Conlon Nancarrow
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) was an American-born composer who spent most of his life in Mexico City and took Mexican citizenship in 1956. Because human performers struggled with what he wrote, he turned to the player piano and composed most of his mature music for it. His Studies for Player Piano use tempos and layered rhythms far beyond the reach of a pianist. Nancarrow was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, and studied with Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Nicolas Slonimsky. He fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and settled in Mexico in 1940.
Complete Studies For Player Piano Volume One (LP)
First of four volumes released by 1750 Arch Records between 1977 and 1984 of the experimental and groundbreaking compositions for piano beyond the ability of a human pianist spanning almost 50 years. With insert
Die Musik von Conlon Nancarrow (book)
Very nice thick program for the performance of the music for player piano in Germany in 1982, with essay, notes and scores. German text.
Arditti
1990 release ** "Arditti", presents a typically challenging Arditti programme, beginning with Beethoven's Grosse Fuge (1826), which comes over well from their modernist standpoint. Conlon Nancarrow's String Quartet No. 3 (1987) comes next - Nancarrow had said that the Grosse Fuge was the only music he would want his quartet to follow, and they make an illuminating pairing. Ruth Crawford Seeger's magnificent String Quartet (1931) has had several fine recordings, and this one is one of the best - …
Lost Works, Last Works
Hidden treasure is always thrilling, particularly when it means recovering the forgotten works of a great artist. This historic CD offers a selection of previously unrecorded rarities by composer Conlon Nancarrow, including Piece for Tape, a dazzling rhythmic exercise in musique concrète. Listeners are also treated to the composer’s own recording of his study for prepared player piano, as well as a rare interview with the composer himself.
Studies for Player Piano
The definitive recording of Conlon Nancarrow’s Studies for Player Piano, originally released on LP by 1750 Arch Records, newly remastered in spectacular sound, representing the most faithful reproduction of what Nancarrow heard in his own studio. This is the only available recording utilizing Nancarrow’s original instruments: two 1927 Ampico player pianos, one with metal-covered felt hammers and the other with leather strips on the hammers. The 4-CD set includes a 52-page booklet with the origin…
Sound Forms for Piano: Cage/ Cowell/ Johnston/ Nancarrow
“... in the past, the point of disagreement has been between dissonance and consonance, it will be, in the immediate future, between noise and so-called musical sounds.” — John Cage The most characteristic features of American music are its eclecticism and innovation. The works presented here are perfect examples; their only common feature is that they were written for a piano altered in some way.
The disc opens with the eerie, wailing cries of Henry Cowell’s (1897-1965) The Banshee. In order …
Late and Unknown: Works on Rolls
Late and previously unknown works for player piano by Conlon Nancarrow, including Study No. 48 for two superimposed rolls and For Ligeti, recorded on the composer's own instruments; a co-production of WDR and the Paul Sacher Stiftung.
As Fast as Possible
Works by Conlon Nancarrow for orchestra, ensemble and pianos, including Player Piano Studies in live transcriptions, plus Paul Usher's Nancarrow Concerto for pianola, with Ensemble Modern, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and Rex Lawson, WDR production 2004-2005.
Studies and Solos for Piano
Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano in transcriptions for piano four hands, the Three Canons for Ursula, Tango?, Blues, Sonatina and other pieces, played by the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo (Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams).