Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler & Hans Rott
From the middle of the1870's Hans Rott, Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler all studied, in part at the same time, at the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (Conservatory of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna). While Rott and Mahler completed their studies successfully, Wolf was expelled from the Conservatory for sending a threatening letter as a joke to the Rector. He then shared a flat on the Opernring in Vienna for a time with Mahler and Rudolf Krzyzanowski, like Rott a pupil of Bruckner. Alma Mahler-Werfel later reported on this memorable triumvirate: „Since they were musicians, all three were sensitive to noise. If one of the three was working on a project, the other two had to spend the whole night walking the streets“. Only a few years later Rott was admitted to the Lower Austrian mental hospital, where he died in 1884 at the age of 25; Wolf was overtaken by the same tragic fate almost 20 years later.
The Bamberger Symphoniker under their principal conductor Jakub Hrůša, together with Michael Nagy, transform into sound this seething chapter of contemporary history around three Viennese „Bohemians“, illuminating among other things the momentous influence which Rott's wonderful Symphony No. 1 in E major exerted on Mahler's music.
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903)
Scherzo in G minor and Finale in Bb major for Symphony Orchestra (1876–77)
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for Singer and Orchestra (1884–85, 1890–93)
– Break –
Hans Rott (1858–1884)
Symphony (Nr. 1) in E major (1878–80)
Michael Nagy | Baritone
Bamberger Symphoniker
Jakub Hrůša | Conductor