Raff symphony No 8. Not particularly deep,but one of his best,as opposed to 'best'! Colourful orchestration,tuneful,nice and restful. I think Raff No's 3-5 are actually very good and deserve to be heard more often than they do. The Piano Concerto is absolutely lovely. A pity then that the admittedly entertaining 'Wild Hunt' in the finale of the Third just isn't scary enough! And the Fifth just isn't anywhere near as creepy or spine chilling as it should be! Even in Raff's best scores there's a chunk of the old Victorian drawing room,a salon quality,which prevents me from taking some of the high flown adulation of the pro-Raff camp too seriously. Yes,Raff was a talented composer who didn't quite deserve his postumous neglect. Yes,his best scores,like the Third and Fifth,do deserve an occasional concert hall outing;but let's face it. Maybe,even for the most fervent Raff admirers,it's a good thing they don't. The critics would tear them apart! Best in my opinion,if you do like Raff,to enjoy the recent flood of top notch Raff recordings and appreciate Raff for what he is! Either way,I have always loved woodland,so the Thirds always going to be on my list of cds worth playing;even if the 'Wild Hunt' doesn't scare the pants off me!
I'll leave that to Berlioz!! :o ;D
Raff was undoubtedly a fine composer, but I find much of his music rather underwhelming. A Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Berlioz, Liszt, or Wagner he was NOT, as some folks at UC and other places make him out to be. That said, I like his Fifth Symphony a lot, especially the stirring concluding march. But nothing about his music "grabs me by the throat", if you will.
