order to optimise time (2 services per day) I opted to work in sections with a reading, work on that section and then the takes.
As for the soloists, they all gave their best (as did the whole team) and I have to say that this opera has really taken an artistic and emotional way that I didn't find when it was broadcast from Weimar... Sorry.
So I'm very happy with the takes I have.
I'm working on it and it's my main job for the incoming weeks. I have no idea when will be the release, but under the Christmas tree this year seems a bit short... It's a lot of work and it'll take as long as it takes, I have no pressure to finish, my goal is to do it the best I can with what I have.
I think the label also needs more time than usual to manage the booklet, the packaging and finally the production. End of january or february looks more serious to me.
On verra!
Some few pictures and one small handy video.
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson00.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson01.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson02.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson03.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson04.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson05.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson06.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson07.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Samson08.jpg
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/UnsungComposer/Christian_Magnus_Olena.mp4
Salutations de Bern,
Fred.
This is wonderful news, Fred - thanks for all the information and links. We greatly look forward to the release of Samson, perhaps in New Year 2024. But do take your time!
I can only echo what Alan has written. It's great news.
I am very impressed by the widescreen monitor used for the sound mixing. Alan and Mark probably have one just like it for managing this forum. ;D
Also looking forward to the Schoeck release!
QuoteI am very impressed by the widescreen monitor used for the sound mixing. Alan and Mark probably have one just like it for managing this forum. ;D
Mark's the tech guy. Everything's steam-driven at this end. ;)
Oh yes, all 1990s equipment here!
Dear Friends,
Graziella from Schweizer Fonogramm asked me to prepare a short extract from Samson.
I'm allowed to post it here before she does on her social media.
Here is the end of Act1.
http://www.adcsound.ch/VideosPhotosDocuments/Samson_Acte1_765FIN.mp3
Enjoy!
Fred.
Terrific! Raff in full Lohengrin/Tannhäuser mode (only joking). I can't wait for the release of the set. Thanks Fred.
All I can say is 'wow!' This is going to be a major recording event!
I heartily agree - most impressive.
The release is coming soon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAgVg-pmHY
Merry Christmas.
Danke sehr! Und frohe Weihnachten!
We are sooooo looking forward to this release!
Release date: Frühjahr 2024, i.e. Spring next year.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Sunday 24 December 2023, 09:47Release date: Frühjahr 2024, i.e. Spring next year.
Probably begining of March. The audio is already finished but I think the booklet is taking longer than expected...
Graziella will also be working with a new marketing team in Berlin and it's a great idea. Schweizer Fonogramm productions should have more visibility and a greater marketing return than at present. That's important for the development of the label.
This new team needs the final product 8 weeks before the official release.
"Samson" was a very big budget and if the label doesn't get more financial returns than usual, there won't be any more opera productions because they are much more expensive than symphony productions.
Raff's 'Dame Kobold' is already in discussion but 'Samson' has to be a success first.
It's better to release a few weeks later but in better marketing conditions, which is in everyone's interest.
Fred.
I agree - and I quite understand the need for a suitable period of preparation before the release of Samson. It is likely to be one of the most important operatic releases of 2024, especially as large-scale studio productions are becoming increasingly rare these days, so it needs to be launched with as loud a trumpet-blast (if one may put it like that) as possible. I'm sure, therefore, that we all wish your team every success over the coming months.
Frohe Weihnachten - und prosit Neujahr!
Dear friends,
Next Saturday (February the 3rd) at 10am (Swiss local time), there'll be an interview with Philippe Bach, the Samson's "baton".
Tittle of the interview: "Kaffee mit dem Dirigenten Philippe Bach - alles Raff?".
You should have the opportunity to listen to some few extracts of the opera, the radio asked me for some audio material.
Thanks for this important notification. Much appreciated!
Central European Time/Swiss local time is currently one hour ahead of UK time, so this programme will be broadcast at 9am our time.
Excitement is mounting for this release. Must be imminent - Spring is just about here...
Hint, hint:
https://www.facebook.com/schweizerfonogramm/
Is there any news about a possible release date for this important project?
I'm sure that Fred can be more specific but the last I heard it was scheduled for late April or during May. So, within the next few weeks unless it's been delayed.
Thanks. Can't wait!
Here's a trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQTZlRxRSo) for the recording.
It's wonderful to catch even a morsel of this lovely music. Thanks, Mark.
It does sound truly splendid. I am looking forward very much to this release.
Release date is May 20th.
Facebook confirms the date: Bis zum offiziellen Release am 20. Mai...
Nothing on the label's website, though.