Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” – III. Scherzo – Piano Trio

Mahler’s Scherzo, for violin, cello and piano

The third movement of the “Resurrection” Symphony is Mahler at his most ironic. It is built on his own Wunderhorn song about Saint Anthony preaching to the fishes: they listen politely, then swim away unchanged. Over a restless perpetual motion, the music turns from grotesque humour to waltz-like charm, until it erupts into the great orchestral outburst at its centre. This arrangement brings the whole movement to a piano trio, without cutting a single bar.

What you receive

• Piano score: piano part with the violin and cello lines in small notes above
• Violin part
• Cello part

Three print-ready PDF files, each supplied in both A4 and US Letter formats, all included in the same download. Every page prints on a single sheet. In the string parts, every page turn falls in a rest. Where Mahler gives the strings no rest for longer, three pages are laid out side by side. The piano score is laid out in pairs of pages; a page turner is recommended for the pianist.

A faithful reduction

This edition follows Mahler’s full score bar by bar (Josef Weinberger, Vienna). Bar numbers and rehearsal figures 28–55 match the original, so the trio can rehearse with any recording or orchestral score at hand.

• The violin plays the first violins, taking over the second violins or violas when the firsts are silent.
• The cello plays Mahler’s cellos, plus the trumpet and horn melodies.
• The piano carries the woodwinds, harps, brass harmony, timpani and double basses.

Mahler’s German tempo and expression marks are given in Italian. String bowings are Mahler’s own; lines taken from wind instruments have been re-phrased for the bow.