Player Piano Concert
By Dan Wilson
Terry Smythe described the piano-entry control he devised for the conductor in a Duo-Art concerto and spotlighting the empty seat as the piano played. He asked:
> Anybody else done a somewhat similar approach for a player
> piano concert?
Robin Cherry, who mostly lurks but occasionally contributes here, was responsible for about the most effective intro to a piano-roll recital I've ever seen. The house lights were dimmed and everyone stopped talking, but instead of a spot lighting the gap in the curtains behind the keyboard for the soloist to enter, the house remained dark and a scratchy old 78 began to play of a piano piece. After 10 bars or so, a spot came up on the piano and it took seamlessly over from the recording, perfect in both pitch and timing. How did he do it ? Magicians never let on, do they ?
Terry mentions the conductor's press-button to apply toasting fork to rear of invisible pianist. Sometimes the conductor is too nervy and asks for a keeper to sit in a tuxedo to do the button-pressing for him. I remember a concert done for the BBC at the Dome Theatre in Brighton where the billboards said George Gershwin was coming in person to play RiBlue with the orchestra ... "deceased 1937". Not only was there a choir to organize for another piece, the stage was too small for the orchestra so the piano, which was a rather soft Steinway B with Peter Davis's DA pushup on it, was shoved out at the edge where the keeper couldn't even see the conductor unless he turned round. Plus it was a live broadcast. Worse still, in rehearsals the piano was completely drowned by the orchestra even with maximum power applied to the remote pump which I was guarding under the stage, so it had to be "miked up" not merely for broadcast purposes but to give a reasonable result for the audience.
This proved to be an unusual Duo-Art performance, because in the event it turned out that the conductor, Nicholas Cleobury, had no patience with the idea of having the soloist call the shots. So far as he was concerned, the piano roll obeyed the conductor throughout. Luckily Rex Lawson who is orchestra-literate was the keeper and handled Mr Cleobury's corrections to the composer most adeptly. His ministrations included light slaps to the roll to keep it on track, as it was a doctored QRS roll which was too narrow for the pushup's double-ear tracker system. Phew ! And no mistakes either. We were so keen to get away we'd got the pushup, the pump, and all the piping and bits into the van before they struck up for the second half.
Dan Wilson
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