Nancarrow / Antheil - Piano Music

Herbert Henck: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 105 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 53 mb
Scans (English notes) @ 300dpi = 32 mb

Total playing time: 38:48

Recorded: August 1999, Festeburgkirche, Frankfurt am Main

Released: 2001, ECM New Series 1726

Track listing:
1. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - I. Presto
2. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - II. Andantino
3. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - III. Allegro
4. Nancarrow - Prelude (Allegro molto)
5. Nancarrow - Blues (Slow Blues Tempo)
6. Antheil - Sonatina für Radio (allegro moderato)
7. Antheil - Second Sonata, 'The Airplane' - I. To be played as fast as possible
8. Antheil - Second Sonata, 'The Airplane' - II. Andante moderato
9. Antheil - Mechanisms
10. Antheil - A machine
11. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - I. Moderato
12. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - II. Accelerando
13. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - III. Accelerando
14. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - IV. Accelerando
15. Antheil - Jazz Sonata (Sonata No. 4)
16. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - I. Allegro vivo
17. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - II. Moderato
18. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - III. Moderato/Xylophonic, Prestissimo
19. Antheil - (Little) Shimmy

Reviews:
Musicweb:
Herbert Henck has a number of carefully programmed CDs for this enterprising label, all of which are well worth exploring. This latest release juxtaposes two important figures in American music history of (fairly) recent times. There is often a time-lag between innovation and its general acceptance

George Antheil (1900-1959) became notorious and found it hard to be taken seriously in USA after the failure of his Ballet Méchanique in New York. He was a man of many parts and a very considerable writer, with an excellent and entertaining autobiography, 'The Bad Boy of Music'. His piano music, with which he toured, brought him to public notice and caused a major riot in Paris. He was rated the loudest pianist ever to play at Wigmore Hall in London. This is a good selection of it, and shows his instinct for rhythm and interest in jazz. Several of the titles allude to machines. Sonata Sauvage which ends 'xylophonic prestissimo'. There is a Sonatina for radio, and one called The Aeroplane, begins 'as fast as possible' Antheil's Jazz Sonata is marked at one point 'like a player piano'.

Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) is best known for his dazzling studies for the player piano, which extend rhythmic complexity to the ultimate. There are a few early pieces for piano composed in the 1930s and included here - it was the finding that their enormous rhythmic demands proved insuperable to pianists of the day which led to his exploration of a medium to express his ideas, and to a life of isolation and exile in which he laboriously punched out his music on paper rolls. Only in his last years did he enjoy international fame and his Studies for Player Piano latterly attained cult status.

Herbert Henck supplies his own readable essay on the piano music of both composers and the ECM production is characteristic of their care and individuality. The cover picture is unwittingly prophetic of our sad rural times, with a sad looking solitary cow! Recommended, despite short measure at under 40 mins.


Classical.net:
The connection between Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) and George Antheil (1900-1959) was not immediately obvious to me, but pianist Herbert Henck's booklet notes tease it out: it's the player piano. Nancarrow's fame rests almost exclusively, of course, on his volumes of studies for that instrument. By taking the human performer out of the equation, Nancarrow was able to write music of nearly unlimited density and rhythmic complexity. I didn't know, however, that George Antheil composed music for the player piano as well. The original version of his Ballet mécanique included no fewer than 16 of those instruments, an inspiration soon whittled down by the knife of practicality and economy. It is ironic that this connection between the two composers is made in the context of a CD that contains no music for player piano. (Antheil's "Jazz Sonata" does include the instruction "like a player-piano.")

In the past year or two there has been a rebirth of interest in Antheil's music. His colorful life certainly hasn't inhibited this; his achievements included the refinement, with actress Hedy Lamarr, of radio-controlled torpedoes! (Check my other Antheil reviews on Classical Net for additional biographical information.) Henck's selection of music by Antheil appears to be the most generous currently available on CD. The music reflects his impudent intelligence (he was, after all, the "Bad Boy of Music"), his piano virtuosity, and his interest in machinery and other modern innovations, namely jazz rhythms. These works come from his European years (1922-33), when he was reviled, embraced, and then reviled again as the Nazis rose to power. (When he returned to the United States, he was unable to repeat his European successes.) Tempo indications such as "to be played as fast as possible" (in the "Airplane" sonata) and "as rapidly as it is possible to execute cleanly and with even touch and dynamics" (the "Jazz Sonata") show that Henck has his work cut out for him. He triumphs over the difficulties, however, and he convincingly animates Antheil's cocky excursions into syncopation.

Nancarrow's works for player piano have overshadowed the rest of his output, so it is good that Henck has included three brief works on this CD. The rhythmic intricacies of works such as these so frustrated flesh-and-blood pianists that Nancarrow was driven to discover the "eureka" of the player piano. Having said that, nine minutes of Nancarrow makes a lopsided CD, and the stylistic differences between Nancarrow's and Antheil's music, while not exactly jarring, exacerbate the lopsidedness. Henck, an established master in modern music of the most demanding sort, deals with Nancarrow's cruel challenges with confidence.

This recording was made in August 1999 in Frankfurt am Main's Festeburgkirche, and the engineering is satisfying; the piano is given lively sound by the venue, but there is no loss of clarity. Henck's booklet notes are generous and interesting. In contrast, the 40-minute length of this CD is not generous. Still, don't let that keep you from giving it a try – it's worth it. Just look for the cow on the cover!

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