Warren Trachtman asked, in 041008 MMDigest:


>> Recordings of piano rolls have been made both ways, with and without
>> pianolist interpretations.
>>
>> I would welcome a discussion and feedback from the MMD folks as to
>> which approach they would rather see for this type of project, and why.
>> Should the expression be re-inserted by a modern pianolist to opt for
>> a more "live-played" performance from the roll, or should the rolls
>> be played strictly as punched, with no expression added, for maximum
>> historical accuracy?


88-note rolls are not the music; they are media from which music is
produced.  A barrel on a barrel organ is not the music: that requires
the organ.  There is no such thing as a standard neutral piano on which
to play back rolls mechanically, so the ambit of having a neutral
rendition is doomed before it starts.

I find, on primitive "learn to play a pianola" tuition sessions for
total beginners, that even if you just get them to pedal in time to
the beat and leave the controls alone, it transforms dance music from
leaden to bearable.  Lesson Two is to try and keep the intervening
notes relatively quiet by controlling them with the feet -- better
still.  The learner begins to spot what piano music is about.

Or perhaps I should say "player piano music".  The curious thing
is that skilled pianists need just this same start on a player.  They
have no inkling of how piano dynamics are produced in abstract, only
when using ten fingers and two pedals.  My stepmother, a good pianist,
totally and absolutely loathed the player piano but she couldn't even
begin to assemble a reason how I, as a beginner in the 1960s, could
modify what I was doing in a piece to approach what she was doing.

Denis Hall has shown me a magazine article where a critic
identified in a single phrase what is wrong with reproducing piano
performances.  He said "the microdynamics are lost, aren't they?"

I.e., pianists do things almost impossible for roll editors to spot
as their idiosyncrasies at the time.  Really good pianolists produce
microdynamics too, with no more idea that they are doing it than
pianists.  A recording preserves that.  It's worth having.

This is a false dichotomy anyway, isn't it? There's no either-or about
it.  If you like mechanical music played without expression, then fine.

Dan Wilson, London