Hans Rott Orchestral Works Vol. 1

[Alan Howe]

Rott belongs in a special category, I think. He obviously had remarkable foresight, but died much too young for us to know how to categorise him. A bit like Arriaga or Burgmüller, maybe?

[Mark Thomas]

Personally, judged on what they actually left behind them, I'd put both those earlier composers on a significantly higher plane than Rott, but such judgements are so subjective.

[terry martyn]

Indeed,Mark.  My views on Rott are highly subjective and I recognise that there are many eminent music  lovers who value him (just as there are a number for Felix Draesecke, whom I am put off for life, and can´t help thinking Liszt was so right in his judgement).  For my part, Arriaga´s Symphony is a gem of originality and urgency and the Piano Concerto and First Symphony of Norbert Burgmuller are much on a par. But I cannot,even as I type, get the near-masterpiece that is Burgmuller´s unfinished Second out of my head. Poignant and haunting and fully justifying Schumann´s econiums.

[Alan Howe]

just as there are a number for Felix Draesecke, whom I am put off for life

Draeseke's irrelevant here, surely. We're talking about short-lived composers - in other words, the 'might-have-beens' of musical history.

Incidentally, Liszt had a high opinion of Draeseke:

<<Liszt himself considered Draeseke's 1867 C sharp minor Sonata the most important work of the genre 'since Schumann's F sharp minor Sonata'...>>
https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/instrumental/draesekeliszt/

<<Dubbed a "giant" by Franz Liszt, Felix Draeseke was one of the leading composers of the new-German school>>
https://www.draeseke.org/

And with that, back to Rott...

[terry martyn]

Before returning to Rott, didn´t Liszt revise his opinion of Draesecke and say something along the lines of:  The lion has become a rabbit. ?

[eschiss1]

"dem Löwen sei ein Kaninchen geworden" as someone paraphrased it, in regards Draeseke's B minor requiem. Should go in another thread.

[Alan Howe]

This simply reflected Draeseke's later development as a composer: while retaining a propensity to push boundaries in a distinctly New German direction, he reverted to classical forms (symphony, chamber music, etc.) which were anathema to Liszt. This was not so much a verdict on the quality of his music as a rejection of the trajectory he later took. In other words, according to Liszt, a true 'Löwe' (lion) should have followed a more revolutionary path...

Anyway, let's return to Rott.