Hans Rott Symphony under Paavo Järvi

[Alan Howe]

I read that Paavo Järvi has recorded Hans Rott's Symphony with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra - certainly the highest-profile conductor to have tackled the work so far. A performance with this combination of conductor and orchestra is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow (Tuesday 26th) at 2.20 pm.
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/04/paavo-jarvi-on-hans-rott.html
http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=1938

[mbhaub]

Not to sound ungrateful, but do we really need this? What is this, the fourth or fifth recording? The Hyperion gave us all we needed to know,  the CPO a nice bonus. There's so much other repertoire that is better, needs better recordings, and needs advocacy. How about the state of the art SACD (or BluRay) of Gliere 3? Oh well, I'm not the producer and I guess they know what they're doing. But how many recordings of a really obscure symphony can the market support?

[TerraEpon]

How about the state of the art SACD (or BluRay) of Gliere 3?

There's one on Telarc, conducted by Bostein (sp?). Best recording of the work too (or at least, tied with Downes)

[Kriton]

Not to sound ungrateful, but do we really need this?

...more than another Bruckner or Mahler, less than a Marx-Herbstsinfonie...

What is this, the fourth or fifth recording? The Hyperion gave us all we needed to know

Hyperion gave us what is propably the most uninteresting reading of the work ever. I'll be looking forward to Järvi - although I'm not getting my hopes up. But your last question is rather interesting; how many recordings of this can the market support? Especially since the 'hype' around this composer/work is sooo 20th century...

[Alan Howe]

Well, the point is that we haven't had an absolutely superlative recording yet. Stop-gaps, yes; good recordings, yes; but nothing to blow your socks off.  So I for one will be eagerly awaiting the RCA release - especially if it's as good as the radio recording I'm currently listening to, which is fabulous...

[Alan Howe]

Listening to Paavo Järvi's radio performance again confirms my impression that this will be the recording to have when it eventually comes out. The orchestra plays superbly - with an intensity and belief in the piece that I've never heard before. Järvi's passionate advocacy is clearly audible - a no-apologies approach which, one hopes, may convince other conductors to take up the symphony.

[Alan Howe]

I suppose what I'm asking is: shouldn't we want the very best for unsung music? Perhaps a really great performance of Rott's Symphony will reveal the stature of the piece such as we've never heard it before. I'm certainly hoping that this will be the case with Rufinatscha 6 when Chandos record it next month, good though the Austrian performance that we already have undoubtedly is.

[M. Henriksen]

Of course this recording will do both Hans Rott and the category unsung composers good. And still if Rott's symphony has been recorded before (and I can understand those who say that there are other works out there that deserves recording before this symphony gets recorded again!) the attention to the work from a conductor like Paavo Järvi surely will spread this music to new listeners. I think that the more famous the orchestra and conductor are, the more attention will a recording of a unsung work get among audience that tend to prefer standard repertoire.


Morten

[Alan Howe]

I agree 100%, Morten.

[Mark Thomas]

I've just finished listening to this afternoon's BBC broadcast of Järvi's performance of the Rott Symphony and I must say that it has quite changed my view of what I had previously thought of as a rather overblown and over-hyped work. It's a bit limp of me not to be able to put my finger straight away on why it impressed me so, but I'm clearly going to have to sit down tomorrow and listen again! I was left , though, with the impression of a work of great stature given a blazing performance which satisfied both in the poetry of its delicate moments and in the vigour of its dramatic ones.

[Alan Howe]

Paavo Järvi is a very, very fine conductor indeed and he has an orchestra which, under his direction, is becoming world-class. And he has clearly done his homework on Rott, particularly the Mahler connection. But most of all, he just believes in the symphony and goes for it. It's one of the most exciting performances of a relatively unknown piece of music that I have ever heard, knocking the previous best (IMHO, the very good Sebastian Weigle on Arte Nova) into the proverbial cocked hat. Mark has it spot-on: blazing!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Friends run together the question of (a) do we need it? - yes, of course we do, with the distinct question of (b) will the market support it? I don't know, but on the strength of comments above I shall certainly acquire the recording.

However what we do very much need is a widely accessible recording of the Rott string quartet. On the one occasion I heard it, the feet sure became departed from their socks.

Peter

[eschiss1]

However what we do very much need is a widely accessible recording of the Rott string quartet. On the one occasion I heard it, the feet sure became departed from their socks.

Peter

Describe, describe? (In some thread or other?) And who was performing? I know very little about Rott's surviving completed music (symphony, one other orchestral work I can think of... plus list of ...)
Eric

[Mark Thomas]

The String Quartet and a Symphony for String Orchestra in A flat have both been issued on an Acousence CD (ACO-CD 20205). Audio extracts at jpc here.

[eschiss1]

ah. I notice re Rott the following worklist - http://www.hans-rott.de/werke/works.htm. Neat.