Medtner - Danza Festiva, Op 38/3, Duo-Art 6998

[pianolist]

Hello new acquaintances,

Piano rolls being so poorly understood, I thought I would try to clarify this little corner of the piano world when necessary. I'll start with a Duo-Art reproducing piano roll of Medtner playing, which ought to please one or two of you. It was recorded on a friend's 1926 Hamburg Steinway Duo-Art 'O' grand. If you want to ask questions, try me. Almost all the reproducing pianos in the world don't play properly, including many on CD, but this one in London, England does. Let me know what you think of old Nick's playing.

Thanks, folks.

[phillip21]

Congratulations - that is the most realistic piano roll transfer that I have ever heard. 

Phillip21

[wzkit]

This is brilliant stuff, and easily one of the most realistic piano rolls I've ever heard. It shows Medtner to be an extraordinary pianist, not only in terms of digital facility, but also in terms of sensitivity and lightness of touch.

I was wondering if you have any piano rolls of Medtner playing his Canzona Matinata - its a piece I've attempted myself. I've got his acoustic recordings on APR, but the recording quality is poor, and I think it does not caputre the subtle nuances in his playing that we hear in this piano roll. Please post it up if you have it!

[pianistimo]

you are a facinating person!  what a privilege to hear medtner.  agreed about the quality.  tell us more.  (don't know what exactly to ask).  how can you tell when a reproducing piano is not working properly?  (cleanest sound? compared to this?)

[pianolist]

Glad you like it! I have been involved in player pianos for about 35 years, and I have a best friend who has been with them even longer. I regard him as the world expert on reproducing pianos, which are the automatic ones. He has three Steinway O grands, one Welte-Mignon and two Duo-Art. We are both exceptionally lucky that we live so close, about twenty minutes from each other. If I wanted to find other people with as much musical knowledge about reproducing pianos, I should have to go to Austin, Texas, or Sydney, Australia. In fact, I have been to Austin a number of times, for exactly that reason.

Denis, my best friend, and I got together a group of enthusiasts and founded the Pianola Institute in the mid-1980s. There are many other societies for player pianos around the world, but we wanted one that would concentrate on the music.

Unfortunately, there is no God-given rule that says that reproducing pianos have to be good before they are allowed on to CD. All it takes is someone who owns one, in whatever condition, and a record producer with cloth ears and an ambition to make money. As a result, there have been many series of such CDs, nearly all of poor quality.

If a 78 record is played back on poor equipment, it will distort the sound of the recording. Maybe the pitch will be wrong, or unsteady, or the acoustic will be poor, but in general terms there will be something that tells you that it IS wrong. But if a reproducing piano plays poorly, then it will be the interpretation of the music which suffers, while the acoustic may still be excellent. This will understandably be very confusing for those with a good perception of what piano playing should be like, but with little knowledge of how such instruments work in practice.

Rather than start a general discussion about reproducing pianos under the banner of Medtner, I think I shall begin a new thread. I've read several posts to this forum which mention player pianos, and there are clearly a number of mistaken impressions about! I did a Nancarrow concert in London last night, and I'm dead beat for all sorts of reasons, not least that pianolas are heavy to move; as I approach 60 they are becoming heavier! So I guess I'll start the thread tomorrow, and put it under Repertoire rather than Instruments - I should like it to be a discussion mainly about music and musicians.

Medtner recorded at least 10 rolls for for the Welte-Mignon system, including Canzona Mattinata, which is from Vergessene Weisen, Op 38. He also recorded four rolls for the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art. I'll see what I can find.

Pianistimo - somewhere you mentioned the Kimmel Center. I was there for a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic a couple of years ago. It's certainly a very fine hall. I have several player piano friends in PA, mostly in the Lehigh Valley, but also one who lives across the road from the Kimmel Center. Actually, Bethlehem is my home from home in the USA - as a Brit, I get a real kick from being able to drive around it without a map!

[pianistimo]

wow!  thanks for explaining all that!  this spring the kimmel either had or is having (in april?) saint saens organ concerto.  let me look this one up.  would be well worth a visit to hear this piece on their brand new organ.  especially if you can drive around here (when all the roads go in circles).

sounds like you are quite a performer and also knowledgeable musician.  i'm glad you're going to post more.  this forum is my uni away from the uni.  since i broke my leg (yes, i always complain about it) i had to withdraw.  was so dissappointed because i was just getting into 'the piano concerto' class of dr. veleta's at west chester uni.  he's a scholar like you with  pianistic and memory ability to remember so many facinating details of piano repertoire.  and, he was helping us write in the form/analysis (and details)about many piano concertos of the standard composers.  so i get 4-5 classes and boom...this happens.  when i dropped out i felt like my life had ended at first.  but, now with this forum -i'm encouraged again.  some people like me may be amateurs our whole lives (just struggling to get a toe on stage) but it's a dream anyway.

so - to make a long story short - let me know when i can see one of these player pianos here in pennsylvania.  it is a cool place - lots of history both musical and governmental.  benjamin franklin has been celebrated here (went to museum of history and natural sciences a couple of months ago celebrating his 300th bd).  i think there was a pianola player piano in there?  didn't franklin invent the pianola piano?  we were kind of rushed to get through with the kids.  anyway, i also hear that Franklin's London house, which has been renovated to retain the original features, has just opened in London at 36 Craven Street off of Strand.  if i lived there, i'd be over there asking you about seeing the place (and looking for a pianola there, too!)  so many interesting inventions he came up with! 

*it's funny - i was just looking up some listening music and found these sites about player pianos accidentally:

www.mechanicalmusicpress.com

the automatic musical instruments collectors association
music box society
mechanical music digest
brougher restorations
player care