Tag: Mahler

  • Mahler’s bowing instructions

    Rachmaninoff played his Third Concerto in January 1909 in New York, conducted by Gustav Mahler. Rachmaninoff recalled the rehearsal: Suddenly, Mahler, who had conducted this passage a tempo, tapped his desk: “Stop!  Don’t pay any attention to the difficult bowing marked in your parts. … Play the passage like this,” and he indicated a different…

  • The length of a rehearsal

    Rachmaninoff completed his Third Piano Concerto at his summer estate at Ivanovka in September-October 1909.  He then toured America, learning the piano part on a dumb piano aboard the ship.  The work was first performed in New York under Walter Damrosch in November 1909.  In January 1910, Gustav Mahler conducted the third New York performance.…