I'm listening to the new recording by Jürgen Hocker of Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano -- one through twelve on this CD. It's interesting music and this recording uses "two precisely synchronized original Ampico player pianos."
In small doses, this precise music can be exciting. For an entire CD, the lack of color is wearing. I'll keep listening but I look forward to someone's future rendition via computer software in the colorful manner of the Ensemble Modern orchestral arrangement.
Hocker has also recorded player piano versions of Ligeti's Etudes. Hearing this right after the Nancarrow makes for an interesting contrast -- not as rhythmically unusual, not so methodical, and less melodic, but even more of a fascinating blur. Humans also play this music? Amazing.
conlon nancarrow: work list chronology by kyle gann
Prior to reading your post, I'd assumed that MD&G had licensed the 1750 Arch recordings made in the 1970s, resequencing the works in numerical order for some weirdly anal reason.
Does the label, or Hocker, provide any rationale for making the first album of the Studies for Player Piano recorded without the supervision of the composer?
My understanding is that the dynamics for Nancarrow's pieces are recorded as a separate track of holes punched along the side. If this is true, it seems as if Hocker can do little more than decide how fast each of these works will be played by Nancarrow's Ampico player pianos.
That hardly seems like enough room for interpretation to warrant new recordings. But hey.
Posted by: Herb Levy | August 14, 2006 at 07:07 PM