To all:  Dan Wilson wrote in 990310 MMD questioning whether or not it
would be possible to find Duca rolls recorded by Ferruccio Busoni
(reference my 990308 MMD).

(1)  The "Dutch Pianola Museum" in Amsterdam has some 250 Duca rolls,
among which I would conjecture there might be some by Busoni.  I say
"conjecture" because all my attempts to get an inventory from Mynheer
Janse, the curator, have failed.  In addition to this "stash" they also
have some 350 to 400 Triphonolas and about 800 Welte rolls.  Also, the
GSM (the Gesellschaft fuer Selbstspielende Musikinstrumente) led by
Juergen Hocker, surely has members who have copies of these rare rolls,
produced originally by a company in Hamburg, Germany.

(2)  Bill Edgerton, known to some of you (but now seemingly retired
from the "roll scene") acquired a piano some years ago which could
reproduce them, in poor condition, said he.  After some attempts to
restore, he sold it outright, together with about 100 rolls to a
collector in California.  (Robbie: knowest thou this lucky fellow?)
Finally, according to Bill, the buyer went to the trouble and expense
of restoring it, and then sold it.

(3)  Larry Sitsky, in his invaluable 1990 Greenwood Press publication
listing the world production of classical reproducing rolls, tells of
Denis Condon, resident like him, in Australia, having come across the
Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue of Bach, as transcribed and played by Busoni
(Duca 1151/2)...but in all of Australia could not find a piano on which
they might be played. So he presumably sold them to an unknown
collector.  There the trail ends.

l reply to all of you, as others may think that the purpose of the
RPRF is to obtain the rolls, play them on an existing pneumatic piano
and then publish.

Au contraire.  Rather, as the web site makes clear, we are attempting
to find, scan the perforations to digits and at some future date,
restore the recordings a la Rachmaninoff (Telarc 80489) and to be
released on March 23rd (Telarc 80491), as superbly realized by Wayne
Stahnke.  Naturally, the relatively primitive expression characteris-
tics will present a far greater challenge than the Ampico recordings
from which Wayne worked.

I'll close by saying that this project -- of all possible undertakings
-- is clearly the single most important of any that might be attempted.
Busoni was a seminal pianist, according to all who heard him, and as
well, a distinguished transcriber/author/pedagogue.  To provide
posterity with at least some notion of his art is No. 1 on a list of
some 100 and more (see "rollographies") to whom attention must be paid
during the approaching millenium.  I urge all of you to join me in this
important project:  see <http://www.rprf.org/index.html>

Best to everyone,

Albert M. Petrak