JOACHIM RAFF (1822-1882): Symphony No. 5 in E, Op. 177 "Lenore", Abends, Op. 163b, Overtures to Dame Kobold, Op. 154, König Alfred, WoO 14 and Die Eifersüchtigen, WoO 54, Prelude to Dornröschen, WoO 19.

Description: The next volume in this series brings us Raff's best-known and most-recorded symphony along with 41 minutes of very little-known music for a bulging 81 total minutes of music. Abends is the only piece not for orchestra Raff orchestrated - a five-minute rhapsody from his Suite No. 6 for piano, Dornröschen is a "fairy tale epic" from 1855 (more oratorio than anything else) while the remaining pieces are overtures. Alfred is an early, epic work of 1848-49 and has an overture of tone-poem size (just under 14 minutes) while the operas of Raff's later years - all comic operas - derive their briefer (7-8 minutes) overtures from the form of Rossini's. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Neeme Järvi.