Hans Stadlmair: Joachim Raff Thuringian Suite, Bamberg Symphony

Joachim Raff - Thuringian Suite (1877)

Bamberger Symphoniker (Photo credit: Ainunau)

Thuringian Suite by Joachim Raff. Conducted by Hans Stadlmair with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (BAMBERGER SYMPHONIKER).

I. Salus Intrantibus - 00:00
II. Elisabethenhymne - 9:20
III. Reigen der Gnomen und Sylphen - 14:34
IV. Variationen uber ein Volkslied - 18:16
V. Landliches Fest - 27:23

Raft wrote his Thuringian Suite in 1877, one of those works that a recent commentator has referred to as "Raff's travelogues". The Suite shows the composer's technical command and is not without humour in the light-hearted peasant variations of the fourth movement. It opens with an introductory welcome to a region of Germany of some importance in the history of European music and proceeds through a relatively solemn second movement to a dance of gnomes and sylphs. The folk-song variations allow for oddities of orchestration, followed by a final peasant celebration.

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English: Portrait of Joseph Joachim Raff (1822-1882), Swiss composer, teacher and pianist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)