Raff, J.: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 3 and 4

Chronique

What's wrong with the music of Joseph Joachim Raff? After all, Raff's got immediately memorable melodies and complete compositional command, plus he's emotionally sincere and intellectually honest. So what's wrong? Could it be that, even in deeply committed performances like these by violinist Ariadne Daskalakis and pianist Roglit Ishay, Raff's melodies are cloying, his harmonies are annoying, his honesty hollow, and his sincerity is empty, that his music is instantly boring and interminably tedious? Because while Raff has nothing to say, he still nevertheless feels the overwhelming compulsion to compose. It's not the performers' fault. While some of the most difficult climactic passages may be slightly beyond Daskalakis and Ishay, there can be no doubt that they're giving everything they've got to the music. But while one would be very interested in hearing Daskalakis and Ishay in the standard repertoire, they are wasted in Raff's dreary trivialities. Tudor's sound is too warm and too close.
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