JOACHIM RAFF (1822-1882): Piano Quartets in G and in C Minor, Op. 202.

Catalogue Number: 08N007

Label: Divox

Reference: CDX-20905-6

Format: CD

Price: $18.98

Description: As Raff got older, he was excoriated the more by critics who deplored the facility with which he turned out large-scale scores and his refusal to adopt any -isms, preferring to make eclectic use of all previous and current musical style to produce the works which could only be by Raff. But, signs of this persecution can be seen in the darker, often driven qualities (especially in the scherzi and final movements) of these two quartets dating from 1876. The glorious, heartwarming melodies still exist (the first movement of the G major work especially) but Raffian melody here demonstrates that it can also by Schubertian in its melancholy aspects or Slavic in intensity (the third movement of the same work sounds a bit like the Tchaikovsky piano trio - which would not be composed for another five years!) while the second quartet's obsessive motion and propulsion suggest a fatalistic journey into darkness (with a lovely, lyrical Larghetto to cast a pale light in the third movement). Ensemble El Trittico, David Greenlees (viola).

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