String Quartets Nos 6 & 7

"A quick glance at the amount of compositions that the Swiss born composer Raff wrote, displays just how prolific a composer he was. Raff wrote over three hundred works, almost half of which were solo piano pieces mainly intended for the salon. Virtually all the opus numbers prior to the Symphony No. 1 in D To the Fatherland op.96 in 1863 were for solo piano. His relative popularity in part of the second half of the nineteenth century waned considerably and very little of his music was played for the next hundred years. The subsequent obscurity of Raff's music remains unmerited. His distinctive music, as displayed on this CPO release, is of the highest quality. Thankfully, enterprising record labels such as CPO, Marco Polo, AK Coburg and Tudor are making considerable inroads to make Raff's music available to a wider audience.

The catalogue of Raff's works after 1856, when he departed the coterie of Franz Liszt in Vienna for the relative calm of Wiesbaden, reveals a classicistic return to time-honoured, formal and serious concepts as far as his choice of genre is concerned. Although Raff had composed the first of his eight string quartets while still in Vienna, most of his symphonies, his concertos and the remaining chamber music that ranged from the Duo to the Octet, were composed in Wiesbaden.

The sound quality is most acceptable, however the booklet notes are rather technical at times with several errors. Lovers of the string quartet genre will be in their element with this release. Really fine playing and performances with commendable spirit, without ever pushing too hard. A welcome addition to any serious chamber music collection."
(MusicWeb April 2005)