Symphony No. 8 in A Major, Op. 205, "Frühlingsklänge" (Sounds of Spring)
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 208, "Im Sommer" (In Summer)

Violinist, pianist and primarily self-taught composer Joachim Raff (1822-1882) was born in Switzerland, and following a good education became a school teacher himself in 1840, only to relinquish his position a few years later in order to concentrate on music and composition. Needless to say that he quickly became destitute but as fate would have it, whilst attending a recital by Franz Liszt in 1845, at the behest of Liszt himself was invited to assist him during his pianistic tour, which led them to Germany where Raff stayed for the remainder of his life.

Like most post-Beethoven composers Joachim Raff was a Romantic and when listening to his music it's obvious that he was an "objective" rather than subjective Romantic. By that I mean to say that he, like a realist, wrote music based on what he saw and not what he felt. There's a confident brightness and warmth to his music, even within the slow movements. His scores are a perfect balance of Mendelssohn's lightness and the severity of Brahms. And very much like the symphonic poems of Liszt, he liked to ascribe a subject or program to his symphonies. For example, forming a complete cycle of Four Seasons, these two symphonies represent spring and summer, and the ensuing Nos. 10 and 11 expound the virtues of autumn and winter. All scored with refined orchestral details and a propensity for bold melodies and uplifting rhythmic vitality.

This Naxos production is a reissue of a recording originally released in 1992 on the Marco Polo label, which at the time would have been one of the early recording forays into the music of Joachim Raff. All of the freshness and sense of discovery under the direction of Urs Schneider are still highly tangible, as he never fails to bring out the music's winsome character and disposition.