Search - Raff, Hans Stadlmair, Bamberger Symphoniker :: Joseph Joachim Raff: Symphony No. 4; Overtures

A sunny symphony that shows Raff at his best

David Arenson | 11/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The delightful fourth symphony came between Raff's two towering program symphonies, No. 3 ("Im Walde") and No. 5 ("Lenore.") While it is gentler in spirit, I like it every bit as much.



Raff was sometimes criticized for being too "eclectic" and indeed it seems as if he had one foot in the New Music school of Liszt and Wagner and one foot in the traditional school of Mendelssohn and Schumann. I don't have a problem with this -- it just shows that the man could contribute his own considerable genius to any idiom -- and this work is from the more traditional outlook.



If Raff was sometimes uneven in the quality of his work, that is not evident here. No note spinning. No meandering. This is Raff's shortest symphony; everything is in proportion, and everything works.



The symphony begins with an allegro featuring a typically infectious Raffian melody, skillfully developed and orchestrated in Raff's energetic fashion. The allegro molto bubbles forth with some breathless playing by the woodwinds. The third movement is slower, a bit more serious, in which variations are developed on a stately theme that is reminiscent of either the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica or the allegretto from his Seventh Symphony. Contemplative and forceful, this is one of my favorite Raff movements.



Some of Raff's humor is evident in the opening of the fourth movement. After he quotes a sunny theme from the first movement, he mimics the dark "Friends, not these tones!" theme found in the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth. This quickly dissolves into a lighthearted movement with an almost dancelike sense to it (Raff seemed congenitally incapable of the stum und drang that came naturally to Beethoven.) The movement is a toe-tapper and propels forward to a most satisfying conclusion.



The overtures are enjoyable as well, not a dud in the bunch.



Hans Stadlmair is the leading Raff conductor working today, and the sound and performance by the Bamberg Symphony could not be better. Fortunately, some of his Raff series for Tudor has finally made an appearance on Amazon. Since it tends to blow the competition out of the water, let's hope the rest of it is included soon. The liner notes are superb."