Hans Rott: Symphony In E Major

1. Symphony in E major
Composed by Hans Rott
Performed by Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra Conducted by Teri Murai , Gerhard Samuel

Hans Rott: Symphony In E Major,Hans Rott,Gerhard Samuel,Teri Murai,Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra,Hyperion,Classical,Classical Music,Romantic Symphony,Symphonic

Average customer rating:

Hans Rott: Symphony No. 1; Orchestral Works Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Gernsheim: Complete Symphonies Furtwangler: Symphony No. 3 Kurt Atterberg: The Symphonies (Box Set) Symphony in E Major Melartin: The Six SYMPHONIES ASIN: B00096S2U0 Release Date: 2005-05-10

Tracks:

1. I. Alla Breve
2. II. Sehr Langsam
3. III. Scherzo: Frisch Und Lebhaft
4. IV. Sehr Langsam. Belebt
5. Orchestra Prelude
6. A Prelude To 'Julius Caesar'

Average customer rating: Superbly crafted and wonderfuly melodious Brahms told Rott to Give Up Composing Music Full of youthful flaws. But, ultimately, fascinating. A must for all Mahler lovers

Hans Rott: Symphony In E Major Manufacturer: Hyperion ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music ASIN: B000002ZME Release Date: 1993-11-16

Tracks:

1. Symphony In E Major: Alla breve
2. Symphony In E Major: Sehr langsam
3. Symphony In E Major: Scherzo: Frisch und lebhaft
4. Symphony In E Major: Sehr langsam - Belebt

Customer Reviews:

Superbly crafted and wonderfuly melodious.......2004-10-24

Hans Rott's symphony No. 1 is indeed a buried treasure and anyone that happnens upon this wonderfully inventive score will not be disappointed. Bruckner and Wanger echoes throughtout the work,and the bucolic scherzo sounds similar to that of Mahler's first symphony. Derivative? Perhaps so. But one should note that this symphony predates Mahler's work by a full decade. Mahler himself admitted to the effect that he learned a lot from Rott, and that he would have had a major impact on the European music scene had he lived longer. Unfortunately, Rott was too sensitive a figure to muddle through the rough seas of the fin de siecle Vienna, and after having had his symphony summarily dismissed by Johannes Brahms died at a mental asylum in the throes of despair.
His first and only symphony has already been performed by the likes of Michael Tilson Thomas or Neeme Jarvi. And its premier in Japan is scheduled to take place at Suntory Hall, Tokyo, on November 11 & 12, 2004, featuring Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ryusuke Numajiri.

Brahms told Rott to Give Up Composing Music.......2002-11-21

After listening carefully to this CD, I have to say that I enjoyed it more than any symphony Brahms ever wrote! It has great exuberance and rich orchestration. The scherzo is marvelously humorous. My profound gratitude to those who brought this work to the light of day. I will be listening to it again.

Full of youthful flaws. But, ultimately, fascinating........2002-03-19

Discovering that this Symphony in E Major by Hans Rott (1859 - 1884) had been a work from which Gustav Mahler might have "borrowed" ideas and themes for his early works was all that was required for me to "investigate further" by acquiring this recording. It is an understatement to say that my first few hearings of it were full of surprises. But it's awfully easy to jump to a possibly wrong conclusion. "Some study required" first.

Rott had been - for a century or so - little more than a curious footnote to music (and particularly Mahler music) history, one about whom we can only wonder "what might have been," had he lived longer. With the musicological research that was necessary to reconstruct the score for this premiere recording effort as a starting point, Rott may turn out to be more than just a footnote. Two years older than Mahler, he was - with Hugo Wolf - a student friend of Mahler's when all were at the Vienna Conservatory. He was also one of Anton Bruckner's organ pupils; in fact, Bruckner's favorite. (Because Rott did study formally with Bruckner, and Mahler did not, some describe Rott as the "missing link between Bruckner and Mahler." But that is a topic for a different discussion.)

About the music:

The work can be described as consisting of three unequal pieces: A first half - the first two movements - which is clearly Brucknerian/Wagnerian in influence, a third-movement Scherzo in which many of the "interesting things" - the Mahler similarities - occur, and a final movement which, in a well-intentioned effort on Rott's part to gain the attention of Brahms, ultimately fails because Rott tries to combine the styles and rhetorics of both Bruckner and Brahms, to no good end. (Had Rott survived to work further on this symphony, I sense that he would have started by "cleaning up" this overloaded Finale.)

Despite the unequal quality of the movements, one can hear Mahlerian "pre-echoes" as early as the first movement, where Rott's writing for solo trumpet is eerily reminiscent of the posthorn solo in the Mahler Third Symphony (and the trumpet writing in the discarded "Blumine" movement of his First Symphony). This stylistic "pre-echo" occurs again in the third movement, along withsome characteristically Mahlerian writing for solo violin. A theme very much like the "Eternity" theme in the final movement of Mahler's Second ("Resurrection") Symphony, again assigned to solo trumpet, is perhaps the most eerie Mahlerian "pre-echo" of all.

The overall harmonic style of the second half demonstrably differs from the Brucknerian first half. It is also very different, overall, than any specific Mahler work, despite the Mahlerian "pre-echoes." It is largely a second half of "unrealized possibilities": Interesting, but hardly fully worked out.

About the Mahler-Rott connection:

There are two documented facts which verify that Mahler knew this work, first in part and then in whole. In 1878, Rott submitted the first movement of the symphony for the Beethoven Competition prize at the Vienna Conservatory. Mahler would have been familiar with this movement then, submitted to the same competition to which his "Das klagende Lied" scenic cantata was. There is then a twenty-two year gap in the record, until 1900, when documentary proof that Mahler studied the full work during that summer for possible performance the following season exists in the form of correspondence from himself to Natalie Bauer-Lechner, a close friend. (He did not perform it.)

It was during this twenty-two year period that Mahler wrote his first five symphonies, at least some of which have brief passing similarities to portions of this Rott work, with the "Eternity" theme from the Resurrection Symphony perhaps being the most immediately identifiable resemblence. But there is a quantum leap from these resemblances (which may turn out to have been purely accidental), to the claim put forth by Paul Banks, the musicologist who uncovered and prepared the score for this performance, writing in the booklet notes, that [there is] "...a conscious or unconscious re-use and creative exploitation of Rott's material by Mahler." The gap in musicological knowledge is at present simply too large.

The fullest possible picture of the Mahler-Rott relationship (and the possibility of Rott "influence" on Mahler) is likely to emerge with the publication of Henry-Louis de La Grange's revised English edition of Vol. I of his epic 4-volume Mahler biography. Most Mahlerians accept that La Grange is the most thorough and thoughtful of such writers, and that he will not endeavor to sweep this matter under the rug. Unfortunately, as I write this, La Grange's thoughts are still at least a few years off. And so we wait.

About the performance and recording:

The Cincinnati Philharmonia (a student orchestra) is more than acceptable, and the sound is quite good, despite a tendency on Rott's part to overscore portions of the work. Of the two recordings of the work, this one is to be preferred. But the work would have been better served had it been performed by a professional orchestra having a tradition in Bruckner and/or Mahler, under a conductor of matching bona fides. One such conductor is Bernard Haitink, and he would be well-served by any of the following: Amsterdam Concertgebouworkest, Berlin Philharmonic or Vienna Philharmonic. It is perhaps telling, regarding the potential historical significance of this work, that a maestro of Haitink's excellence and credentials has yet to commit a performance to disc.

There are some gaps in the Mahler-Rott relationship yet to be filled in. Perhaps, once they are, someone such as Haitink will take a run at this flawed, but very interesting, symphony.

Bob Zeidler

A must for all Mahler lovers.......2000-06-04

It isnt hard to determine the influences that created this symphony. A semi skilled listener will at once recognize a wagnerian influence. But the wonder of this rendition of Rotts only symphony is the likeness to those early Mahler symphony. They(Mahler and Rott) were peers and it is striking how this symphony seems to sound as the architype for Mahler's early symphonies which would be released some seven years later. The music itself is pleasing to the ear and was done wonderfully by the Cincinatti Philharmonic. It's most wonderful moment is the Scherzo: Frisch und Lebhaft. On the whole I am glad I own this cd. It is an interesting buy for those who love classical music and especially Mahler. But those who are new to the classics should avoid this until they are more knowledgeable of its influences.

Average customer rating: Still full of youthful flaws. But still fascinating. The first and still best

Hans Rott: Symphony in E major Manufacturer: Hyperion UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Symphony in E Major Hans Rott: Symphony No. 1; Orchestral Works Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3; Poulenc: Organ Concerto; Barber: Toccata Festiva ASIN: B0000Y37GU Release Date: 2004-02-10

Customer Reviews:

Still full of youthful flaws. But still fascinating........2004-08-18

Quite some time back, when this performance had been on the full-price Hyperion label, but not before I had listened to the work multiple times, I offered my commentary on it. Now that it has been transferred to the budget-price Helios label (and as well has shown up, in different performances, on two other labels), I've taken some time to revisit the work. It continues to fascinate, perhaps not quite as a train wreck does, but more as a curiosity for those interested in the Mahler-Rott connection.

Mahlerites, as well as others interested in the development of the central-European symphony in the closing stages of the 19th century, have been fascinated with this "youthful" Rott work. In mostly even numbers, reactions to the work tend to fall into two camps: Those who feel that Mahler more than owes a debt to Rott, to the extent that they cry "plagiarism." And those who can find other, more benign, explanations for seemingly synchronous similarities. I definitely number myself in the latter camp, even after yet more listening to the work.

Since my opinion has not changed from then to now, here is a condensation of my earlier views.

-------------------------------------------

Discovering that the Symphony in E Major by Hans Rott (1859 - 1884) had been a work from which Mahler might have "borrowed" ideas for his own works was enough for me to "investigate further" by acquiring this recording. My first few hearings of it were full of surprises. But it's easy to jump to a possibly wrong conclusion. "Some study required" first.

Rott had been little more than a curious footnote to music (and particularly Mahler music) history, one about whom we can only wonder "what might have been," had he lived longer. With the musicological research that was necessary to reconstruct the score for this premiere recording effort as a starting point, Rott may turn out to be more than just a footnote. Two years older than Mahler, he was - with Hugo Wolf - a student friend of Mahler's when all were at the Vienna Conservatory. He was also one of Anton Bruckner's organ pupils; in fact, Bruckner's favorite.

About the music:

The work consists of three unequal pieces: A first half - the first two movements - which is clearly Brucknerian/Wagnerian in influence, a third-movement Scherzo in which many of the "interesting things" - the Mahler similarities - occur, and a final movement which, in a well-intentioned effort on Rott's part to gain the attention of Brahms, ultimately fails because Rott tries to combine the styles and rhetorics of both Bruckner and Brahms, to no good end. (Had Rott survived to work further on this symphony, I sense that he would have started by "cleaning up" this overloaded Finale.)

Despite the unequal quality of the movements, one can hear Mahlerian "pre-echoes" as early as the first movement, where Rott's writing for solo trumpet is eerily reminiscent of the posthorn solo in the Mahler Third Symphony (and the trumpet writing in the discarded "Blumine" movement of his First Symphony). This stylistic "pre-echo" occurs again in the third movement, along with some characteristically Mahlerian writing for solo violin. A theme very much like the "Eternity" theme in the final movement of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony, again assigned to solo trumpet, is perhaps the most eerie Mahlerian "pre-echo" of all.

The harmonic style of the second half differs from the Brucknerian first half. It is also very different, overall, than any specific Mahler work, despite the "pre-echoes." It is largely a second half of "unrealized possibilities": Interesting, but hardly fully worked out.

About the Mahler-Rott connection:

There are two documented facts which verify that Mahler knew this work, first in part and then in whole. In 1878, Rott submitted the first movement of the symphony for the Beethoven Competition prize at the Vienna Conservatory. Mahler would have been familiar with this movement then, submitted to the same competition to which his "Das klagende Lied" was. There is then a twenty-two year gap in the record, until 1900, when evidence that Mahler studied the full work during that summer for possible performance the following season exists in the form of correspondence from himself to Natalie Bauer-Lechner, a close friend. (He did not perform it.)

During this twenty-two year period, Mahler wrote his first five symphonies, some of which have brief passing similarities to portions of this Rott work, with the "Eternity" theme being perhaps the most immediately identifiable resemblance. But there is a quantum leap from these resemblances (which may turn out to have been purely accidental), to the claim put forth by Paul Banks, the musicologist who uncovered and prepared the score for this performance, writing in the booklet notes, that [there is] "...a conscious or unconscious re-use and creative exploitation of Rott's material by Mahler." The gap in musicological knowledge is at present simply too large.

The fullest possible picture of the Mahler-Rott relationship (and the possibility of Rott "influence" on Mahler) is likely to emerge with the publication of Henry-Louis de La Grange's revised English edition of Vol. I of his epic 4-volume Mahler biography. Most Mahlerians accept that La Grange is the most thorough and thoughtful of such writers, and that he will not endeavor to sweep this matter under the rug. Unfortunately, as I write this, La Grange's thoughts are still at least a few years off. And so we must wait.

About the performance and recording:

The Cincinnati Philharmonia (a student orchestra) is more than acceptable, and the sound is quite good, despite a tendency by Rott to overscore portions of the work. Of the available recordings of the work, this one is to be preferred, if only for Banks's notes. So far, an ideal performance does not yet exist.

Perhaps my mind will change with an ideal performance. Then again, perhaps not.

Bob Zeidler

The first and still best.......2004-04-15

Gerhard Samuel's traversal of the Rott Symphony in E was its first recording, coming before Segerstram's labored account and the more recent recording of Dennis Russell Davies. Samuel's Cincinnati Philharmonic Orchestra is a product of the University of Cincinnati. They play this Teutonic music wonderfully and sound like the very German-sounding Cincinnati Symphony Orhcestra. The music, written about 1880 by the 22-year-old composer, was studied by Mahler before construction of his Symphony No. 1. So if it sounds like Mahler there is good reason. If it also sounds like Bruckner and Mendelssohn (and perhaps Wagner) then you are having the same reaction I did when I first became aware of it. Rott was an organist, same as Bruckner, making the relationship between the two more than just the way they build motifs. Rott's style is to construct themes of grand sweep, similar to Bruckner and Wagner, then move them forward into development with more of a singing tone similar to Mendelssohn. All you need to hear this in its entirety is listen to the opening theme of the first movement, which goes into development at about 2:50. A mysterious variation takes over at that point, and we are on our way to the journey of Hans Rott's only symphony. This is a glorious symphony built on the construct of late Romantic composers. If you love classical music you are almost certain to be swept away by this magnificent score, which is 100 percent realized by the Cincinnati forces under Samuel. With Hyperion lowering its asking price to less than $11 and most vendors asking $9 for it new, this is a tremendous bargain that should be in your library.

Average customer rating: A surprising composer Hans Rott (1858 - 1884): bruckner's student

Hans Rot: Symphony in E major Manufacturer: Bis ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music ASIN: B0000016IH Release Date: 1993-04-26

Tracks:

1. I. Alla Breve
2. II. (Adagio): Sehr Langsam
3. III. Frisch Und Lebhaft
4. IV. Sehr Langsam - Belebt

Amazon.com

Hans Rott was a friend of Gustav Mahler's and Hugo Wolf's in their conservatory days, and his career was to end sadly, like Wolf's, in madness probably brought on by syphilis. While traveling by rail to take up a job as a choral director, his mind gave way and he claimed that Brahms had rigged the train to explode. He never reported for work, obviously. Mahler himself acknowledged that Rott's symphony was drawn from the same soil as his own early works, and while Rott had nothing like Mahler's skill as an orchestrator, this student piece has so many melodic and structural ideas in common with Mahler that the resemblance is sometimes scary. If you like Mahler, give it a listen. You're in for a shock! --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

A surprising composer.......2002-09-08

Rott, Bruckner's pupil, wrote only one symphony at age 20 and died insane 26 years old. He was a precocious genius who lacked recognition (Brahms said his music was vulgar). This E major Symphony is distinctly pre-mahlerian -- its Scherzo has all the typical features of a burlesque Mahler scherzo. The sheer beauty of Rott's music, its force of persuasion makes us regret the fact that his talent could not develop -- the History of Music loses a lot with his sad fate and untimely death.

Hans Rott (1858 - 1884): bruckner's student.......2001-05-13

Hans Rott was born in Vienna in 1858, and he died in 1884, to early age. Hans Rott was the favorite student of Bruckner in the Conservatory of Vienna. This work has the teacher's notorious influence Bruckner, as well as of Wagner's music, therefore, it is a sample of the music of its time, it conserves its beautiful passages as well as other passages recurrent brucknerianos. Mahler had the opportunity to know this work and it was positively impressed. This work was interpreted for the first time in the year of 1989. In general, it is an advisable work, with the warnings already formulated.

Music Review:

1. Heitor Villa-Lobos: Music for Flute - Quinteto em Forma de Chôros / Modinha / Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 / Distribution of Flowers / The Jet Whistle / Chôros No. 2 / Song of Love / Trio - William Bennett & Friends
2. Herbert Howells: Psalm-Preludes & Rhapsodies
3. hr-brass
4. Hugo Wolf/Manuel Venegas: Spanisches Liederbuch (Selected Songs)/Opernfragment (Opera Fragment)
5. Janacek: Sinfonietta/Violin Concerto/Cunning Little Vixen
6. John Taverner: Missa Corona Spinea/Gaude Plurimum/In Pace
7. La Procession: Eighty Years of French Song
8. Laberinto en la Guitarra
9. Lili Kraus Plays Mozart And Haydn
10. Liszt at the Opera

Music Review

music review

Music Review

Star Profiles [Enhanced]

And the Angels Sing

100th Anniversary Tribute

Bossa Nova Soul Samba [Original recording remastered] [Import]

ABC Local Radio Presents Funny Peculiar [Import]

14 Grandes Exitos con Sabor a Tuna, Vol. 2

A String of Pearls: Christian Treasures

A is for Alphabet

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Merle Haggard

14 Exitos: Historia Musical

1-900-Get-Khan

100% Annees 60, Vol. 1

After Five: Escape [Import]

Blues Music blues-music-26

Slowdiver