Buried deep on my hard disk I've found a recording of Raff's Octet arranged for 16 strings. There is nothing to jog my memory about where it came from, who the arranger or performers are, or when it was recorded. It probably came to me in 2018. Does anyone know anything else about it, and my apologies if it was one of you who gave it to me!
Turns out it's the Camerata Zürich at a live concert on 4 December 2016 at the Musikkonservatorium Zürich. Here's a link to the Vimeo recording (https://vimeo.com/207136728)
It's GLORIOUS! Will somebody please tell me why this miraculous music isn't played everywhere?
Also: I was remarking in another thread about what was lost as the 19th century progressed, i.e. sheer athletic dynamism. Here's a prime example.
Composed in the same year as the Leonore Symphony, the String Sextet, the Maria Stuart song cycle and the piano Variations on an Original Theme, all of them great works - the man was at his peak.
And what a peak. A veritable Everest in his creative life!
I'm sure this music doesn't need any such advocacy. It can speak (and peak) for itself.
And that's the point, isn't it? This is palpably great music.
And yet, even now, you mention Raff to the average "music lover", or professional come to that, and they'll say "Raff who?".
From a lot of people you'd get the response Horst Christian Simco (Riff Raff). (Hadn't heard of him until I volunteered at the library, myself. Lots of his CDs in the kids section.)