1. "Pastorales Vorspiel" - broadcasting of the German premiere

All who have missed the concert on March 22nd 2002 and its first broadcasting have one more chance to have a listen to (and tape) this really good performance of the PV. Jac van Steen's interpretation is very different from Dennis Russell Davies' one (on cpo CD) because it respects all of Rott's instructions in the score - Dennis  Russell Davies mostly ignores them.

August 2nd, 2002
Österreich 1 (Austria Radio 1)
15:06 Uhr

The Ö1 Concert
European Music Festivals. Hans Rott: Pastorales Vorspiel (Pastoral Prelude) * Franz
Schubert-Franz Liszt: Wandererfantasie C-Dur, version for piano and orchestra * Claude Debussy: Preludes (selection) * Richard
Strauss: Suite from the opera 'Der Rosenkavalier' (Barry Douglas, Berliner
Symphonie-Orchester, Jac van Steen)

2. Bard Music Festival in New York

In just a few weeks the Bard Music Festival will take place. Besides Gustav Mahler's oeuvre there will be performances of works by Hugo Wolf and Hans Rott - some of them are world premieres:

PROGRAMM SEVEN:

Sunday, August 11th 2002
Mahler and Friendse
Olin Auditorium

4:30 p.m. Preconcert Talk: Robert Martin

5:00 p.m:
...

Hans ROTT (1858-1884)
String Quartet in C Minor (1879-80)
Sehr langsam-Allegro
Adagio
Scherzo
Finale
Hugo Wolf Quartet

Songs on Poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, for bass-baritone and piano
(1876) [World Premiere]
Geistesgruß
Wanderers Nachtlied
Dean Elzinga, bass-baritone; Dennis Helmrich, piano

...

Further information

3. Bruckner-Festival 2002

Just two months later an - concerning Hans Rott - even more important event will take place in Germany: The Bruckner Festival 2002 in Würzburg, which has developped to a real "Rott Festival" - thanks to Erwin Horn's enourmous engagement. We are now able to give you more details:

October 12th, 2002

11:00 a.m., Hall of the former Mozart-school, Maxstr. 2

Songs, Piano works and quartets by Anton Bruckner and Hans Rott

They will give the following of Rott's works:

• "Pater noster" accompanied by string quintet (world premiere!)
• Das Abendglöcklein - "Des Glöckchens Schall" (Zusner) (world premiere!)
• Geistergruß - "Hoch auf dem alten Turme" (Goethe) (european premiere)
• Wanderers Nachtlied - "Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh" (Goethe) (european premiere)
• Der Sänger - "Was hör' ich draußen vor dem Tor" (Goethe) (world premiere!)
• String Quartet in c minor
• Das Veilchen - "Als ich das Veilchen heut' gefragt" (world premiere!)
• Das Vergißmeinnicht - "Das liebliche Vergißmeinnicht" (world premiere!)
• Mailied - "Wie herrlich leuchtet mir die Natur" (world premiere!)

Performers: Arco-Quartett, Markus Bellheim (piano), Johannes Weinhuber (baritone) and Marina Spielmann (soprano).

More details (in German language)

In the meanwhile it is certain that Rott will played as well during the organ concerto (also) on

October 12th, 2002

8:00 p.m., Augustinerkirche

Organ concerto: Bruckner and Wagner on organ

Besides Bruckner and Wagner, Erwin Horn will play his transcription of the 1st movement of Rott's Symphony in E major

Apart from that you will have the chance to listen to the Rott's Symphony in E major and his "Pastorales Vorspiel" for orchestra on October 19th and 20th, 2002.

The symphony will be the first performance of the version published by Ries & Erler; we're looking forward to it.

I fear that the performance of the Pastoral Prelude under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies won't be better than the one which can be found on the cpo CD. Russell Davies seems not to to care for Rott's instructions and prefers to play the piece rather fast and mechanically.

4. New publishers for some of Rott's works - finally!

Until now it was very hard to obtain scores for most of Rott's works - even for the important ones as the Symphony in E major and the string quartet in c minor. We don't know why but the - much-deserved - British musicologist Paul Banks often doesn't even reply to requests for scores which he exclusively owns.

This unacceptable situation will change:

Because of Banks' behaviour the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation) has ordered new scores for Rott's Symphony - this will be done by Ries & Erler - on the occasion of the Bruckner Festival.

The string quartet in c minor will be published by Doblinger. Let's hope they will edit it completely - containing all five movements.

5. Compensation?

Just a few weeks after the Bruckner Festival, on October 23rd, 2002,  there will be a performance of Rott's Symphony in Kempten. Although there are different details concerning the orchestra, we believe that the organizer is right: Hungarian Symphonics Pecs.

It is remarkable that the performance will be directed by Hans Richter. He is the great-grandson of the famous director (of the same name) in which Hans Rott placed his hopes concerning a performance of his symphony with the Viennese Philharmonics - in vain. Maybe this performance is a kind of compensation? We will try to contact Richter and ask him.

6. cpo-CD successful

Although the period of the special introductory price has been terminated some time ago, the latest recording of Rott's symphony in E major (cpo) is more successful than we dared to hope: It reached position no. 3 of jpc's (an online cd-shop with stores in northern Germany) classical top 10 (regarding July 1st).

7. "New" CD including Rott-transcription

At the very end, we are proud to present something very special: In the web I found a CD containing transcriptions of several works for organ, trumpet and trombone. It's called "Symphonia" and contains - besides works by Verdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Galilei, Mozart, Planel and Mancusi - the first movement  "Alla Breve" of Rott's Symphony in E major.

It has been recorded by Josef Hofbauer (trumpet), Renate Slepicka (trombone) and Reinmar Wolf (organ), who also wrote the transcriptions. We will present this album in a short while on the website.

If you can't wait, you might have a look and order it here.

I'm just willing to reveal that - apart from the other pieces - the Rott transcription is very interesting because it makes evident that the symphony has been composed by an organist. But it's more than "just" interesting: After Rott, the main theme at the beginning should be played by the trumpet in a "gesangvoll" manner ("as sung"). This interpretation gets closer to this instruction than others.

Martin Brilla
martin.brilla@hans-rott.de
www.hans-rott.de