Review by Philip Bach – Rav: Samson | Concerti.de

The production process is in the correct order. Thanks to the experience of the Weimar premiere, the RAF Society and conductor Philipp Bach began to organize this concert performance and studio production. The three-hour work is a grand opera with the heaviness of “Renzi” and “Queen of Sheba.” Joachim Raff, a clear-eyed Wagner analyst and Liszt's collaborator, rehabilitates Delilah, Olena Tokar's drowning and intensely choreographed lover, in his libretto Samson. Magnus Vigilius plays the magnificent Samson of heroic grandeur and beguiling charisma. Philipp Bach gives Raf's amazing instruments their varied brilliance. A wonderful discovery and a wonderful enrichment of knowledge about Weimar music and a parallel path of opera in Germany along with the usurper of the repertoire Wagner, who often burns aside.

Raf: Samson

Magnus Vigelius (Samson), Olena Tokar (Delilah), Robin Adams (Amibelich), Christian Imler (High Priest), Michael Winius (Mika), Chur der Bohnen Bern, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Philipp Bach (conductor)
Swiss phonogram