Alma Mahler's overriding ambition at 18 was to be a composer, an ambitious goal for a young woman at that time, and she could play Wagner's Tristan and Isolde by heart on the piano.
Composition History
Alma Mahler's first husband, Gustav Mahler, initially demanded she give up composing, but later regretted this and encouraged her, even editing some of her songs for publication.
Composer Biography
Alma Mahler, born in 1879, was described as the most beautiful woman in Vienna and was brought up in bohemian artistic circles.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in Brussels at Bozar, salle Henry Le Boeuf, across several dates in June 2021 and January 2022.
Composition History
Of Alma Mahler's approximately fifty songs for voice and piano, only seventeen are known to have survived, with three of them published posthumously.
Instruments
The performers chose to record on a Steinway piano from 1899, the year Alma Mahler wrote most of her songs, to closely match her original sound universe.
Composer Biography
Alma Mahler was married three times to prominent figures: Gustav Mahler (composer), Walter Gropius (founder of Bauhaus), and Franz Werfel (novelist and poet).
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