I returned from the dedication of the Howe Collection of Mechanical
Music papers -- ads, magazines covering patents from the United
States and Europe -- and it was an interesting program.

I asked Donald Manaldi about the prospects of certain piano roll
programs that were continuing and the next project is to get Wayne
Stahnke to do the same thing with the Josef Hofmann and Ignace
Paderewski rolls that he did so well with the Ampico rolls of Sergei
Rachmaninoff that were transcribed to compact discs on the Telarc label
and sold under the title of "A Window in Time."

Since I do not have a reproducing piano I am always excited about
seeing and hearing them, and even more excited about obtaining records
such as the Argo, L Oisseau Lyre, Klavier, Sony/Superscope and Walter
Heebner series to supplement my collection of cylinder and disc
recordings of pianists transferred to LP, tape and CD.

I asked him about the transferring of the Duo-Art masters with which
the I.P.L. started its collection in 1967.  He said that is also on the
list of priorities, however, they do not have all the funding for the
Hofmann-Paderewski project, which will take about $100,000 to complete.
The Duo-Art masters would come after that.  This has been mentioned
several times on the MMD page over the past three years, so I got the
opportunity to ask directly about it.  I know that many reproducing
roll collectors would like to know more about this important scenario.

A collector in Florida has been contacted by the Naxos label about a
series of CDs based on the Welte-Mignon series.  I have heard a few
recordings and was thrilled to hear performances dating back to the
beginning of this series played on a Steinway with a Welte mechanism.

I had never heard any of the Horowitz Welte rolls, and that amazing
"Carmen Fantasy" of his has a diabolical urgency that would make your
hair stand.  I got chills listening to it, much like I did hearing
Rachmaninoff's Ampico roll of the Mendelssohn "Spinning Song" in the
Stahnke rendition today.  This is an improvement over the Heebner
series, which were recorded by an analog system, whereas this new
system is recorded by a digital system making them cleaner and more
clear.

And another project that interests me greatly is hearing Leopold
Godowsky piano rolls transferred.  Most important is the series of
Angelus-Artrio rolls which are so rare.  Donald said that Leopold
Godowsky III has most of them but they are very rare and they are
trying to get the complete series.  A recent biography of Godowsky
says that he was very much interested in his roll performances and
followed them through the editing process to the finished product so
it would reflect his very specific intentions of performance.

There are some fine transfers of Godowsky's legacy in the recording
studio which have been transferred to CD but his biographer, using
correspondence from Godowsky, mentions that doing the disc recordings
were very difficult because his normal way of playing had to be altered
to obtain the results that the recording engineer wanted.  And of
course that was one of the contributing factors to his stroke in 1930
while recording for English Columbia.

I did not ask Professor Manaldi for any time frame on any of these
projects, but I thought the community of collectors would like to know
that IPAM realizes the importance of these programs concerning
reproducing rolls.

Charles Davis