Inside Mahler
My 2009 performance of Mahler 5 with the WCFSO will air this evening at 8pm EST on Iowa Public Radio [link is an mp3 stream]. We took a unique approach to presenting the piece, mixing multimedia with live music and offering insights from orchestra members into the experience of playing Mahler. The image above is one of several views of the event by WCFSO photographer Noah Henscheid. [You may notice me holding my iPhone in some of the other shots – I was using it to cue slides and video live onstage.]
In the event that you get to this post after the stream ends, a re-embed and download of the first movement is below; please feel free to grab the code from the player and share on your blog as well.
Mahler - Symphony no. 5, Trauermarsch
WCFSO – November 2009
Mahler month → The ringtone
Gustav Mahler, writing to his wife Alma in October 1904 after an early rehearsal of his Fifth Symphony, described the Scherzo as ‘this primeval music, this foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound, these dancing stars, these breathtaking, iridescent and flashing breakers.’ Now one more item can be added to Mahler’s list - this cellphone ringtone!
Ringtone Mahler - Symphony no. 5, Scherzo
WCFSO – November 2009
Download → iphone mp3 aac
Mahler month → The trauermarsch
‘Measured. Severe. Like a funeral procession.’
Gustav Mahler’s tempo indication for the first movement of his Fifth Symphony.
Mahler - Symphony no. 5, Trauermarsch
WCFSO – November 2009
Mahler month → The performer
The final sounding in my series of posts leading up to tomorrow’s WCFSO performance of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony comes from the man himself. On November 9, 1905 Mahler visited the Welte & Sohne studios in Leipzig and recorded several piano rolls of his own music using the Welte-Mignon system; the rolls from that day are the only audio documentation of Mahler’s approach as a performer. Here is the most substantial and fascinating performance from that session a century ago - the entire first movement of his Fifth Symphony:
Mahler – Symphony no 5, Trauermarsch - mp3
Gustav Mahler, piano from Mahler Plays Mahler
