Hello MMD readers,  Just saw today's posting about the famous
"Rhapsody," so thought I'd add a few lines to the discussion.

The released rolls were the work, by and large, of Robert Armbruster,
who was in charge of the Salon Music Department and the Duo-Art
demonstration concerts t Aeolian Hall.  At Tempo 60, the staccato
effects could _never_ be any good, and any flux in the tempo, at that
stepping, becomes highly exaggerated.

The 1924 Aeolian Hall Demonstration Roll (Primo), which I hope to use
eventually a basis for a new roll set, does have striking and phrasing
that sounds like the composer at the keyboard, although the roll has no
serial number and remains uncredited to this day.  This roll opens at
Tempo 100, which is more to the spirit of the jazz/classical composition.
The pedal effects are minimal and fast, while the dynamics change rapidly
and aren't frozen in those organ-like clusters that mar the fake Gershwin
"Rhapsody in Blue" rolls that Aeolian eventually sold to the public
(beginning a year after Gershwin left their employ: 1925 for Part II and
1927 for Part I).  Armbruster also faked "So Am I" from "Lady, Be Good",
a contrast to the 1926 English Columbia 78 and my Duo-Art/88-note rolls
first released in 1990.

That year I gave an AMICA convention seminar/demonstration called
"Where's George?, From Audio to GIGO", featuring tapes of the old
Gershwin performance 78s, other rolls by Armbruster (including "Just
a Memory"), the Aeolian version of "So AM I", a ratty Duo-Art roll
imitation of a 'Disklavier readout' scanned from that release, plus my
own arrangement based on the old audio.  Both the Primo roll re-issue
and the 'GIGO' rolls were limited editions, selling-out quickly.  The
new version of SO AM I (Duo-Art and 88-Note) remains a popular offering
in my roll catalogue, to this day.

Many people confuse Gershwin's technique with "racing" the music.
Actually, if you listen to the radio transcription of "Mine" (on the
Music Masters recording), you'll see that the lyric melody is at a
normal speed, but he keeps the arabesques and soft staccato riffs
moving right along.  Thus, you have a regular presentation of the
ballad song with a rapid, subdued rhythmic effect -- a trademark of his
playing.  Since he was once a pit pianist for Broadway shows, Gershwin
kept the melodies at a singable tempo, while experimenting with the
countermelodies and jazz breaks, for the most part.  This kind of
playing permeates most of this audio recordings.

Only 44 copies of the recut Aeolian Hall roll were ever sold, but if
one tracks it down and auditions it, you'll wonder how Aeolian ever
dumped the Armbruster fakes upon the public!  Played side-by-side with
the acoustic Victor Record (on LP, CD and tape, today), the similarities
are striking.  By contrast, the commercial version, starting at Tempo
60, has too much pedal, too many connected notes, no virtuoso staccato,
no 'bravura' accent impulses, and a frozen nature to the formula
expression arranging.  Was I a disappointed teenager in the early
'Fifties, when I bought my first original copies of those "played by
Gershwin" "Rhapsody in Blue" Duo-Art rolls, having enjoyed the audio on
78s previously, including a Columbia recording with Paul Whiteman and
Oscar Levant.

My favorite commercial roll edition is the QRS one by Max Kortlander,
with the "played by Beryl Rubinstein" box labels.  Rubinstein arranged
any number of Gershwin pieces, by the way, and today one can purchase
a CD by pianist Richard Glazier, featuring a transcription of music
from "Porgy and Bess".

(Note: if you can't find that Aeolian Hall Demonstration Roll, you
might look for one of the several hundred cassettes which I made for
distribution at the convention, and for a while afterwards.  The roll
was recorded on my AR Steinway grand in our Maine studio.  This audio
performance of that special roll should be a "wake up call" for anybody
who believes they are hearing the composer, on the version sold by the
Aeolian Co. through their catalogues!)

Of course, this brings us back again to the medium of the player piano.
For keyboard playing, you want a pianist or an audio recording made
from a live performance.  For an arranged music presentation, there's
nothing like a music roll, be it 88-note or 'reproducing'.  It was a
marketing gimmick to put the name of an artist on the roll, since piano
sales fueled the industry.  When some pianists complained, like
Prokofieff, Aeolian wrote back about the "money and publicity" they
received via their advertising.

Similarly, there was an in-house memo at the Moeller Organ Co., when
it was noticed that the Artiste rolls didn't sound like the live
organists, due to their being arranged.  "We must keep the artists
separate from the players (meaning the mechanical musical instruments),"
was the reply, "just like Aeolian does".  (The actual quote appears in
an AMICA magazine featuring an in-depth history of the Moeller
instrument, written by Jim Weisenborne a number of years ago.)

This can be a hard pill to swallow, after somebody restores a complex
'reproducing' piano, only to find out that the rolls don't sound like
the alleged artists, but one should enjoy the rolls for what they are.
The four "Gershwin" artists (arrangers) at Aeolian were: Arndt, Erlebach,
Armbruster and Milne, each with a recognizable formula method of
assembling the music.

Today, it's an easy thing to obtain remastered 78s of piano playing
on tapes and CDs, giving us the pleasure of experiencing what the real
artists really sounded like.  Through the 'old' fidelity you can
distinguish important playing techniques: pedal effects, phrasing,
accents and the striking aura.  It's merely a matter of listening into
the recorded performance, while tuning out the sounds of old shellac
records.

Hope the above has been of some help.

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/