Raff: Piano Trios 1&4

His contemporaries regarded him as a connoisseur of the history of music and art, who on occasion also recited his festive speeches in Latin; as a composer who threaded triple counterpoints with nonchalant gesture and knew how to orchestrate in many colors: Joachim Raff, born in 1822 in Lachen on Lake Zurich, died in 1882 as director of the Hoch'sche Conservatory in Frankfurt. As Liszt's secretary in Weimar for many years, he was considered the spearhead of the "New German" party, although he always remained internally independent and compositionally belonged more to the "opposite camp." Mendelssohn, for example, always remained his great model in stylistic terms. Raff was almost forgotten in the 20th century, and only recently has a tentative renaissance begun.