Conlon Nancarrow Rolls
By Rob DeLand
Now that I've properly introduced myself I feel comfortable going back and following up on some of the previously-discussed issues!
I have not so much as HEARD a Conlon Nancarrow roll, but I am familiar with the name and what he's doing. Does anyone even have a recommendation of recordings of these rolls which are available? Is there more than one recording? Is anything on CD? I'll bet none of it has been issued for the roll-buying public; has anyone ever heard to the contrary?
>From what I understand about these compositions they would not be playable on a MIDI instrument because so many notes are played at once (which is why Nancarrow chose this medium in the first place). A solenoid instrument would blow fuses (I've seen Rex Lawson do this to a DisKlavier with a heavily-arranged 88-note roll driven by his Apple II computer). A synthsized instrument would only be able to synthesize up to typically 20 or so voices before it started trunkating the older notes in order to free up a sound generator for the newer ones. I'm not sure how crazy I'll be about this type of composition in the first place, but playing it without the proper effects would certainly defeat the purpose, in my mind.
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(Message sent Thu 27 Apr 1995, 14:58:39 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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