Quartetto di Milano - Joachim Raff: String quartets Nos. 2 & 6 (2004)

At some point during this disc, even the most attentive listeners will stop, look around, and think to themselves, "what the devil am I listening to?" A late nineteenth century string quartet, that's certain. From the lightly chromatic harmonic language, it's probably German; from the slightly nostalgic melodic formulas, it's possibly Bruch or, yes, that's it: Raff! Joseph Joachim Raff (1822-1882), the Swiss-German composer whose published oeuvre runs to somewhere past 214 works, was regarded in his time as being in the same league as Wagner and Brahms but has not been treated so kindly by history. More bluntly put, Raff has been nearly entirely forgotten by everyone except the Swiss. This is completely understandable since, as these string quartets prove, Raff's works are completely forgettable. Played with no more than professional commitment by the Quartetto di Milano, Raff's Second and Sixth quartets are well crafted but have nothing to say that hasn't been said before and better. The A major Second Quartet from 1857 is a garden-variety, post-Schumann pre-Brahms work lacking in wit and warmth. The C minor Sixth Quartet, entitled "Suite in Älterer Form" (Suite in old forms), from 1874 is a retrogressive work lacking charm and style. Tudor's sound is clean and comfortable if not particularly immediate.