Re: Nancarrow
By Achim Gratz, forwarded by Terry Smythe
From: gratz@ite121.inf.tu-dresden.de To: ALL
Subj: Re: Nancarrow Area: 0-rec.music.maker Date: 04/19/95
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>>>>> "Terry" == Terry Smythe <smythe@access.mbnet.mb.ca> writes:
Terry> Knowing the player piano to have abilities far in excess of
Terry> the human hands, Nancarrow composed music that put
Terry> extraordinary demands on the Ampico system, requiring a
Terry> piano capable of flawless performance.
Wasn't the reason Nancarrow switched to player pianos the first public performance of a work for _seven_ pianos? Reportedly the players had only two sessions together and only four at a time; so only one had played at both sessions. The performance ended in a catastrophe right in the middle of the piece. Nacarrow then never wrote a piece for human players again, so I'm told. Is that true?
Terry> I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Nancarrow in San
Terry> Francisco in 1988 when he was inducted into the Automatic
Terry> Musical Instruments Collectors' Association as an Honorary
Terry> Lifetime Member. Very interesting gentleman you will never
Terry> forget.
Lucky you. If I gather right, large part of his work is still unpublished. Are there any recordings of the published ones?
--
Achim Gratz
-+==##{([***Murphy is always right***])}##==+-
E-Mail: gratz@ite.inf.tu-dresden.de
Phone: +49 351 4575 - 325 |
(Message sent Thu 20 Apr 1995, 00:27:12 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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