Saturday, February 12, 2011

Nancarrow: Studies For Player Piano


The present studies, by Conlon Nancarrow, were composed for specially altered player-pianos in the composer's possession, and the present recording was supervised by him at his studio in Mexico City. The contents of the studio are now in Basle, Switzerland at the Paul Sacher Foundation.

Largely unknown until late in his life, Nancarrow wrote wonderfully appealing music, written for mechanical instruments able to realize his fiendishly difficult rhythmic experiments. The Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conlon_Nancarrow) provides some valuable information.

The complete Studies for Player Piano were released on Wergo, though I do not know the circumstances of the recording. In any event, recordings of this music are not commonplace, to say the least, so the present post is more than justified. Ligeti thought Nancarrow was the most important musical discovery since Webern and Ives, and if you listen carefully, I think you will appreciate that enthusiastic recommendation.

Link to all files
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14 comments:

  1. BusterFebruary 13, 2011 at 1:24 AM

    Hi - good to see you back! Hope you're doing well.

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  2. Lawrence AustinFebruary 13, 2011 at 7:28 AM

    Thanks, Buster. I feel like I've emerged from hibernation, and it's good to work on some music again.

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  3. SatyrFebruary 13, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    Welcome back! And what a new start... I do love the music of Nancarrow, so I'm very glad with your upload! Best wishes, Satyr

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  4. Lawrence AustinFebruary 13, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    Thanks for the kind words, Satyr. It's good to be back. I started the Nancarrow as a Christmas project, but with one thing and another, it ended up as a valentine.

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  5. centuriFebruary 16, 2011 at 1:35 AM

    I am a big fan of Nancarrow's music.
    Many thanks for this valuable post !
    Centuri

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  6. Lawrence AustinFebruary 16, 2011 at 7:05 AM

    Thanks, Centuri. I like this record a lot, and since it did not seem to have been re-issued, I was pleased to be able to post it. We owe the post to my friend, another big fan of Nancarrow, for whom I did the restoration.

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  7. WMS.NemoFebruary 23, 2011 at 4:37 AM

    Thank you very much for these really rare share!

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  8. Lawrence AustinFebruary 23, 2011 at 5:35 AM

    WMS.Nemo: Thanks. It's always nice to put up something that's a bit rare.

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  9. cebApril 18, 2011 at 3:28 PM

    A favorite and a monument. Thanks so much.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 27, 2011 at 10:27 PM

    Really useful blog.Good work keeping this updated!Thanks a lot!Movers Austin Texas

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  11. Lawrence AustinAugust 30, 2011 at 4:54 PM

    Zena: Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like the blog. I should be able to start posting to it again in a couple of weeks, finishing the Bach Sacred Songs I started earlier.

    I have friends in Austin. If they ever move, I'll point them in your direction.

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  12. gruffJanuary 8, 2012 at 11:05 AM

    Do you have more information about this record? The tags on the files are pretty scanty and it's not clear what issue it's from.

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  13. AnonymousMay 27, 2012 at 3:11 PM

    Strong post, a good entry point for me to Nancarrow.

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  14. AnonymousJuly 28, 2014 at 1:26 PM

    Thank you very much !

    ReplyDelete

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