The ‘discovery’ of the Rott Symphony by Dr. Paul Banks
in the 1980s was a truly fascinating event. Here was the major
work by an exact contemporary of Mahler, a fellow student at the Vienna
Conservatory, but a tragic figure destined for an early death in an
asylum. His subsequent neglect was inevitable, and very few of his manuscripts
survived, so Banks’s musicological find was all the more important,
particularly for those interested in the heady, post-Wagnerian Viennese
style. The 1989 recording which followed (from Hyperion – who else?)
gave us all the chance to judge for ourselves whether it had all been
worthwhile. The general consensus was that here indeed was a remarkably
assured musical voice, indeed one that displayed uncanny pre-echoes
of Mahler himself, though these parallels were taken to ridiculous extremes.
Some writers began pointing to plagiarism on Mahler’s part, and one
began to feel that somehow every sign of originality that we know and
love in Mahler had been purloined from the Rott Symphony. Thankfully,
all that has died down, and this new recording from Dennis Russell Davies
gives us a chance to re-appraise the piece in the cool, clear light
of day.
The Hyperion disc featured a student orchestra, the
Cincinnati Philharmonia, and excellent though they are, it has to be
said straightaway that the general quality of playing on the new version
is a notch above. This is apparent from the opening, a magnificent Brucknerian
vista which unfolds majestically before us, the trumpet and horn intoning
an ‘urthema’ of epic dimensions. In fact, the spirit of Bruckner (and,
inevitably, Wagner) is never far away, and only fleetingly do I sense
Mahler’s presence. The most obvious place is the scherzo, where
one is indeed brought up short by what appears to be a distorted version
of the ländler from Mahler 1. Elsewhere (for instance 5.10
into the first movement) one senses ‘snippets’ that appear to be familiar
from Mahler works, but my own overriding impression is of a talented
composer coming from the same ‘stable’ as Mahler, and sharing the same
tradition and lofty ideals as to how symphonic form should progress.
Russell Davies certainly allows more ‘breathing space’ for the ideas
to develop, and he also keeps a tighter rein on some of the more unwieldy
material, particularly in the finale. Rott’s orchestration is a little
clumsy and densely textured in places (I’m sure a performance would
have caused the composer to put much of this right) and here the greater
experience and professionalism of Davies and his Vienna forces pays
dividends.
The addition of a filler also adds to the interest
of the disc, but in reality the Pastorales Vorspiel seems nothing
more than warmed-over Wagner, a real student piece with clear echoes
of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. No, the Symphony’s
the thing, and to anyone interested in the development of the form during
the late Romantic period, this is really unmissable. There has been
another recording (from Leif Segerstam) which I am not familiar with,
but this CPO version must now surely be the one to have if you want
to investigate this fascinating and rewarding piece.
Tony Haywood
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Dennis
Russell Davies