Recently, I came across the name of a composer much admired by Mahler by the name of Hans Rott. He was a classmate, and for a time, roommate of Mahler's. He died, insane, of tuberculosis at age 25. Later, Mahler wrote of him: "...a musician of genius ... who died unrecognized and in want on the very threshold of his career. ... It is completely impossible to estimate what music has lost in him. His First Symphony soars to such heights of genius that it makes him - without exaggeration - the founder of the New Symphony as I understand it. To be sure, what he wanted is not quite what he achieved. ... But I know where he aims. Indeed, he is so near to my inmost self that he and I seem to me like two fruits from the same tree which the same soil has produced and the same air nourished. He could have meant infinitely much to me and perhaps the two of us would have well-nigh exhausted the content of new time which was breaking out for music." I've now heard the First (and only) Symphony a couple of times, and it is really exciting. I hear a bit too much Bruckner (Rott's teacher and advocate) and Wagner --and not enough Mahler-- to fully agree with Mahler's assessment that this is the beginning of the "New Symphony." Still, there are dissonances and/or (possibly) modal passages to stretch Romantic harmony beyond the conventional for 1878. This may be why the audience at a competition where the first movement was played responded with laughter; a response that prompted an outraged defense of the young composer from Bruckner. There is also a lot of counterpoint to be savored. I listened with headphones and was very pleased. What is missing is ensemble and any of Mahler's folk elements. The overall tone is pretty earnest and unyielding. I think Rott is more than just another late Romantic Austrian, and any fan of Mahler's symphonies should enjoy discovering his roommate. Zeke *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html