Paavo Järvi and Lang Lang
The joyous wind sounds, easy-going jazz motifs and Basque folk music in Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major create a colourful mix. The second movement, which begins with a dreamlike meditation by the solo piano, is a highlight. This work allows star pianist Lang Lang to demonstrate all aspects of his skills. Paavo Järvi also presents Hans Rott’s lyrical First Symphony. Its tonal language reveals influences from Rott’s teacher Bruckner and echoes of the music of his fellow student Mahler.
Lang Lang is a name known even to those who are not classical music connoisseurs. Whether as a soloist with leading orchestras on international stages, or as a passionate music educator in intimate school concerts, whether in collaborations with Disney or alongside pop stars such as Ed Sheeran – this exceptional pianist transcends cultural boundaries and creates new connections. Under the direction of Paavo Järvi, Lang Lang plays Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker, a work that reflects his stylistic versatility. Composed “in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saëns” (Ravel), the outer movements combine virtuosic, cheerful circus music with sophisticated jazz, while the middle movement presents a captivating song without words.
The name Hans Rott, on the other hand, may be new to many. Yet his teacher Anton Bruckner once prophesied: “You will hear great things from this man.” While his classmate Gustav Mahler did indeed achieve fame, Rott’s fate took a tragic turn: after completing his studies, he composed his First Symphony, which Johannes Brahms considered poor. When Rott was also denied a scholarship, he wanted to leave Vienna to take up a position as a choir director. In a state described as “hallucinatory insanity and paranoia,” he threatened a passenger on the train with a gun when the man tried to light a cigarette, believing that Brahms had planted dynamite on the train. Rott was taken to a Viennese psychiatric hospital, where he died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.
Rott’s symphony reveals enormous talent: epic breadth unfolds in this large-scale work, he skilfully works with the colours of wind and string instruments, and repeatedly finds surprising harmonic twists. By the scherzo at the latest, every Mahler fan will sit up and take notice, for with its sometimes rakish, sometimes powerful tone, it has precisely the character familiar from Mahler’s scherzos – although Mahler did not begin sketching his First Symphony until five years after Rott.
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