“Mahler should be performed simply and humbly”

Do you remember the first time you heard Mahler’s music?

Gatti: I was nine or ten when I began to study music. And of course the names familiar to me were Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Rossini, Verdi – but not Mahler, not at all. Once I heard my father say: “Mahler, Mahler – there is a symphony of Mahler on the radio”, but I was unimpressed. Later on, when I was growing up – I was 12 or 13 – almost every evening he would bring home a new record. They covered the entire repertoire – from Mozart to Stravinsky – and that was how he tried to introduce me to the orchestral sound. I remember he brought Mahler’s 1st, conducted by Bruno Walter, so the first time I listened to his music was with my father in our sitting room – at least 20 minutes of the 1st Symphony. And there I was, listening, without any particular emotion – but subconsciously I was absorbing his style.

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Find the full interview in Gustav Mahler: The Conductors’ Interviews
Edited by Wolfgang Schaufler
ISBN: 978-3-7024-7162-0
ISMN: 979-0-008-08493-5
Order number: UE26311 (German Edition: UE26310)