Raff – Symphony No. 3 – Im Walde

Karlstad, Sweden: Thursday 2 April 2009 – review by Mark Thomas/Joachim-Raff-Society

Performances of Raff’s orchestral music have increased in recent years but they are still few and far between. Prior to this concert I had heard only four of the eleven symphonies in concert and they were mixed experiences, ranging from an impressively persuasive Second Symphony in Bamberg to a dire performance of the Fourth in Antwerp. Nonetheless, the prospect of hearing for the first time one of his symphonic masterpieces, the Symphony No. 3 Im Walde, was inevitably an alluring one.