British-Vietnamese pianist Tra Nguyen made her debut appearance with the Hanoi Conservatory Orchestra performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488. She has since appeared at venues worldwide, including Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Opera City, Hong Kong City Hall Recital Hall and Ho Chi Minh City Opera House.

Her imaginative and acclaimed programming balances core repertoire with lesser-known works, with her recent concert repertoire exploring Schubert’s complete piano sonatas, Liszt’s Grandes études, S.137 and a large number of piano concertos. Her discography, which has received airplay on major classical music radio networks around the world, also includes many world première recordings of neglected pieces. Her series of recordings of Raff’s piano music, released on Grand Piano, has garnered wide critical acclaim, and was named ‘Album of the Week’ by The Independent. She is currently working with British-French-Israeli composer Nimrod Borenstein on solo recordings and performances of his works. Nguyen has also given live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, Hong Kong Radio 4 and Vietnam Television.

As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with baritone Benjamin Appl and clarinettist Sabine Grofmeier. Nguyen studied with Lev Naumov at the Moscow Conservatory and Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music, where she received the highest award for her final recital. She was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2013.

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Joachim Raff enjoyed the highest reputation in his lifetime but was later remembered only for his famous Cavatina, an attractive short piece that appeared in many arrangements. Encouraged by Mendelssohn and then by Liszt, he served the latter as an assistant at Weimar, orchestrating Liszt’s earlier symphonic poems. His own work as a composer started in earnest when he left Weimar in 1856, to settle in Wiesbaden and then, from 1877, in Frankfurt as director of the Hoch Conservatory, a position he retained until his death in 1882.

Orchestral Music

Recent attempts have been made to reassess Raff’s music. His 11 symphonies go some way towards a synthesis of pure music and the programmatic element of the Neo-German school exemplified in the symphonic poems of Liszt. Most of the symphonies have titles of one sort or another, the last four representing aspects of the four seasons. He wrote concertos for piano, for violin and for cello, and other works for solo instrument and orchestra, as well as a series of suites and overtures.

Chamber Music

Raff contributed to the repertoire of German chamber music with works ranging from piano quintets to duo sonatas, the last including five sonatas for violin and piano.

Piano Music

Equally prolific in his work for the piano, Raff wrote a large number of shorter pieces, as well as transcriptions and fantasies derived from the current operatic repertoire.

Vocal and Choral Music

In addition to works for choir, including several psalm settings, Raff published four volumes of part-songs, three of them for male voices.

Opera

Raff enjoyed some success with his first opera, König Alfred, first staged in Weimar in 1853. One other of his six operas, Dame Kobold, received some contemporary attention.