This is something I thought I’d never hear: Mahler playing his own compositions on his own piano. How is this possible, you ask? Turns out that Mahler made some piano rolls in 1905, just as the new technology was starting to gain popularity. Piano rolls were amongst the first methods devised to preserve the nuance of performances.
Here’s a picture of the great pianist (and at one time Prime Minister of Poland!) Ignacy Jan Paderewski in 1906, recording on a system very similar to the one Mahler used a year earlier:
The performance captured on Mahler’s piano roll was played back and recorded on his own instrument in 2010. This is a truly intimate and compelling performance of the first movement of his fifth symphony:
If you don’t have Spotify (which I couldn’t recommend more highly!), here’s a version on youtube. Note though, this is NOT the new recording made on Mahler’s own piano..
The word Lacrimosa means ‘weeping’ in Latin, and in this movement of Mozart’s Requiem, the music almost seems to mimic the human act of crying. Waves of painful dissonance bubble up and spill over into the undercurrent of sadness.
Here’s two interesting takes:
First, a performance led by former Chicago Symphony director Georg Solti in 1991, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death:
Second, an ingenious dramatization of the same music. Here, a drawing is used to represent the emotional spirit of each underlying harmony of the music. The Roman numerals above the drawings show the specific harmonic function. When the harmony changes, so does the picture. Soon, a story begins to unfold:
This is the public blog for the studio. Here, I’ll post thoughts, pictures, sounds, scores, and videos that will hopefully be of interest to all students.
For example, I might share a video of a really amazing pianist:
and point out different parts of the music he’s playing. Here’s the beginning:
