Tim Dickinson ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>There's a piano roll of Mahler playing the Adagietto, and his tempo
>is rather brisk by today's standards (between 9 and 10 minutes time, I
>believe, although I don't have a recording).

Put not your trust in the timings of piano rolls.  I have both the Teldec
and the Gilbert Kaplan CDs of Mahler playing Das himmlische Leben.  The
timings (can't find either disc right now) differ by something like 5% -
yet both sets of liner notes stresss how carefully and accurately they set
up the reproduction equipment.

I think rolls can tell us about tempo *relationships* but not absolute
tempos.

>The quickest version that I know is Bruno Walter's, who zips through in
>7:43 but without giving the impression of "zipping"; it works wonderfully
>in his hands.  I tend to prefer the quicker versions to the slower, overly
>romanticized ones (of which there are many!).

The very first recording, Concertgebouw/Mengelberg May 1926, is 7:04.
Doesn't sound fast either.  I think Haitink holds the record at
13:something.

Deryk Barker
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