Radio Kamer Filharmonie / Orchestre de Picardie / Het Gelders Orkest / Robin de Raaff

Melodies Unheard

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917276220
Catnr: CC 72762
Release date: 04 May 2018
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917276220
Catalogue number
CC 72762
Release date
04 May 2018

"The result is ultimately a very personal kind of expressionism that is never less than impressive and sometimes beautiful, sometimes overwhelmingly violent. The enormous orchestra is handled with extreme virtuosity."

Records International, 28-11-2018
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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NL
DE

About the album

The Dutch composer Robin de Raaff has four symphonies to his name. Will De Raaff follow in the footsteps of tradition, or will he give the name, the form, a new meaning, a new direction?

His symphonies have little to do with the classical concept. Of course, his love for composing was partly derived from the symphonies of composers such as Brahms, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and even Bernstein, but De Raaff is too much of a constructivist to write a symphony in the classical sense of the word. De Raaff became more and more convinced there was something to be gained in the concertante form, the orchestra and the soloist, the individual and the crowd. He shies away from prescribed forms and developments, a recapitulated theme followed by various movements with different characters. The symphony, the orchestral apparatus sounding together, telling its story for a period of at least 20 minutes, is what he took as his starting point. Working from there, this led to a reinterpretation of the symphonic form. De Raaff’s Second and Fourth Symphonies are the result of a reinterpretation of works for a soloist or soloist group with accompaniment. They are a revision of the material, reminiscent of the way in which Pierre Boulez let Incises for piano grow into Sur incises for ensemble and how Luciano Berio recomposed a number of his Sequenzas into Chemins.
Dit album bevat drie symfonische werken van een van de belangrijkste huidige Europese vertegenwoordigers van deze muzikale vorm: de Nederlandse componist Robin de Raaff, wiens orkestwerken en opera’s gestaag de aandacht trekken van de muziekwereld. Twee van deze werken zijn eigenlijk concertante werken, waarin een saxofoonkwartet en een sopraan een dialoog aangaan met het orkest.

De Nederlandse componist Robin de Raaff heeft vier symfonieën op zijn naam staan. Zal De Raaff in de voetsporen van de traditie treden, of zal hij de naam, de vorm, een nieuwe betekenis en een nieuwe richting geven?

Zijn symfonieën hebben weinig te maken met het klassieke concept. Zijn liefde voor het componeren is deels voortgekomen uit de symfonieën van componisten als Brahms, Mahler, Sjostakovitsj, Prokofjev en zelfs Bernstein, maar De Raaff is veel te constructivistisch om een symfonie in de klassieke zin van het woord te schrijven. De Raaff werd er meer en meer van overtuigd dat er iets te behalen viel in de concertante vorm, het orkest en de solist, het individu en de menigte. Hij schuwt voorgeschreven vormen en ontwikkelingen, een herhaald thema gevolgd door verschillende delen met verschillende karakters. De symfonie, de samenklank van het orkest, dat gedurende een periode van minstens twintig minuten zijn verhaal vertelt, is wat hij als zijn uitgangspunt nam. Dit leidde tot een herinterpretatie van de symfonische vorm. De Tweede en Vierde Symfonie van De Raaff zijn het resultaat van een herinterpretatie van werken voor een solist of een groep solisten met begeleiding. Zij zijn een herziening van het materiaal, herinnerend aan de manier waarop Pierre Boulez zijn Incises voor piano liet uitgroeien tot Sur incises voor ensemble en de manier waarop Luciano Berio enkele van zijn Sequenzas omschreef tot Chemins.
Der niederländische Komponist Robin de Raaff hat vier Symphonien verfasst. Wird De Raaff den Pfaden der Tradition folgen, oder wird er dem Namen und der Form neue Bedeutung und eine neue Richtung geben?

Seine Symphonien haben mit dem klassischen Gattungskonzept nur wenig zu tun. Seine Liebe für das Komponieren erwuchs zum Teil aus den Symphonien von Komponisten wie Brahms, Mahler, Schostakowitsch, Prokofjew und sogar Bernstein, aber De Raaff ist viel zu sehr Konstruktivist, um eine Symphonie im klassischen Sinne zu schreiben. De Raaff war zunehmend überzeugt vom Gewinn der konzertanten Form, dem Gegenüber von Orchester und Solist, dem Einzelnen und der Menge. Er weicht von vorgeschriebenen Formen und Entwicklungen zurück, einem wiederaufgenommenen Thema gefolgt von verschiedenen Sätzen verschiedenen Charakters. Die Symphonie, der Zusammenklang des Orchesterapparates, der für mindestens 20 Minuten seine Geschichte erzählt, ist sein Ausgangspunkt. Dies führte zu einer Neuinterpretation der symphonischen Form. De Raaffs Zweite und Vierte Symphonien sind das Resultat einer Neuinterpretation von Werken für Solist oder Solistengruppe mit Begleitung. Sie zeigen eine Überarbeitung von Material, die daran erinnert, wie Pierre Boulez Incises für Klavier zu Sur incises für Ensemble wachsen ließ, oder wie Luciano Berio einige seiner Sequenzas zu Chemins umschrieb.

Artist(s)

Robin de Raaff

Robin de Raaff (Breda, 1968) discovered his own diverse musical world through playing classical piano as well as bass guitar from a very early age. After being introduced to the legend and legacy of Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff’s musical world expanded explosively as an instrumentalist. Parallel with this early development he created his own music and lyrics for his Band where instrumental sections grew in significance, ultimately in to completely scored instrumental works. These instrumental compositions led him to enrol as a student of composition. De Raaff is of the generation of Dutch composers emerging in the nineties. He first studied composition with Geert van Keulen at the Amsterdam Conservatory and later with Theo Loevendie, graduating cum laude in 1997. Still...
read more

Robin de Raaff (Breda, 1968) discovered his own diverse musical world through playing classical piano as well as bass guitar from a very early age. After being introduced to the legend and legacy of Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff’s musical world expanded explosively as an instrumentalist. Parallel with this early development he created his own music and lyrics for his Band where instrumental sections grew in significance, ultimately in to completely scored instrumental works. These instrumental compositions led him to enrol as a student of composition.
De Raaff is of the generation of Dutch composers emerging in the nineties. He first studied composition with Geert van Keulen at the Amsterdam Conservatory and later with Theo Loevendie, graduating cum laude in 1997. Still being a student in 1995 he encountered Pierre Boulez in a Masterclass who praised his String Quartet No. 1 “Athomus” creating a whole new momentum to his development and career. In 1999 De Raaff had the privilege of being invited to work as George Benjamin’s only composition student at the Royal College of Music in London where he also studied with Julian Anderson.
In 2000 De Raaff was invited to the renowned Tanglewood Music Center as the ‘Senior Composition Fellow’ which was the beginning of an ongoing relationship resulting in a series of commissions and performances (Piano Concerto No. 1 for the Festival of Contemporary Music and Entangled Tales for the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and performances of his septet Ennea’s Domein and Un Visage d’Emprunt. For 2015 De Raaff was commissioned to compose a Fanfare dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center. His residency at Tanglewood in 2000 was the beginning of a bigger exposure with performances and residencies in North America through festivals and theaters such as: The Aspen Music Festival, Cabrillo Festival (Santa Cruz), State of the Union Festival (London), ISCM World Music Days, The Banff Center, CBC Parry Sound Festival (Ontario), Takefu International Chamber Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Ultima Contemporary Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (New York), Betty Oliphant Theatre and Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto).
After a creative period of nearly 10 years, De Raaff finished his first opera RAAFF in 2004, which was commissioned by the Dutch National Opera in a co-production with the Holland Festival. The birth of this opera started with De Raaff’s success at a master class for young composers with Pierre Boulez organised by DNO in 1995.His second opera, also commissioned by DNO, resulted in Waiting for Miss Monroe (2012), which was received with much acclaim by the international press including The New York Times, Der Tagesspiegel and Der Süddeutsche Zeitung.
De Raaff’s Violin Concerto No. 1 “Angelic echoes” (2008, written for Tasmin Little and Jaap van Zweden) was selected as the Best Orchestral Work of the year 2008 in the Dutch composition competition Toonzetters. His special interest in this genre led him to compose many Concertos of which his Percussion Concerto (2014 commissioned by The New Juilliard Ensemble and premiered in Lincoln Center), is the most recent one.
In September 2016, his Oratorio “Atlantis”, an In Memoriam Pierre Boulez, was successfully premiered in Vredenburg, Utrecht (the Netherlands), to date De Raaff’s largest work for the concert stage. Early in 2017, his Symphony No. 4 “Melodies unheard” was premiered during a concert tour with the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra as part of his term as Composer in Residence.
The 2nd Sonata for Violin and Piano “North Atlantic Light” was given its world premiere in the Kurt Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall on the 4th of June 2018. It is based on the famous painting by Willem de Kooning, a fellow countryman of De Raaff. The larger vision on this painting, Violin Concerto No. 2 “North Atlantic Light”, was premiered in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, both versions were written for Tosca Opdam.
With the recent world premiere of Sfera for large orchestra in the esteemed ZaterdagMatinee, De Raaff finished his Symphony No 5 “Allegory of Time, of which Sfera is movement I and Unisono for large orchestra movement II.
Commissioned by the Holland Festival for their 75th Anniversary De Raaff composed his Piano Concerto No. 2 “Circulus”, premiered by Ralph van Raat, Matthias Pintscher conducting the Radio Filharmonic Oerchestra.
For 22 successive years, De Raaff has been Professor of Composition and Instrumentation at the Composition Department of the University for the Arts in Rotterdam, Codarts.


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Composer(s)

Robin de Raaff

Robin de Raaff (Breda, 1968) discovered his own diverse musical world through playing classical piano as well as bass guitar from a very early age. After being introduced to the legend and legacy of Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff’s musical world expanded explosively as an instrumentalist. Parallel with this early development he created his own music and lyrics for his Band where instrumental sections grew in significance, ultimately in to completely scored instrumental works. These instrumental compositions led him to enrol as a student of composition. De Raaff is of the generation of Dutch composers emerging in the nineties. He first studied composition with Geert van Keulen at the Amsterdam Conservatory and later with Theo Loevendie, graduating cum laude in 1997. Still...
read more

Robin de Raaff (Breda, 1968) discovered his own diverse musical world through playing classical piano as well as bass guitar from a very early age. After being introduced to the legend and legacy of Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff’s musical world expanded explosively as an instrumentalist. Parallel with this early development he created his own music and lyrics for his Band where instrumental sections grew in significance, ultimately in to completely scored instrumental works. These instrumental compositions led him to enrol as a student of composition.
De Raaff is of the generation of Dutch composers emerging in the nineties. He first studied composition with Geert van Keulen at the Amsterdam Conservatory and later with Theo Loevendie, graduating cum laude in 1997. Still being a student in 1995 he encountered Pierre Boulez in a Masterclass who praised his String Quartet No. 1 “Athomus” creating a whole new momentum to his development and career. In 1999 De Raaff had the privilege of being invited to work as George Benjamin’s only composition student at the Royal College of Music in London where he also studied with Julian Anderson.
In 2000 De Raaff was invited to the renowned Tanglewood Music Center as the ‘Senior Composition Fellow’ which was the beginning of an ongoing relationship resulting in a series of commissions and performances (Piano Concerto No. 1 for the Festival of Contemporary Music and Entangled Tales for the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and performances of his septet Ennea’s Domein and Un Visage d’Emprunt. For 2015 De Raaff was commissioned to compose a Fanfare dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center. His residency at Tanglewood in 2000 was the beginning of a bigger exposure with performances and residencies in North America through festivals and theaters such as: The Aspen Music Festival, Cabrillo Festival (Santa Cruz), State of the Union Festival (London), ISCM World Music Days, The Banff Center, CBC Parry Sound Festival (Ontario), Takefu International Chamber Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Ultima Contemporary Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (New York), Betty Oliphant Theatre and Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto).
After a creative period of nearly 10 years, De Raaff finished his first opera RAAFF in 2004, which was commissioned by the Dutch National Opera in a co-production with the Holland Festival. The birth of this opera started with De Raaff’s success at a master class for young composers with Pierre Boulez organised by DNO in 1995.His second opera, also commissioned by DNO, resulted in Waiting for Miss Monroe (2012), which was received with much acclaim by the international press including The New York Times, Der Tagesspiegel and Der Süddeutsche Zeitung.
De Raaff’s Violin Concerto No. 1 “Angelic echoes” (2008, written for Tasmin Little and Jaap van Zweden) was selected as the Best Orchestral Work of the year 2008 in the Dutch composition competition Toonzetters. His special interest in this genre led him to compose many Concertos of which his Percussion Concerto (2014 commissioned by The New Juilliard Ensemble and premiered in Lincoln Center), is the most recent one.
In September 2016, his Oratorio “Atlantis”, an In Memoriam Pierre Boulez, was successfully premiered in Vredenburg, Utrecht (the Netherlands), to date De Raaff’s largest work for the concert stage. Early in 2017, his Symphony No. 4 “Melodies unheard” was premiered during a concert tour with the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra as part of his term as Composer in Residence.
The 2nd Sonata for Violin and Piano “North Atlantic Light” was given its world premiere in the Kurt Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall on the 4th of June 2018. It is based on the famous painting by Willem de Kooning, a fellow countryman of De Raaff. The larger vision on this painting, Violin Concerto No. 2 “North Atlantic Light”, was premiered in the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, both versions were written for Tosca Opdam.
With the recent world premiere of Sfera for large orchestra in the esteemed ZaterdagMatinee, De Raaff finished his Symphony No 5 “Allegory of Time, of which Sfera is movement I and Unisono for large orchestra movement II.
Commissioned by the Holland Festival for their 75th Anniversary De Raaff composed his Piano Concerto No. 2 “Circulus”, premiered by Ralph van Raat, Matthias Pintscher conducting the Radio Filharmonic Oerchestra.
For 22 successive years, De Raaff has been Professor of Composition and Instrumentation at the Composition Department of the University for the Arts in Rotterdam, Codarts.


read less

Press

The result is ultimately a very personal kind of expressionism that is never less than impressive and sometimes beautiful, sometimes overwhelmingly violent. The enormous orchestra is handled with extreme virtuosity.
Records International, 28-11-2018

Magnificent how De Raaff, in his Second Symphony, lets the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet rise gently from a mist of high violins and harpses. Or how, in his Fourth Symphony, he translates Emily Dickinson's 'How Still the Bells' into weightless tinker textures.
NRC Handelsblad, 12-9-2018

First of all, there is the Cello Concerto in five movements. Cellist Marien van Staalen, who is also playing on this record, describes the work mainly as innovative and challenging. It is technically very challenging for the musician because different keys and dynamics are interwoven and alternated. This also makes it an exciting exercise for the ear of the listener.
CultuurPakt, 30-8-2018

Expert without being explicitly artful and expressive without becoming theatrical.
Opus Klassiek, 20-6-2018

This recording shows that De Raaf composes the best orchestral music you can imagine today. Extremely solid, convincing, imaginative and powerful neo-expressionist. Impressive! Bravo, Robin!
Stretto, 16-5-2018

Play album
01.
Symphony No. 2 ?Two Worlds Colliding? for saxophone quartet and orchestra: Movement I
07:45
02.
Symphony No. 2 ?Two Worlds Colliding? for saxophone quartet and orchestra: Movement II
08:15
03.
Symphony No. 2 ?Two Worlds Colliding? for saxophone quartet and orchestra: Transition-Movement III
07:31
04.
Symphony No. 1 ?Tanglewood Tales? for large orchestra: Movement I (Untangled Tales)
08:03
05.
Symphony No. 1 ?Tanglewood Tales? for large orchestra: Movement II (Untangled Tales)
09:01
06.
Symphony No. 1 ?Tanglewood Tales? for large orchestra: Coda
03:38
07.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: I. How Still the Bells
06:41
08.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: II. Orchestral Interlude
04:47
09.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: III. Softened By Time?s Consummate Plush
03:48
10.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: IV. The Farthest Thunder
04:42
11.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: V. The Nearest Dream Recedes, Unrealized
03:46
12.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: VI. The Soul Selects Her Own Society
02:23
13.
Symphony No. 4 ?Melodies Unheard? a symphony of songs for soprano (or mezzo) and orchestra on poems by Emily Dickinson: VII. Musicians Wrestle Everywhere
06:52
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Often bought together with..

The Hague Songbook Exchange
Various
Atlantis
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Netherlands Radio Choir / Markus Stenz / Robin de Raaff
Entangled Tales
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Het Gelders Orkest / Residentie Orkest The Hague
Piano Music
Hannes Minnaar
Waiting for Miss Monroe
Dutch National Opera / Netherlands Chamber Orchestra / Marc Albrecht

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