Impromptu-Valse op.94 
2:15
Raff's op.94 was the last in a series of three short piano works which he wrote in Wiesbaden in 1860 and which were published by the Leipzig company of Peters in December 1862. Like much of Raff's superior "salon" music, an amateur pianist would have needed a powerful technique to bring the work off successfully. The Impromptu-Valse dispenses with the impressionist style of its predecessor Dans la nacelle and launches into an Allegro vivace of filigree passage work over a waltz rhythm in the lower registers before the B flat gives way to a middle section which comprises a beautifully halting light waltz in G flat. The work closes with a return to the opening Allegro.
The extract is the end of the piece.
La Polka de la Reine Caprice in A flat op.95 2:08
This "Queen's Polka" was once one of Raff's most popular piano works and even survived
into the 20th. Century in the repertoire of older pianists. It was the last
of the four works written in Wiesbaden in 1860-1 and is typical of the occasional
piano pieces written by Raff throughout his career. The piano writing scintillates
with charm and easy melody - though it is far from easy for the performer and
to categorise it as a "salon" piece hardly does justice to its technical
demands.
The extract is from the start of the piece. From Hunters Moon HMPCD 0589.
Five Eglogues op.105 1:30
An eclogue is a pastoral piece - both Liszt and Dvorak produced works with the same unusual name. These five essays in the genre were written by Raff in 1861 and published by Peters of Leipzig in 1865 in two volumes. They were dedicated to his wife Doris. The two outer Eglogues in the set are fast (Allegro molto and Presto giocoso) whereas the three inner pieces are slow - all marked Andante. The fourth of them has a brooding quality to it and is more melancholy than rustic - basically monothematic and with an stubborn ostinato, it conveys an atmosphere redolent of genteel regret, perhaps over some lost love.
The excerpt is the second half of No.4 of the set, in c sharp.
In this E minor Allegro possibile "salon" piece inspired by Italian dance, Raff employs lively skipping rhythms and catchy tunes to produce a light and carefree number sandwiched between an ominous slow introduction and a madcap final few bars, based upon the opening material. It was written in Wiesbaden in 1863 and was published by Rieter-Biedermann in Leipzig two years later. Although no doubt intended for the drawing room, the demands it makes on an amateur pianist are prodigious.
The excerpt is from the middle of the work. From RILP 30-025.
Valse Favorite in D flat op.118 1:55
Raff's Valse Favorite is typical of a particularly Raffian genre - the virtuoso "salon" piece.
Although written to be immediately ingratiating, its melodies easily assimilated
at first hearing, it needs an accomplished pianist to cope with its demands.
It was written in Wiesbaden in 1864 and dedicated to Guillaume Krüger.
Composed of two waltzes, it employs an enhanced ABA structure in which the
slow introduction derives from the central theme and the two melodies are briefly
combined at the close.
The example is the first waltz and the first half of the second.
Berceuse
in E flat op.125 No.2 1:47
Raff's op.125 is a group of three unconnected genre pieces for piano which he wrote in Wiesbaden in the Summer of 1865. Issued in separate volumes by the Leipzig publisher Siegel, they comprised a Gavotte, this Berceuse and a Valse-Impromptu entitled L'Espiègle (The Rascal). No.2's gentle Adagio non troppo lullaby has an ABA structure. The easy lyricism of the engagingly hesitant outer sections subtly contrast with the more elusive melodic material of the middle section, which is in D major.
This example is of the second half of the work. From Concerto CD 2027 .
Tarantelle
in a op.144 2:11
This is the third of three piano pieces opp.142-4 written by Raff in Autumn
1867 in Wiesbaden; unusually all were also published in Paris as well as Leipzig.
This tarantella is a scintillating tour de force of virtuoso piano writing
which starts Presto and finishes in a furious Prestissimo. As
with the several other tarantellas which Raff wrote, it captures the spirit
of the Italian dance without too many German overtones.
This example is of the second half of the work. From Ex Libris EL 16 958.
Valse Impromptu à la Tyrolienne WoO.29 1:56
This brilliant virtuoso showpiece was once amongst Raff's most popular piano compositions. Dedicated to a Princess of the Russian Galitzine family, it was composed in 1868 in Wiesbaden and published in 1869. A Tyrolienne is a variety of fast waltz and into this showpiece's four minutes Raff packed a series of increasingly decorative triple-time melodies, interrupting them, Rondo-like, on three occasions with a slower theme, and finally finishing in a furious coda.
This example is the second half of the work. From Jubal JCD-25 .
Etude "La
Fileuse" in F sharp op.157 no.2 1:55
Even during the second half of his career when he was writing large scale works
and was basking in great public acclaim, Raff was compelled to continue composing "salon" pieces
for the piano. He called them his "brotarbeit" - literally "work
for bread". Amongst the most popular was the second of his op.157 pieces
- which depicts a girl sitting at her spinning wheel. It is a delicate, wistful
work and was to be one of the very few of Raff's works to be recorded until
well into the LP era.
The excerpt is the conclusion of the Etude and it amply demonstrates Raff's craftsmanship in writing these small piano pieces. From Telarc CD-80313.
La
polka glissante Caprice in C op.170 1:48
When Raff wrote this "salon" piece in Autumn 1871 he was at the height
of his powers and his fame. Many of his compositions that year were for piano,
including such major works as the Fantasie-Sonata and
the 5th. Piano Suite. It was also the year of the 4th.
Symphony. This is another of Raff's works which are deceptively easy on
the ear whilst harbouring substantial difficulties for the unwary pianist.
The extract begins with the Energico con bravura opening and leads to the main un pochettino meno mosso section. From Ex Libris EL 16 958.
Thirty Progressive Etudes WoO.37 1:42
This set of virtuoso piano exercises occupied Raff intermittently for four years from 1868, but he did not assign them an opus number. They "progress" from the relatively straightforward to the fiendishly difficult and, coming near the end of the set, the Allegro in G minor No.26 is a pounding tour de force - an exercise in unrelenting pianism.
Number 26, from Ex Libris EL 16 958.
Im Schilf, Etude in A op.196, no.1 2:11
"In
the reeds" is the first of four piano pieces in Raff's op.196 - the
others being a Berceuse, a Novelette and an Impromptu. As its title suggests
this Adagio con moto work is a tone painting of reeds gently blown by
a breeze over water. As in Dans la nacelle a
continuous figuration is used to good effect both to provide the atmosphere and
as a base for the effective and memorable melody. It was written in the Winter
of 1875 in Wiesbaden and published both in Leipzig and Berlin.
The example is from the middle of the piece. From Ex Libris EL 16 958.
Aus der Adventzeit , Eight Piano Pieces op.216 1:23
This set of eight small vignettes which Raff called "From Advent time" lasts only fifteen minutes and is his last numbered composition. Subtitled "A Christmas Gift", they were written in Frankfurt in the Autumn of 1879 but had to wait for six years until they were published in an edition edited by Raff's friend the pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow. There is an air of restraint about them although the concluding piece celebrating the New Year packs all the fire with which Raff usually imbued his marches.
The example is No.4 Gloria - Tempo religioso in A minor.