Studies for Player Piano

Conlon Nancarrow - Studies for Player Piano

I should be back to regular posting now. I was very busy offline the past week that I was unable to post much or check the comments. I'll start another run with something by a composer who has some highly interesting work. This is from an LP that came out either in 1967 or 1968.

Excerpts from the liner notes by Gordon Mumma:

The first of Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano was composed in 1948. Since then, he has composed 37 Studies, three of which (Nos. 34, 35 and 36) are still incomplete.
...
Nancarrow achieves the precise rhythmic control of his Studies for Player Piano by punching the player piano rolls directly. All of the studies were composed with a punching machine that the composer has specially built during a visit to New York City in 1947. The machine was used for Studies 1 through 21. Nancarrow then made modifications in its design to facilitate the more elaborate requirements of the Studies that followed.
Within specific limits, the loudness of a player piano can be controlled by holes punched on the roll that change the striking force of groups of hammers. For example, the treble notes can be loud while the bass notes are quiet. These inherent limitations, which allow only abrupt dynamic changes, have been overcome in the more contrapuntal Studies by Nancarrow's clever doubling of notes and radical use of register to achieve the effect of subtle changes of loudness.
The composer owns two Ampico player pianos on which he has modified the particular timbres that he likes for his Studies. The hammers of one of the pianos are made of metal. The hammers of the other are a combination of leather and metal. The Studies for Player Piano are intended for performance on one or the other of these special pianos, and this recording was made under the composer's supervision in his own studio in Mexico City.
Conlon Nancarrow was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1912, and subsequently lived in Cincinnati and Boston. Following a period of time in Spain during the late 1930's, he became a resident of Mexico City.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. #2 {1:58}

2. #7 {6:22}

3. #8 {4:01}

4. #10 {4:05}

5. #12 {4:07}

6. #15 Canon 3/4 {1:02}

7. #19 Canon 12/15/20 {1:09}

Side 2

1. #21 Canon X {2:58}

2. #23 {3:50}

3. #24 Canon 14/15/16 {3:32}

4. #25 {6:07}

5. #33 Canon √2/2 {6:09}

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