To put in my 2 cents: I advocate that expression should be added
when recording 88-note piano rolls. Historically, these 88-note
rolls were heard as the interpretation of the pianolist, good or bad.
If the interpretation was bad or completely expressionless, then the
roll was unpleasant to listen to.
Probably the player piano owes its bad reputation of sounding
"mechanical" is a result of the typical player piano owner not being
particularly musical. After all, the player piano had the same
problem that the regular piano did; It had to be played by a good
and practiced musician to get real music out of it.
It boils down to: putting out expressionless recordings of piano rolls
will only sound bad and result in the player piano's reputation being
further degraded as being "mechanical" sounding.
Those who buy the sound recordings will for the most part know little
or nothing about the player piano. Upon hearing the recording, they
will probably conclude that the player piano is a historical curiosity
that didn't sound very good and can not be considered as an instrument
that is capable of producing artful music. Those who do understand
player pianos will probably dismay at the fact that the rolls are
presented as expressionless.
Dick Merchant
Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA
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