Nancarrow, Conlon / Studies For Player Piano
Album: Studies For Player Piano   Collection:Classical
Artist:Nancarrow, Conlon   Added:Nov 2008
Label:Other Minds  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2010-01-31 Pull Date: 2010-04-04 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Apr 4 Mar 21 Feb 21 Feb 14
Airplays: 1 1 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Mar 31, 2010: "In Your Ear ..." with Bug, subbing for jc
Study No. 3b, Study No. 3a
3. Feb 18, 2010: gigondo orangeasm
Study No. 5, Study No. 3b
2. Mar 16, 2010: Ambient Annoyance
Study No. 21, Study No. 6
4. Feb 12, 2010: Memory Select - Tom Djll of Grosse Abfahrt
Study No. 3a

Album Review
Red West
Reviewed 2010-01-26
Conlon Nancarrow. Enjoyable "academic" player piano duels, Generally radio-friendly track lengths and listener-friendly for this kind of thing. Bits of recognizable popular styles tease and give a lighthearted feel. Recorded in the late 70's under the composer's supervision, new digital transfer from original master tapes. The book has extensive descriptions of what each piece is exploring, reading on-air may enhance listener engagement.
dsc1
++1.hyper chipmunk boogie-woogie breakdown
++2.atonal lazy jazz
++3.Toe-tapping goodness
4. Quiet & calm
5. Hyper madness
+6.hesitant note pairs, then clusters, organic growth.
7.Playing with runs and snips of melody
8.with restraint- until the end, where it's heart attack speed
9.Happy, quiet with bursts

disc2.
+1.Halting, bursty, minimal, nightmarish
+2.Beatle-esque, as much as Nancarrow can be
3.deliberate
4.Single notes crossing
+5.notes of varying consonance/dissonance, layered build. Simplest rhythm imaginable, heavy-handed.
6.Peppy intro is forerunner of video arcade/casino floor sound. Quiet middle, loud end.
7.meandering, mid-tempo, a little sparse. Strong ending makes up for the start.
+8.hints of blues in the blend.
9.Halting
10.swarm of bugs
11.bursty
12.hyper madness, unreal fast

disc3
++1.Start: A bit forceful, quiet-loud-quiet. Middle: broken blues. End: Virtual virtuoso
2.Mess with a method. Inverted Powerhouse.
+3.quiet start, trippy boogie blues.
4.Runs. Too much data. It sorta comes together in the middle. 3rd quarter uses interesting rhythm & intervals. End's a fast mess.
5.cascading brook
6.hint of jazz in Lurch's keyboard bashing
7.little experiment
++8.One voice accelerates, the other decelerates, while gradually losing notes. really fascinating listening.
9.delicate, gets quiet in 2nd half, fast high & forte near end. Little polyphony.
+10.syncopated & slapback segments alternate
11.Highly compressed arpeggios & glissandos. Side effects may include indigestion
12.Highly irrational. The last minute is pretty interesting.

disc4
1.pile up, plod, power-walk, then interesting, mid[-fast exploration of rhythm.
+2.cool alien melody, "improv", breakdown
+3.songlike, then trills doing the incredibly fast Nancarrow thing
+4.starts hesitant, layers nicely while retaining lurching character. Then, curiously, it fades away.
+5.A little like a happy indie pop song, even ends on a major chord.
6.wow, sounds like every note everywhere, being inside a microprocessor. Even-textured.
+7.metric jazz?
8.Could be from a Tim Burton soundtrack. Bassy & twisted.
9.annoying telegraph with just a few notes in a poor melody. speeds up.
10.fast from the start,runs up and down the keys
11.Mafia music, machine gun bursts of chords
12.I hear the same thing low and high and very high. Canon. Texturally thin.
+13.Combination of runs, chords, fast, slow- very rich.


Track Listing
1. Study No. 3a   24. Study No. 1
2. Study No. 3b   25. Study No. 2
3. Study No. 3c   26. Study No. 7
4. Study No. 3d   27. Study No. 8
5. Study No. 3e   28. Study No. 10
6. Study No. 20   29. Study No. 15
7. Study No. 41a   30. Study No. 21
8. Study No. 41b   31. Study No. 23
9. Study No. 41c   32. Study No. 24
10. Study No. 5   33. Study No. 25
11. Study No. 6   34. Study No. 33
12. Study No. 14   35. Study No. 9
13. Study No. 22   36. Study No. 11
14. Study No. 26   37. Study No. 12
15. Study No. 31   38. Study No. 13
16. Study No. 35   39. Study No. 16
17. Study No. 4   40. Study No. 17
18. Study No. 32   41. Study No. 18
19. Study No. 37   42. Study No. 19
20. Study No. 40a   43. Study No. 27
21. Study No. 40b   44. Study No. 28
22. Study No.   45. Study No. 19
23. Sonatina   46. Study No. 34
  47. Study No. 36