Gustav Mahler plays the piano
Acoustic or electric recordings featuring Gustav Mahler as conductor are sadly non-existent. Yet here we hear the composer playing himself, thanks to an ingenious fine-mechanical instrument presented at the Leipziger Messe in September 1904: the self-playing or reproduction piano by the Welte Mignon company of Freiburg.
On 9 November 1905, Gustav Mahler recorded (mechanically) four piano rolls for Welte-Mignon: the songs "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld" and "Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grunen Wald", as well as the movements "Trauermarsch" from his recently completed 5th and "Das himmlische Leben" from the 4th symphony.
The music gives a very detailed impression of how Mahler played his own music, because the reproduction piano could also sound out tempo, phrasing, pedal use and dynamics. This means we hear not only the notes, but also the interpretation of the soloist - and in this case, the composer. As Mahler himself said, "Das wichtigste in der Musik steht nicht in den Noten."
Follow the link below to listen to an excerpt.
