Heralds of Spring. Par RAFF JOSEPH JOACHIM. Joachim Raff?s 12 piano pieces Frühlingsboten op. 55, originating in 1852/53, mark a new creative start in his compositional oeuvre, in which the composer left behind his previously written and published piano works. The title of the work, translated as ?Heralds of Spring,? is multilayered: It refers not only to spring in nature as expressed in the headings of the first two pieces, ? Winterruhe [Hibernation]? and ? Frühlingsnahen [Spring?s Approach],? but the words ?Heralds of Spring? also indicate love?s spring, the blossoming of love for his future wife, the actress Doris Genast. This appears in the headings of the pieces as of no. 3, sketching the path of an imaginary couple approaching union via various annoyances. And ultimately, Raff saw in his new piano work the ?harbingers? of his future works, created under ?happy circumstances.? In Frühlingsboten Raff repeatedly demonstrates his ability to adapt idioms and compositional techniques from works by Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and others. The pieces do nonetheless possess their own thoroughly original diction with a character spectrum just as diverse as their stylistic piano design. / Date parution : 2022-11-16/ Recueil / Piano

The three piano sonatas by Joachim Raff (1822?1882) representing his three main creative phases occupy a special position among his more than 100 piano pieces. They reflect a significant compositional aspiration whereas Raff otherwise frequently leans towards the salon-music genre in his piano music. Raff composed the early sonata op. 14 in 1844 after his first works were positively evaluated and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy had encouraged him to venture a career as a composer. The Fantasie-Sonate [Fantasy Sonata] in d minor op. 168 Raff wrote in 1871 at the height of his fame as one of Germany?s then most-played composers. Its dedication to CamilleSaint-Saëns shows his opposition to the rampant German disapproval of France and its music representatives in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71. The second version of the sonata op. 14 composed in the fall of 1881 had only the opus number in common with the earlier version. In this late work Raff had created an entirely new sonata.

No. 1 d minor op. 77 and No. 2 A mejor op. 90. Par RAFF JOSEPH JOACHIM. He had been there as Franz Liszt?s assistant since 1850 and had made a name for himself in the city?s art scene now he embarked on new paths. He already composed his second Quartet in A major, op. 90, in Wiesbaden, the spa town that was to become his home for 21 years. The two quartets are unequivocal works: orchestrally-conceived, full of energetic vigor, and at times uncompromisingly modern. They confidently continue the Beethoven tradition and attest at the same time to Raff?s intensive confrontation with Richard Wagner?s music during the Weimar years. In his chamber music, the composer wanted to achieve progress ?in an inherently historical way? and ?toground the individual substance in existing forms,? as he told the Viennese violinist Josef Hellmesberger, who launched opus 77. The quartets, first published in 1860/62, found illustrious interpreters, among them, the Müller brothers? renowned ensemble, to which opus 90 was also dedicated, and Joseph Joachim. / Date parution : 2021-11-25/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par RAFF JOACHIM. / Date parution : 2023-06-01/ Répertoire / Orchestre et Violoncelle

für elektronische Orgel. Par RAFF JOSEPH JOACHIM / NAGEL. / Répertoire / Orgue Electronique

Par RAFF JOSEPH JOACHIM. Format: New Edition portrait/ Répertoire / Violon ou Violoncelle et Piano