Gustav Mahler Plays His Symphonic Movements 

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@@RonaldKarle Thank You for posting! Mahler really was a true triple threat wasn't he? Concert Pianist, Composer, and Conductor. I can only think of a handful EVER that could match that....(some of it depends on the desire of the musician....doing justice to all 3 is next to impossible)

If Mahler had lived to 75, imagine how much more gloriouos music he wouold have composed.

@@jgesselberty so many theories, he'd have been 75 in 1935..... meaning he'd have had to leave Austria again pretty soon ANYWAY! Would he have come back to America? Walter and Schoenberg surely would have coaxed him to do so. Might he have maybe written a film score like Korngold? Would he, like many composers in the 19 teens and 20s, have started to write..... SMALLER? .. maybe even experimented with his protege Schoenberg 's style?

@@jgesselberty Opera. Symphony #6 itself suggests. Romeo and Juliet. Without question, he got the piano well, and I can imagine him writing some fine piano sonatas. It is easier to get a reputation with smaller works than with gigantic ones. They would be rich, but so is Liszt's sonata. Mahler was the definitive German composer when he died. Just think of how much harder it would have been to attack Jews if he were still that definitive German composer in 1925!

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Yes, very interesting indeed! It's too bad we don't have any recordings of Mahler as a conductor - his premature death meant that he missed out on the opportunity by just a decade or two. Of course, a couple of full recordings of Mahler conducting his own works, Beethoven or Bruckner would have been priceless - in his own lifetime he was known as the Great Conductor rather than an acclaimed symphonist. The recordings of his friend and pupil Bruno Walter are probably the closest we can get to an authentic idea of how Mahler would have fully realized his own works in concert.

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Fortunately for us!

A ton of great composers from the past could have been amazing performing pianists, but they focused their efforts on composition and/or conducting. The bar for piano ability was much higher in the common composer back then. You don't see that as often today.

Mahler being a virtuosic pianist would be too imaginary. Firstly, these excerpts are far from virtuosic. Piano was a widely expected skill for composers around that era to start with. There were also contemporaneous genuine virtuosic pianist-composers such as Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff. Secondly, he didn't spend all his time composing. He committed a significant part of his time to conducting, which was his job. Composing was already what he used his free time for.

I have enjoyed posting Piano roll recordings. I know there are more out there I will continue to search. Thank you, Donna!

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it is from 1st symphony you are not crazy

Yes, but das himmlische leben is right after

I Agree! Most composers are not world-class Performers.

I think this is only a vague hint about how Mahler played the piano, not the real deal. Welte-Mignon mechanism had that problem of imprecise timing, especially in 1905. That is why in some moments no note is played, but they come in a bunch immediately after. The problem was partly solved by Ampico around 1919, but Wayne Stahnke still had a lot of errors to correct for releasing Rachmaninov's piano roll recordings; he mathematically reverse-modeled the punching-recording mechanism and used the master rolls for conversion (he explains that in the release). And well, Rachmaninov *was* a world-class performer, maybe the best of all times.

@@floring67 Thank you for your comment.

Rach: Hold my beer

Thank you so much for listening. Besides my own works, I search the internet for public domain content such as this is. So far, I have only found 2 recordings of Mahler. I have a Playlist of piano roll recordings. I hope you enjoy my channel.

Formidable@@RonaldKarle

I don't know?

Yes, it is from the first movement of the first symphony.

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I think the development of artists is very interesting. There is not really trash in life, everything tells a story.

私の記憶が正しければマーラーは大学の試験でショパンのポロネーズ6番を弾いていたと言う記事を見た事があります。 最低限その程度の実力はありました。

In 1890s they had Welte mingon "Player Piano Roll" Recorders. This was recorded on a piano roll and played back on a player Piano and recorded the piano playback on modern recoring equipment. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welte-Mignon

Thanks for listening. I don't know. It is a colorized photo.

I have been informed this is a piano roll recording made by him.

@@RonaldKarle awesome

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We can't and shouldn't assume this is how Mahler wanted his works played. Not based on a piano roll. Mahler was clearly an able, but far from virtuoso, pianist. He never claimed otherwise. Rhythms are inconsistent, things don't always flow smoothly, especially in technically complicated passages. And we have no way of knowing how much this is how Mahler "wanted" it and how much it was Mahler reaching his technical limits on the piano. Sadly we have no recordings of Mahler conducting as far as I know, so we have to rely on the manuscripts to be the ultimate guide.

I do not share your position. I am a pianist myself and I can guarantee you that the way Mahler is playing is no coincidence and no virtuosity limit.@@EASYTIGER10

@@EASYTIGER10

There are piano rolls and there are reproducing rolls. If you knew the difference, and how the Welte Mignon reproducing rolls were made, and replayed, your comment might be a little different. Mahler recorded four rolls in a single session on November 9, 1905 at the Welte-Mignon studios in Leipzig. According to texts published by the Welte company, The artist was seated before a grand piano equipped with the Recording apparatus. It automatically captured, the tempo, phrasing, dynamics and pedaling of each particular performance, and not just the notes of the music, as was the case with other player pianos of the time. Mahler’s comments in Welte’s Visitors’ Book show that he was deeply impressed.. “ In astonishment and admiration, I joined those who have proceeded me [in this book] . Gustave Mahler.” These rolls would never have been released if he had not been thoroughly content with their playback veracity.. they were approved by him as authentic to his playing.

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stefan krauss: in so far as...it must have been to Mahler's taste, your comment lacks any veracity

@@alexanderreikreik The one who can read is in advantage.

Bueno. Citando el mismo Mahler, "Si. Después de mi muerte, si hay algo que no suena bien, cambielo. No solamente tienen derecho. Si no que también es un deber hacerlo"

@@alexanderreikreik We can't assume - based on a piano roll - this is how Mahler wanted it played. Mahler never claimed to be a virtuoso pianist and he seems to be struggling technically at times. You should go by what he wrote on the score, not a piano roll.

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This was a stereo recording of a Player Piano roll recording made by Mahle played back on a player Piano. www.pianola.org/reproducing/reproducing_welte.cfm

@@RonaldKarle ahh ok! I get it now! Impressif. Thank you!

@@carlob95 Your Welcome. I had similar responses from others.

The playback is on a player piano being played back in a stereo recording. Such has been done with Brahms, Grieg, Rachmaninov, and others.

Before you say it's impossible find out how it is possible.......at the turn of the 20th century, it was ideally placed to develop an experimental piano playing device, with the aim of reproducing the recorded performances of the finest pianists of the day. www.pianola.org/reproducing/reproducing_welte.cfm

An easy mistake to make for people who know nothing about reproducing rolls. Best do some research, you will be surprised at what you find.

Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? You should do some research.. not everything was done back then the way it is now in terms of recording. There were numerous mechanical ways of recording things.

The piano rolls remain. Just think of it: a modern pianist like Ashkenazy gets recorded in stereo playing off scores that existed long before there were any recordings. Is that any more a contradiction?