Year 1901. Drawing of Hans Schliessmann (1852-1920).

• In America he conducted different than one was used to. This resulted in not too many problems because he mainly brought about the interpretation to the musicians.
• Mahler had his arm sometimes hang by fatigue or because he was thinking of something else. He found that the musicians did not need him anyway for striking the measure.
• He sometimes added a note.
• He introduced a double occupancy of the woodwinds in NY.
• The mood and the human scale in an orchestra were important to him.
• He often sang a glissando to indicate that a transition between notes is something like breathing, like singing (and not just two notes in succession).
• He gave the musicians space for phrasing.
• Mahler tried to direct with the character of the particular composer in mind.
• The rehearsals were (or seemed) short (possibly due to his physical condition).