This was the first of three concerts in four days at the Usher Hall for the Bamberger Symphoniker Residency. And it needed to be good. Word gets round fast and tickets need to be sold. With a programme of Bruckner, Mahler and Rott, conductor Jakub Hrùša's school motto "passing the torch" seems appropriate because the three composers lives are linked.
Hans Rott's organ tutor was Anton Bruckner, who helped him find his first job as an organist in Vienna. It was Bruckner's Symphonic Prelude that opened the concert. Gustav Mahler considered Rott a genius and paid homage to him in some of his symphonies. But it was his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) that brought Scottish mezzo soprano Catriona Morison to the front of the stage to sing for us. And delightful it was.
Hans Rott's parents died when he was young. An extremely talented musician he struggled all his short life, but he is remembered for his First Symphony. There's a touch of Wagner early on and perhaps the finale goes on far too long, but it is a great symphony and the Bamberger Symphoniker showed it at its best. Some of the audience were on their feet in delight as it ended.
Jakub Hrùša and his players did us proud and the concert certainly was good, very good.
Event: Tuesday 6th August 2024 at 7.30pm