Unsung Composers

Duplicating the existing compilation which has been available from Toccata for the last five years, the Avie label will be releasing a new survey of Raff's compositions for cello and piano in February next year. Both discs actually miss out a couple of obscure, unimportant arrangements which Raff made early in his career, but that's of no import. This new offering features the very impressive young Swiss cellist Christophe Croisé, whose fine reading of the First Cello Concerto is already available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IFx3BKxZzc&t=143s), and it will be interesting to see how his interpretations of these grateful works differ from those of Toccata's Joseph Mendoes. Full details of the new Avie release are here (https://www.avie-records.com/releases/joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano/).

Mouthwatering. Thanks for the heads-up, Mark. My guess: Croisé will be found to be the superior cellist.

The Toccata CD doesn't have the greatest sound quality either, so that might make it a good replacement on that count as well.

Yes, I too am hopeful on both counts.

I believe he has plans to play the 2nd cello Concerto sometime next year. A recording of both these would be very welcome, however beautiful the Daniel Muller-Schott's Tudor Version is.

The new CD can be pre-ordered now:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joachim-Raff-Complete-Works-Cello/dp/B09NYMBDBV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X9HSV28TU92O&keywords=raff+cello+avie&qid=1640542169&sprefix=raff+cello+avie%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1

More availability now, per below:  Amazon, Presto & Apple Music:  4 February.  (Alan already posted link to Amazon UK)

Presto:  https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9308501--joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9308501--joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano)

Amazon USA: https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Cello-Christoph-Croise/dp/B09NYMBDBV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WZF21XRW0ITC&keywords=raff+cello+avie&qid=1643512836&s=music&sprefix=raff+cello+avie%2Cclassical%2C146&sr=1-1 (https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Cello-Christoph-Croise/dp/B09NYMBDBV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WZF21XRW0ITC&keywords=raff+cello+avie&qid=1643512836&s=music&sprefix=raff+cello+avie%2Cclassical%2C146&sr=1-1)

Apple Music:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano/1600745826 (https://music.apple.com/us/album/joachim-raff-complete-works-for-cello-piano/1600745826)

I just listened to the "Andante" from his Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 183. Heavy breathing and inhales by the performers on the recording which makes it very distracting. Hopefully this isn't the case on the other tracks.

I hope so too. This is all too common now on chamber music recordings. It's supposed to add versimilitude but I really dislike it

QuoteIt's supposed to add verisimilitude

Or is it just that they are too closely miked? Either way, I agree that it is something we can very well do without.

I don't think it's close miking.  I think it's how string players are taught today, because closely miked recordings before the 90s didn't suffer from this.  They seem to be taught to hold their breath (or slowly exhale) for the duration of each phrase, forcing them to loudly gasp for air before beginning the next.  I don't know how many otherwise good recordings I have that I can't listen to because of this increasingly common habit.

On the topic of cello concertos, it would be a joy if someone would look into them, as the Tudor recording is so badly marred by the distant and weakly recorded orchestra (compared to the in-your-lap perspective of the cellist).

Fortunately we have the Toccata recordings in case this entire album sounds like a wind tunnel.

True, but the Toccata CD is hardly ideal either.

I listened to the Presto samples.  The breathing wasn't too bad, but it's there.  Still, I've heard worse (the CPO disc of Robert Kahn cello sonatas, the Hyperion disc of Rubinstein cello sonatas, for example).  We are not alone in being annoyed by this.  I found this interview with Mark Morris, who finds it just as irritating:

"I won't allow people to lead each other, string quartets in particular, by sniffing [as an upbeat to a piece]. (Sniff.) Even just a small (sniff). First of all, it's not breathing; it's fake breathing. The other thing is, it's making a sound. Why can't you count off? You know: 'Ready? Five, six, seven, eight, play!' Instead of (sniff). I don't allow it. I stop people. And it's bull****. It's fake. (Sniff.) If you fill everything with sound, it loses all proportion. I bought the complete Haydn string quartets because I've worshipped Haydn for years. I was like, 'What's wrong with this?' Every movement started (sniff). So it was like, fast-forward: (Sniff.) (Sniff.) (Sniff.) And seven hundred quartets later, I had to give it away. I had spent hundreds of dollars, I couldn't afford it, but I had to get it out of my house. I couldn't listen to it, because it was (sniff sniff sniff). It's pretend."

Listen Magazine
"American Choreographer Mark Morris on the Relationship Between Classical Music and Dance"
by Ben Finane
June 29, 2018

My copy's on its way...

Mine too, ordered with fingers crossed hoping for not too much intrusive sniffing/breathing.

The sniffing/breathing comes and goes. It could be worse, but it could also have been avoided. Nevertheless the playing is spectacularly good - so much so that I'm convinced this seriously outclasses the Toccata disc.

But the players must be told not to do this. What might be acceptable live is a serious distraction in a recording.

For those who support this, they say it adds a sense of "authenticity" to the recording, and provides a human element to it. Otherwise you are simply listening to music with no connection to the real world. Hard to defend I think, especially with the works of Raff which are as worldly as they can be.

It doesn't add authenticity at all, of course. Just annoyance. And a recording is different from a live performance because it's designed for repeated listening.

My copy arrived today. Full marks to Croisé, who plays beautifully, matched by Shevchenko's equally dextrous and intelligent accompaniment. They're blessed with a recording which has both warmth and depth, and doesn't favour the cello unrealistically. It's difficult to imagine that this music could be presented more favourably but unfortunately Croisé's breathing is indeed audible throughout and sometimes really quite distracting, which does detract from the recording, at least for me. That said, despite my loyalty to the original Toccata CD from Joseph Mendoes & Taeyeon Lim which first made this repertoire available, I must admit that this new CD quite eclipses it.

Finally listened to this and honestly the breathing is only really distracting in a couple spots, most of the time it's fine.

Having now heard it a few times, I agree that the breathing isn't too bad. Enough to be irritating, but not so bad as to be unlistenable, which is how I find the CPO disk of the Kahn cello sonatas. 

I think it's clear that 'extraneous' human noises during recorded performances affect listeners in different ways. For me, the musicianship makes the connection with the player. Sometimes I just think "There's a person actualy playing that instrument and making that beautiful music - amazing!" This is a marvellous disc, but would (in my view) be better without such noises.