Hans Rott (1858-84)
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin
Paavo Järvi and a percussionist whipped the Ravel into shape, piccolo and trumpet solos leapt off the page, and Lang Lang obliged, then coming to the fore, exaggerating dynamics and tempos if reminding that he is technically foolproof. He might have made more of the extended trills about two-thirds through (one of the reasons why Samson François’s recording, conducted by Cluytens, remains indispensable). The slow movement was nicely shaped and intimately quietly spoken, the cor anglais solo beautifully expressed. The Finale, however, was ill-conceived. Okay, Lang Lang can play at this speed without appearing strained, but to what musical end? Certainly not to do Ravel any favours, and even the Berlin woodwinds were under pressure to keep up, but then Lang Lang got even faster, rampaging, the showman had been released. His encore, a Liszt Consolation, was rather lovely, and following that Ravel final movement it duly lived up to its title.
The short-lived Hans Rott wrote one Symphony (1880). It has the usual four movements that are unusually designed, the subsequent one being longer than its predecessor, giving the Scherzo and the Finale particular importance, the former bearing motifs that fed into his fellow-student Mahler’s Symphonies, aspects of Rott’s first two movements deceptively lightweight, being folksy, and reminding of Carl Goldmark’s Rustic Wedding Symphony (1875). Järvi kept interest in the Rott by letting it be itself, investing a powerful momentum into the dance-like (Brucknerian) Scherzo and ensuring that the Finale was momentous, the Berliners sonically blazing, the quiet conclusion convincing, hard-won.
I didn’t know Lang Lang was performing Ravel’s concerto too. How did he interpret it in this setting?