RCA
1993
Conlon Nancarrow: Studies for Player Piano (arranged for Chamber Orchestra) / Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra / Trio / Sarabande & Scherzo
About This Album
Half of these terrific performances, by the Frankfurt-based Ensemble Modern, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, are brilliant orchestrations of Nancarrow's piano works made by Yvar Mikhashoff; the rest of the CD is filled with little known chamber works in the composer's own scoring. Eleven of the legendary Studies for Player Piano open the album. Lines pop happily along, or skuttle like little animals, or march in lopsided jazzy rhythms, or sing in gentle free-ranging melodies, or boogie the night away in triple counterpoint and polyrhythmic layering. Study No. 14 is a particularly charming quartet instrumentation for bass clarinet, celesta, harpsichord, and doublebass (sort of, the Modern Jazz Quartet does Webern, or vice-versa). The wispish Tango (1984) and the abstract gypsy Toccata (1935) both share the same unusual instrumentation of xylophone, marimba, piano, and violin. Nancarrow's own orchestrations occupy the rest of the album, beginning with the initially splashy Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra (1986). Fast tongued brass patterns and gradually dispersed rhythm wind down to expansive, jazzily inflected long melodies that turn into angular marches and pensive gentle counterpoint. It is impossible to imagine what a "programme" could be for this piece. The Trio (1942), for clarinet, bassoon, and piano, is in three movements: a high energy comic Presto, a pastoral Andantino with bits of droll humor, and a laughing Allegro molto with brief ballad-like passages. The Sarabande and Scherzo (1930), for oboe, bassoon and piano, is the earliest composition, yet it still has that clarity of line, those touches of lightheartedness, and ever-certain direction that are to be found in all of Nancarrow's works. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide
Track List

Study for Player Piano No.5
1.
Study for Player Piano No.2
2.
Study for Player Piano No.1, an arch-form study
3.
Study for Player Piano No.6
4.
Study for Player Piano No.7
5.
Study for Player Piano No.3 "Boogie Woogie Suite", in 5 movements
6.
Study for Player Piano No.9
7.
Study for Player Piano No.14, canon 4/5
8.
Study for Player Piano No.12 "Spanish"
9.
Study for Player Piano No.18, canon 3/4
10.
Study for Player Piano No.19, canon 12/15/20
11.
Tango, for piano
12.
Toccata for violin & piano
13.
Piece No.2 for Small Orchestra
14.
Trio No.1, for clarinet, bassoon & piano
15.
16.
17.
Sarabande and Scherzo, for oboe, bassoon & piano
18.
19.