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Jack Kelso   24/6/2003	Subject: "Macbeth" is marvelous Message: I'm getting to know the four Shakespeare overtures better---and it seems to me that this is the best of them. Here Raff has created a true character study in scherzo-form of the witches cackling about their plans. What I enjoy most about the work is its tight form, witty harmonies, and (as usual with Raff) beautiful orchestration and lively rhythm. At first, I didn't like the scene-switch toward the end (trumpets and drums), but there is a more symphonic logic behind this conclusion. After all, wasn't Rimsky-Korsakoff dissatisfied with Tschaikowsky's dramatic ending to "Romeo and Juliet"? And we can't imagine that piece today without it! Here Raff successfully avoids his tendency to prolix utterances. I feel this work could easily join the mainstream repertoire of every contemporary conductor. It also has no real competition from similar works. P.S.: "Romeo and Juliet" (Raff) strikes me as being the weakest of the four Shakespearean overtures. Jack
FERNANDO OLIVA   25/6/2003	RE: "Macbeth" is marvelous IP: Logged Message: Talking about tone poems inspirated in Shakespeare, my Tchaikovsky´s favourite is "The Tempest". I can find Rubinstein´s influences in this work inspecial attention between Ocean Symphony 2nd. (in definitive version) movement and the "Tempest" theme. I also like very much "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Julliet". I´m exciting for discover Raff´s Macbeth. With this references, as soon as possible, I´ll try to buy. Cheers, Fernando.
Mark Thomas   28/6/2003	RE: "Macbeth" is marvelous IP: Logged Message: I've been "rediscovering" these four works after a few years. I do agree that Macbeth is a very fine work indeed. Raff's use of his thematic material is imaginative and I particularly admire the way in which the work manages to be both a psychological portrait of Macbeth and a pretty faithful reduction of the play's storyline. The thematic material itself is memorable, appropriate and flexible. A work of real stature. Othello is almost in the same class I think - but perhaps it isn't as two dimensional as Macbeth. Its power derives from its concision, though - the shorter Raff is, the more of an impact he makes! I'm not at all fond of Romeo and Juliet and haven't spent much time yet "thinking myself into it". First impressions of a melodically undistinguished work with an inappropriate ending remain for the time being. The Tempest is the longest of the four by some way and my impression at present is that it is more straightforwardly narrative-based than Macbeth or Othello. Once again, I must do some serious intellectual listening - but unlike R&J I'm looking forward to that because it proved so rewarding for Macbeth and Othello.
FERNANDO OLIVA   02/10/2003	RE: "Macbeth" is marvelous IP: Logged Message: Dear Jack, yes, I agree with you. Macbeth is absolutely marvelous. Fernando.