IMPOSSIBLE BRILLIANCE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 21 – 22 APRIL 2012 the Music Of

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 21 – 22 APRIL 2012

the music of CONLON NANCARROW IMPOSSIBLE BRILLIANCE Contents Southbank Centre has always celebrated musical mavericks Introducing Conlon Nancarrow 2 and masterminds, and Conlon Nancarrow can be said to fit into both these categories. His music, written for mechanical player pianos, is largely impossible for humans to play as it Conference: Nancarrow in the 21st century 4 experiments with rhythms, speeds and harmonies. But whilst our hands would stumble over his notes, our ears are given real Trimpin and sound sculptures 4 pleasure in the sounds that he has produced.

This weekend we are very lucky to welcome Rex Lawson and SATURDAY 21 APRIL Wolfgang Heisig, both internationally renowned pianolaists, to Southbank Centre to perform Nancarrow’s music on exact replicas of the player pianos he would have used. The sounds Complete Studies For Player Piano 6 you hear this weekend are as close as we can get to the sounds Nancarrow would have heard, working in his studio in London Sinfonietta 10 Mexico City.

Dominic Murcott, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music Film: Virtuoso of the Player Piano 14 and Dance, the London Sinfonietta and Southbank Centre have worked together to produce a festival for Nancarrow enthusiasts, jazz lovers and people who are totally new to this SUNDAY 22 APRIL music and just want the thrill of witnessing a piano playing with no one at the keyboard. Complete Studies For Player Piano 16 Nancarrow’s music continues to inspire performers, artists and writers as we can see this in the programme this weekend Arditti String Quartet 20 with artwork by Trimpin, arrangements of Nancarrow’s studies performed by London Sinfonietta, and new music from students at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music. Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group 23

If you enjoy getting to know this modern composer, don’t miss our festival Jubilation: the music of George Benjamin on 12 and 13 May. The London Sinfonietta will be back along with George Benjamin himself to celebrate another influential I was fooled by a Player Piano 24 composer of the 21st century.

Jude Kelly OBE Southbank Centre Artistic Director

Welcome to Southbank Centre and we hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.

The Music of Conlon Nancarrow: If you wish to make a comment following your visit please contact the Impossible Brilliance is presented Visitor Experience Team, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London by Southbank Centre, the London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250 or email [email protected] Sinfonietta and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Festival Artistic Advisor: Dominic Murcott 1 Introducing Conlon Nancarrow Nancarrow Conlon Introducing Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) is from the ‘entertaining’ (4:5 in Study #14) invariably mentioned alongside the great to the ‘irrational’ (√2:2 – Study #33) to the ‘This festival is the American musical innovators such as ‘hilarious’ (1/√π:√2/3 - Study #41A). first time that the Charles Ives, John Cage and Steve Reich, whose compositions are free from the For Nancarrow fans a mythology has complete story is told constraints of European traditions. built up around the man that is almost As John Adams put it they ‘burnt the as beguiling as the music itself. Born through his music’ house down and started over’. Of these, to middle class parents in Texarkana Nancarrow remains ubiquitously admired Arkansas, he played trumpet in jazz bands together some of the finest Nancarrow by musicians and other artists but the and orchestras as a youth before rejecting scholars to explore his continuing, and density and complexity of much of his his father’s ambitions for him to become indeed developing influence. music, plus the fact that the majority an engineer by studying composition of it is written for the player piano – in Cincinnati and then Boston. Having Southbank Centre’s Head of Classical an instrument that was becoming already caught the attention of Aaron Music, Gillian Moore says: ‘It has always antiquated even when he began using Copland in his early twenties, his idealism been a dream to put on a festival of it in 1948 – mean that his work remains and convictions led him to join first the Nancarrow, since first hearing this something of a mystery to a wider public. Communist Party and then the thousands impossibly amazing music in the 1980s. While there are in fact numerous pieces of volunteers from around the world who Thanks to the passion and energy of fought in the Spanish Civil War. Injured and Dominic Murcott, and the creativity of the malnourished, he returned to America London Sinfonietta, we have been able to two years later to discover a country ‘the key to appreciating this do it. I feel confident that this wonderfully descending into anti-communist paranoia off-the-wall music will be loved by a whole extraordinary music is to recognise and found that even anti-fascist fighters Nancarrow using a hole-punching machine new generation of listeners.’ were viewed with suspicion and were c.1955 Nancarrow’s obsession with time’ being denied passports. Within a year of Befitting a legend there is a fairytale his return, in what seems an extraordinary ending to Nancarrow’s story: recordings that are accessibly melodic, jazzy and decision, he emigrated to Mexico and lived For Player Piano’ in a 30-year period of to bold new arrangements, including of his player piano studies began to be contemplative, the key to appreciating there for the rest of his life. artistic solitude that has become part some landmarks from influential friends released and when Ligeti heard them this extraordinary body of music is of the Nancarrow legend. In reality his along the way (Andrew Burke, their Chief he declared Nancarrow’s brilliance and to recognise Nancarrow’s obsession Softly spoken, with a mild-mannered solitude may not always have been Executive immediately recognised the importance. Then, in 1982 at the age of with time; not just as the unifying force belligerence, Nancarrow was not the kind as extreme: he was an avid reader synergy between this event and the 70, he received the first ever MacArthur that binds sounds into music, but time of leader who could enthuse reluctant and subscribed to the main musical ensemble’s ethos and has championed it ‘Genius’ Award worth $300,000. World manipulated into something that can exist musicians and having spent several journals of the day as well as maintaining from its earliest days). The string quartets tours and commissions followed. The in multiple ways at once. Indeed almost years failing to get players to rise to the friendships with Elliott Carter and Cage are some of his finest works, the third world’s best contemporary players all his pieces explore this concept in one challenges of his music he turned his back who were both instrumental in getting being written for the Arditti Quartet who began to perform his instrumental works way or another and his investigations on human performers and concentrated his music known. The former through are present to recount that chapter in with the skill and commitment they produced an impressive number of new on the player piano. A real piano with a supporting the publication of his first his life’s work. An important character in demand. Others made highly successful techniques that predated their use by mechanism for playing automatically study in 1951, the latter via the Merce an unusual story is the sound sculptor instrumental arrangements of the far better known composers including from rolls of paper with music punched Cunningham Dance Company’s use of Trimpin, whose exquisite installation player piano studies. More recordings Xenakis and Ligeti. in them as a series of holes, player several studies in 1960. Conloninpurple is resident in The Front were made, PhDs were written and in a pianos and the related pianolas were Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall playing modest way fame and fortune arrived at In discussing Nancarrow’s music a new commonplace in middle class homes from This festival is the first time that the Nancarrow and new compositions Nancarrow’s door. There is however little descriptive language has emerged. Many around 1900 until the commercialisation complete story is told through his music: specially written for this event by a evidence that he craved either. It seems Podcast of his works are canons: traditionally two of radio in the 1920s. Nancarrow bought the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth network of composers from around the that he made the music he wanted to or more versions of the same musical line one on his first trip back to the US in 1947 Hall is metaphorically transformed world. Next to this is a line of 12 speakers Download our Nancarrow make simply because it interested him - podcast to find out played together but starting at different (where he also attended a performance into Nancarrow’s home studio for the playing spatialised versions of yet more no more, no less. more about the points (think London’s Burning). However, of Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for complete works for player piano. Nancarrow and new works. composer who shunned Nancarrow commonly uses two or more Prepared Piano in New York) and had his performers to create ©Dominic Murcott, 2012 versions of the same piece played at own hole-punching machine made. He The London Sinfonietta explores the In addition there is the conference perfectly constructed The Music of Conlon Nancarrow: different speeds, described as ‘tempo then set about painstakingly punching man himself with a multimedia journey Nancarrow in the 21st century, which masterpieces: Impossible Brilliance Festival soundcloud.com/ canons’. The relationship between the compositions, initially titled ‘Rhythmic through his best-loved chamber works runs alongside the festival and brings Artistic Advisor southbankcentre/ speeds is expressed as a ratio ranging Studies’, and later changed to ‘Studies nancarrow

2 3 Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 April Trimpin Conference: Nancarrow in the 21st century Level 5 Function Room Saturday 21 April 9.15am – 5pm Sunday 22 April 9.30am – 5pm at Royal Festival Hall 9.15am Registration 9.30am Registration (only for those who This conference brings together some of did not attend the previous day) the most important Nancarrow scholars 10am Welcome and commentators from around the world 10am Welcome to explore the composer’s continuing and 10.15am Presentation by Charles Amirkhanian, Artistic Director developing influence on contemporary 10.15am Paper 4 musical thinking. of Other Minds, who produced and promoted Nancarrow’s music and is responsible, 10.45am Paper 5 We are also delighted to welcome Yoko perhaps more than any Sugiura-Nancarrow, Conlon’s widow other person, for helping the 11.15am Presentation by Kyle Gann, who will give a brief presentation on the composer achieve recognition. author of the most important second day. text on the subject The Music of 11.15am Paper 1: Mark Gotham Conlon Nancarrow Conference Director and 11.45am BREAK 12.15pm Break Festival Artistic Advisor Dr Dominic Murcott (Head of 12 noon Purcell Room at Queen 12.30pm Free concert in The Front Room Composition, Trinity Laban) Elizabeth Hall at Queen Elizabeth Hall Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso APril–July Conference Committee of the Player Piano A new Lunch Trimpin: Conloninpurple Dr Dominic Murcott (Trinity Laban) 1.30pm film by Jim Greeson with an twelve channel nancarrow Dr Jonathan Owen Clark (Head of introduction by the film maker. 2.30pm Dominic Murcott: Research, Trinity Laban) This film is also part of the This weekend don’t miss the room-sized mechanical marimba Kyle Gann (Bard College USA) Percussion>Tape>Percussion: festival. Entrance is free, but Context, Analysis and by the celebrated German inventor and sound sculptor Trimpin Dr Felix Meyer (Paul Sacher Foundation booking is essential. in The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Switzerland) Reinvention of Nancarrow’s Prof. James Greeson (University Piece for Tape. With special 1pm Lunch guest Joby Burgess It is called Conloninpurple in honour of Nancarrow and for of Arkansas) this event it will play Nancarrow Studies plus a host of new 2pm Paper 2: Clifton Callendar compositions by composers from around the world. Conference Co-ordinator 3pm Special Guest: Yoko Sugiura-Nancarrow Dr Steve Gisby 2.30pm Paper 3: Alistair Zaldua Trimpin, who is resident in Seattle, specialises in combining computers with traditional instruments to develop different Additional Co-ordination 2.50pm Break 3.30pm Round table discussion: ways of playing. His work is celebrated across the world but he Dr Chris Sarantis Charles Amirkhanian, Kyle has never been represented by a gallery or a dealer. He does Dr Leo Grant 3.20pm Special Guest: Felix Meyer, Gann, Felix Meyer and not permit recordings of his work to be released commercially. author and Director of the Paul Southbank Centre’s Gillian Moore, chaired by Paul Conference Partners Sacher Foundation in Basal, Trimpin sets up the marimba differently to suit each new Archibold Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Switzerland which holds the location – so it will never sound the same as it does at Dance, London archive of Nancarrow’s work. Southbank Centre. He is speaking about his work with Southbank Centre, London 4.45pm Plenary Session Nancarrow at the conference during the weekend (see page 4). Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel 4pm Discussion with sound- Institute of Musical Research, London sculptor Trimpin, whose work Next to Conloninpurple is Twelve Channel Nancarrow, a line of The Berthold Goldschmidt Lecture Series is displayed in The Front Room 12 speakers. It is inspired by the multi-channel arrangements at Queen Elizabeth Hall this of Nancarrow pieces that have been created by various artists weekend (see opposite page). in the last 20 years including Carlos Sandoval and Robert Willey. This weekend it will play specially adapted versions of Nancarrow Studies as well as pieces by composers from around the world.

This event is kindly supported by Genelec.

4 5 Saturday 21 April Complete Studies for Player Piano What constitutes an authentic performance Conlon Nancarrow: Study No.3b Study No.2b Study No.13 Study No.18 – Canon 3/4 of Nancarrow’s Studies For Player Piano? Complete Studies Ten choruses of a twelve-bar Sounding more like a Nancarrow was apparently Another use of the same It has often been said that a personal For Player Piano blues over a repeating bass supercharged Gershwin than unhappy with this study material at different speeds line. Angular lines emerge Fatha Hines, this is one of the and declined to publish it. to create complexity. Here the audience with the composer, his pianos and The Purcell Room at Queen that appear to be running at shortest pieces in the series. It may not have succeeded faster voice enters later but a glass of wine in his soundproofed studio in Elizabeth Hall different speeds before a in terms of structural clarity both finish their material at the Mexico City was as good as it gets. For this sudden quiet return to Study No.9 but its pointillistic texture is same time. weekend’s concerts we are imagining the Rex Lawson – Ampico the ‘head’. A series of ostinato passages reminiscent of Xenakis and Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall has Reproducing Piano in three sections. The ostinati Penderecki pieces that were Study No.19 – Canon 12/15/20 Study No.3c always play against each other probably written several This short study is the last been transformed into Nancarrow’s studio. Wolfgang Heisig – Ampico Reproducing Piano A far less obvious blues with at different tempi but never years later. of the intended canonic Even though he is no longer here to guide us clear canonic elements. Hints more than three at once so it is collection, and while once we have Rex Lawson and Wolfgang Heisig, Boogie Woogie I of ‘cowboy’ music could be the just generally possible to hear Study No.14 – Canon 4/5 again it is hard to hear the the two leading experts in the field, playing influence of his friend Aaron them clearly. The false end Conceptually pure, it consists canons at work the material is the rolls on a Marshall and Wendell Ampico 2pm ­– 2.30pm Copland. provides a great sense of the same material at two more strident and suggests a Reproducing Piano identical to Nancarrow’s, of drama. different speeds at two composer learning how to put Conlon Nancarrow: Study No.3d different transpositions. The this new technique to dramatic the hammers of which have been prepared Player Piano Study No.3a It feels like a lazy blues but the midpoint of each coincides so effect. with metal tacks to produce a bright, sharp Player Piano Study No.3b structure is almost impossible Tempo Canons the faster one naturally starts attack. The pieces that require two pianos Player Piano Study No.3c to grasp on a single listening. later and ends earlier. Study No.24 – Canon 14/15/16 are performed by Rex and Wolfgang on Player Piano Study No.3d A piece that is simultaneously 3pm ­– 3.30pm A more mature work and pedalled pianolas. Player Piano Study No.3e comfortable and intangible Study No.15 – Canon 3/4 a brilliant example of how Player Piano Study No.2a with a lone, unexpected burst Conlon Nancarrow: Two versions of the same Nancarrow used his canonic Player Piano Study No.2b of Nancarrow’s high-speed Player Piano Study No.13 frenetic material at a ratio research for sophisticated For each piece we have picked out a feature Player Piano Study No.9 virtuosity which he was just Player Piano Study No.14 of first 3:4 then 3:3 then 4:3. results. Dramatically different or two that may help you to get more out of starting to develop. Player Piano Study No.15 Whether you can hear this is sections each contain the the music. Now you’ll just have to imagine While Stravinsky was probably Player Piano Study No.16 another matter entirely! At same material at three you’re clutching a glass of Nancarrow’s his favourite composer at the Study No.3e Player Piano Study No.17 a minute long it makes more different speeds, but now favourite Irish whisky and breathing the rich time, Nancarrow’s earliest Almost a return to 3a but with Player Piano Study No.18 sense to just fasten your the lines can be heard clearly studies were informed by his the tempo pushed so far that Player Piano Study No.19 seatbelts and close chasing each other. The aroma of his Cuban cigarettes. experience as a jazz trumpeter the relatively simple twelve-bar Player Piano Study No.24 your eyes... unique mechanical trills of the and his love of pre-bebop jazz, blues becomes too fast for us to Player Piano Study No.31 instrument are featured for These concerts are kindly supported by in particular Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, perceive accurately. Listen out Player Piano Study No.34 Study No.16 – Canon 3/5 the first time. Denis Hall of the Pianola Institute and the Louis Armstrong and Bessie for an end which slows down Two sections at a tempo ratio Paul Sacher Foundation. Smith. Studies 3a-e were by removing notes rather than Though not the only composer of 3:5, each made up of four Study No.31 – Canon 21/24/25 probably the very first to be actually changing speed. to conceive pieces with lines at four different tempi. Written in the late ‘60s written and were only grouped similar melodic material We hear the first group, then probably more than five years together as the Boogie Woogie Study No.2a related by different temporal the second, then both at the after the previous piece, this is Suite in retrospect. Nancarrow Probably written straight after relationships, Nancarrow has same time. one of the most transparent of was notoriously vague about Study No. 3, it has a similarly undoubtedly explored this all the tempo canonic pieces. the dates of the early studies bluesy harmonic basis but area in greater variety and Study No.17 – Canon 12/15/20 The listener is being invited to but they were probably begun with an intriguing rhythmic complexity than any other. The tempo ratios are starting enjoy the structure as well as in 1948 and completed in the structure. The whole piece is to become more complex the material. following year. over a bass line in 5/8 against In contrast to the retrospective (almost impossible to play a ticking pair of notes in 3/4. grouping of the Boogie Woogie and hard to hear). The three Study No.3a The bass line however is three Suite, studies 13 –19 were lines of different material blur Begins with a ‘right hand’ notes and a rest in length so intended as a single collection, into a single ‘swarm’ ending melody over a superhuman it doesn’t fit the five-note bar but developed individual with Nancarrow’s trademark bass line. Syncopated ideas length and seems to change identities. perfect cadence to let the are added ending with no fewer chord at unexpected places as audience know it has really ‘  fasten your than eight simultaneous lines. a result. ended! seatbelts and close your eyes...’

6 7 Saturday 21 April

Study No.34 – Canon 9/10/11 Study No.45c that was entirely unique to it. relationship between two lines Study No.21 – Canon X Study No.23 Clarity Study No.5 Canonic passages are The first quiet section uses Using ultra-fast glissandi at the so-called ‘irrational’ The archetypal Nancarrow While containing lightning An extraordinary series of apparent throughout this a similar technique to Henry and arpeggios, the so-called speeds of e (the logarithmic work. Two lines of broadly fast gestures this study 10pm – 10.30pm repeating lines stacked on top study but there is clearly Cowell’s Aeolian Harp where ‘Nancarrow Lick’, this is one base – approximately 2.72) atonal music cross as one gets remains delicate throughout. of each other. Some remain something more complex only certain notes are allowed of the most entertaining against π (the ratio of a circle’s faster while the other gets Based on a complex series Conlon Nancarrow: unchanged throughout but occurring. In fact tempo- to resonate after a glissando. works in the collection. The circumference to its diameter slower. The pitches are merely of accelerations and Player Piano Study No.44 others consist of gestures canons are ‘nested’ within concert is rounded off with – approximately 3.14), what a tool to allow the structure decelerations, it is almost as Player Piano Study No.26 separated by a diminishing tempo canons. Improbably, Study No.46 the mathematical exploration can be heard is the entrance of to unfold. if Study No.21 is embedded Player Piano Study No.5 number of rests. As a result Nancarrow made a string trio This begins by presenting that is Study No.40. A two the second piano playing the in it many times over. Tiny Player Piano Study No.6 the statements get closer version for the Arditti Quartet, a collection of disjointed movement work whose same material as the first, with Study No.8 ornaments (or perhaps Player Piano Study No.20 and closer until everything who even more improbably fragments before stitching second movement consists the echo distance between An earlier work and the first ‘squiggles’) of sound are Player Piano Study No.12 is compressed into a manic could play it! them together over a series of the first movement played the two decreasing until they study to explore acceleration. a feature from the central conclusion. of three simultaneous ostinati. on two pianos with a tempo coincide on the last chord. Each of the voices speeds section at about three Though Nancarrow is known Could the tremolos provide a relationship of e/π! up and slows down in an minutes. for producing some of the Study No.6 Boogie Woogie II hint of Spain once again? independent but overlapping most complex pieces of our A deceptively simple bass Study No.25 Acceleration way, producing a kind of Study No.28 times, these studies reveal line sounds like an ostinato 4pm – 4.30pm Study No.47 The super fast glissandi have a musical roller coaster. Apparently originally some delightfully accessible but through a numerical trick Again this has shades of different qualities about them 6pm – 6.30pm When notating the work for conceived for prepared melodies, from the glassy is always unstable, while a Conlon Nancarrow: Spain (even more than blues). according to the dynamics and publication, Nancarrow player piano, it features a surface of Study No.26, to the ‘cowboy’ melody unfolds over Player Piano Study No.45a A mighty six-minute work whether the sustain pedal is Conlon Nancarrow: realised that the western series of scales that gradually almost pop-like tunes of Study the top. In the final moments Player Piano Study No.45b culminating in a unique set down. The final twelve seconds Player Piano Study No.21 notation system was accelerate at different speeds. No.44 . the melody uses the same Player Piano Study No.45c of fast rhythmic glissandi, contain 1,028 notes! (Canon X) inadequate for such ideas and rhythmic pattern as the bass. Player Piano Study No.46 a reiteration of the opening Player Piano Study No.8 instead developed his own Study No.29 The Spanish flavour of Study Player Piano Study No.47 material at three different Study No.43 – Canon 24/25 Player Piano Study No.22 proportional method. Another study apparently No.12 may recall Nancarrow’s Study No.20 Player Piano Study No.11 tempi producing a chorale- Split into three sections, the Player Piano Study No.23 conceived for prepared player time fighting the Fascists in A tempo canon in which each like effect and the almost outer two are soft while the Player Piano Study No.27 Study No.22 – Canon piano, it is like a musical the civil war while Study No.5 voice contains one repeating Commissioned by Betty obligatory perfect cadence middle one features virtuosic Player Piano Study No.28 1%/1.5%/2.25% overlapping of Morse codes is a brutal piece that wears its note only. These ‘horizontal’ Freeman around 1982, Studies from nowhere. and incandescent glissandi Player Piano Study No.29 Three voices can clearly with two separate acceleration contracting concertina-like layers of notes produce Nos.45 to 47 represent a return plus snarling trills. be heard entering at processes occurring at once. structure on its sleeve. ‘vertical’ melodies in a similar to Nancarrow’s Boogie Woogie Study No.11 While computers have different places with the way that wind chimes do. influenced work, but with the Study No.11 is from a much Study No.7 created the opportunity same melodies. They then Study No.27 – Canon Study No.44 maturity that 32 years of player earlier period, but its staccato The longest and most for any conceivable change accelerate at speeds of 1%, 5%/6%/8%/11% Nicknamed ‘Aleatoric Study No.12 piano composing afforded him. chords and cascading lines sophisticated of the early in tempo to be realised it 1.5% and 2.25% per note The joy of this study is to see Round’ and scored for two A beautiful study with a suggest post-bop vamping studies in which the opening is still Nancarrow and his respectively until they reach how the perception of the fixed un-synchronised player character unlike almost Study No.45a (the act of improvising a staccato theme returns in antiquated technology that their fastest point before ‘clock’ (the first phrase that is pianos, this gently bubbling all the others. Using the As in the earliest studies chordal backing for a soloist) in an increasingly elaborated have produced the most decelerating back to the heard) changes as the other piece can be played with any Phrygian mode, irregular bar everything is underpinned all likelihood by chance rather manner. Yvar Mikhashoff’s gratifying explorations of starting point in a near perfect material curls around it, trying tempo relationship between lengths and guitar-strum by a bluesy bass line. This than design. arrangement for chamber the phenomenon. The iconic palindrome. Interestingly, fast but never managing to make it them. Every performance like glissandi, the spirit of one judders and stutters orchestra has arguably Study No.21 ‘Canon X’ with its doesn’t always mean loud so waver from its path – though is therefore unique and the flamenco is captured in a work throughout while the melodies become more well known than clear and thrilling crossing of the biggest musical surprises it does find a sudden faster winsome melodies produced of pure genius. stretch the jazz language The Nancarrow Lick the study itself. parts is featured alongside occur approximately half way tempo near the conclusion. are strangely addictive. beyond the obvious. the other ‘acceleration’ along the acceleration and All Complete Studies for 5pm – 5.30pm Study No.40a – Canon e/π studies, including the exquisite deceleration processes. Study No.26 – Canon 1/1 Player Piano programme notes Study No.45b Study No.40b – Canon (e/π) Study No.27, nicknamed the The antithesis of Nancarrow’s ©Dominic Murcott, 2012 Once again the blues bass line Conlon Nancarrow: (e/π) ‘Ontological Clock’ by Kyle trademark complexity, this is more like an egg rather than Player Piano Study No.25 The first of Nancarrow’s Gann because of its fixed was championed by John Cage a ball rolling down a hill. Some Player Piano Study No.43 experiments with two tempo voice against which the and is the only canon in the lovely sparse melodic lines Player Piano Study No.7 synchronised player pianos other voices speed up and collection with all voices at the reminiscent of Thelonius Monk. Player Piano Study No.40a and made up of chords, slow down. same tempo. The cool texture ‘The final Player Piano Study No.40b note clusters and glissandi, and ambivalent harmonic this is probably quite freely material is indeed reminiscent 12 seconds The incandescent Study No.25 composed and has almost of Cage. contain 1,028 marks the point at which no melodic lines or repeating Nancarrow found a sonic structural elements. While we notes!’ language for the player piano cannot possibly hear the exact

8 9 Saturday 21 April London Sinfonietta London Impossible Brilliance: Of all the 20th century’s musical inventors Two further wishes fulfilled – extensions The Music of Conlon Nancarrow and innovators, Conlon Nancarrow is rather than revisitings – are the Piece the one whose imagination stretched for Tape and Concerto for Player Piano. Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm furthest beyond his available resources. Nancarrow experimented once with tape Yes, he made a virtue out of his devotion to as the solution to his rhythmic imaginings. London Sinfonietta the player piano. But the question lingers: Piece for Tape’s technique of spliced Baldur Brönnimann conductor what if he had had access to today’s drum patterns would be recognisable to Ben Gernon conductor technology; or, better still, today’s players, any modern drum ’n’ bass producer, but Rex Lawson pianola many of whom are well capable of meeting Nancarrow didn’t judge it a success. In Iain Farringdon harpsichord the unique challenges of his music? its arrangement for live percussionist, David Hockings percussion however, it becomes a different creature. Sound Intermedia sound projection We have a few clues to how Nancarrow Study 49 has a more complex history. It is Netia Jones projection design might have orchestrated his studies. subtitled ‘excerpts from the forthcoming Pieces 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra are Concerto for Pianola and Orchestra’ (a Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study concrete hints. Although separated by pianola is a manually pedalled version No.21 (Canon X) arr. Dominic Murcott 42 years, they show a marked continuity of a player piano), and while some Piece No.2 for Small Orchestra of approach, with their contrapuntal sketches for this larger work exist the Player Piano Study No.6 arr. Yvar layers clearly defined, Stravinsky-like, intended relationship between the two Mikhashoff through hard-edged timbres. And when remains largely unknown. Indeed, the the pianist Yvar Mikhashoff arranged 11 study exists happily in its own right. Two John Cage: Five studies for ensemble Nancarrow provided of the three movements have however Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study guidelines that reflected this enduring been previously arranged for orchestra No.5 arr. Mikhashoff taste: ‘Strong preference given to oboe, by Thomas Adès, and Paul Usher has Player Piano Study No.26 arr. Matt Rogers horn and trumpet, and the other winds; created his own piece based on the general avoidance of prominent flute or Nancarrow at his home authentic approach might choose material. Even so, tonight’s version by James Tenney: Spectral Canon for strings soloistically; and an awareness in Mexico City, 1983 otherwise. In arranging Study 26, the flat John Ashton Thomas is the first time all Conlon Nancarrow of the instrumentation trying to preserve sound of the player piano is the problem. three sections have been orchestrated some of the attack properties of the The study unfolds in even notes, together. Furthermore, the performance Interval player piano.’ without Nancarrow’s usual rhythmic includes guest pianolaist Rex Lawson, for invention. The canons are therefore whom Nancarrow intended the concerto Conlon Nancarrow: Toccata for violin Undanceable ­and only just playable disguised within regular chords thanks after they met in the 1980s. To allow and player piano Mikhashoff is one of those performers to Nancarrow’s limited use of the player the audience the luxury of comparing Tango? arr. Yvar Mikhashoff who might have changed Nancarrow’s piano’s dynamic nuance. Arranging for the player piano version with the new Piece No.1 for Small Orchestra path had he been born around 40 years the diverse palette of a small orchestra arrangement, Rex plays 49a in its original Piece for Tape arr. Dominic Murcott earlier. Indeed, he was one of the first to means holding this tricky balance form before the orchestrated version. Gyorgy Ligeti: Continuum for solo play a Nancarrow study live – number 15. between chords and counterpoint. harpsichord He also performed Tango? (undanceable, Deranged mechanisms but just about playable), one of more than A unique set of problems And then there is the experimental Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study 100 he commissioned from composers Study 21 – in which two melodic lines, groundwork Nancarrow laid out. His No.49a from around the world. His arrangements one accelerating, the other decelerating, influence on late 20th-century music Study No.49a, b, c arr. John Ashton of Studies 5 and 6 certainly reflect cross each other – brings a unique set was diverse and profound. The machine Thomas Nancarrow’s suggestions: number 5 of problems. First, it begins and ends gun clatter of György Ligeti’s Continuum in particular echoes Piece 2 in the way with music faster than any human can for harpsichord seems closest to its canonic lines have been distinctly play. Dominic Murcott has tackled this Nancarrow’s aesthetic of deranged stratified. issue electronically, allowing an altered, mechanisms, but that’s just a coincidence digitally sampled Nancarrow piano to – Ligeti wouldn’t become aware of Nancarrow’s more recent arrangers take over when flesh gives up. Second, Nancarrow for another 12 years. Concert curated by: may disregard these prescriptions, but no single conductor can handle two Nancarrow’s early admirers included Dominic Murcott (Festival they have to contend with many of the simultaneous tempi, moving in opposite Frank Zappa, John Cage and James Artistic Advisor) same issues. Timbre remains prominent. directions. Again, the answer is digital: Tenney. Zappa knew his early Columbia Andrew Burke (Chief Executive, Nancarrow’s own player pianos were a split-screen video of the two tempos recordings, and cites him as an influence London Sinfonietta) souped-up, with metal hammers being conducted, co-ordinated by click – ‘ragtime that’s totally bionic’ – as early designed for a brash sound. Their bass track. This solution was theorised by as 1969. notes were particularly tinny. Mikhashoff Nancarrow, but it’s only recently become gave his basslines weight, but a truly possible to carry out his vision.

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by Schoenberg, Berg, Purcell, Stravinsky, Handel, Bartók, Britten, Dowland, Blow, Berio and Couperin. Recent work includes ‘Everlasting Light’ ‘The Sizewell, at Way the Thorpeness, Sea’ in To ‘The Seafarer’, installation– an around Messiaen’s de Jésus at the Louange à L’Éternité South a Bank – and ‘O Let Me Weep’, performance installation for Opera North. Rex Lawson biographyFor see Lawson’s Rex page 19. Iceland Symphony orchestras and with the London Sinfonietta. December In 2010 he caught the headlines when he travelled East theto Middle conduct to the newly- formed Palestine National Orchestra in Ramallah, Jerusalemand Haifa. Committed work his to with young musicians, helped Brönnimann set to up Orchestrathe Colombian National Youth and has a whole initiated range of 2010 in education activities Bogotá. in Netia Jones – Projection designer for Lightmap Netia Jones director is Lightmap of – creating video and projection for live performance, installation and film the multimediaprojects – and Transition, performance group which presents concerts and opera with integrated video and film. She has worked Royal at Opera House, Linbury Theatre and Southbank Centre, and site-specific at works forSizewell nuclear power station and Tilbury Docks; Batignano Festival, Aldeburgh Italy,; Festival and Opera North projects. include worksProjects with Transition , led a close to . , the success in 2009/10 and 2009/10 in Lost Highway L’Amour de Loin L’Amour El amor brujo with brujo amor theEl flamenco Baldur Brönnimann – Conductor – Brönnimann Baldur Baldur Brönnimann has earned a reputation as a conductor great of flexibilitywith a broad-mindedapproach music-makingto and a particular affinity for the most complex contemporary scores. 2008 In made Brönnimann his English National Opera debut with a controversial new production Olga of Neuwirth’s which conductingof led his to the new La dels Fura Baus production Ligeti’s of Macabre Grand Le DeathJohn Klinghoffer Adams’s of in He also returns Teatro to spring 2012. Colón, Buenos Aires, for a double-bill Schoenbergof and Szymanowski in summer 2012. Bergen the debut at Brönnimann’s International Festival 2008, conducting Saariaho’s and increasingly fruitful relationship with the musical life Bergen, in which resulted as Artistic appointment his in 2011 in Director their of contemporary music Ensemble, BIT20 group, and ongoing an relationship with the Bergen Philharmonic Recognised Orchestra. internationally as artistan diverse of skills and qualities, also is Brönnimann Director Music of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia Bogotá. in As well as focusing and on 19th-century much the of 18th- repertoire, season third his has included a performance the of original version of Falla’s singer Carmen Linares, performances with soloists such as Natalie Klein, Gabriela Montero, Johannes Moser and Schmid,Benjamin and the first complete performance Colombia in Bartók’s of The Miraculous Mandarin orchestras by demand in Highly worldwide for expertise his in contemporary music, Brönnimann has conducted, for example, the Seoul Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia and Rai orchestras, celebrations in Turin music of by Adès, Birtwistle, and Dean. Chin He is a favourite the of orchestras Australia in and New Zealand, and he also works regularly with the Scottish Chamber and work closely with London Sinfonietta with closely work musicians. The London Sinfonietta Academy entered its fourth year 2012, in giving the opportunity for finest the UK’s young come musicians to together to further their performance experience a week-long course. in and training for Visit londonsinfonietta.org.uk exclusive interviews, music and films, and information on our three recent releases Recordings on NMC and Records.Signum the to up Sign London Sinfonietta for e-zine the all latest news and information. SinfoniettaLondon performs with the generous support Arts of Council England theand PRS for foundation Music and is grateful for the vision investment and individuals, other trusts many and of their foundations, make whom of all possible. work Biographies London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta one is the of contemporary leading world’s music ensembles with a reputation on the built virtuosity its of performances, ambitious programming and commitment to placing new the music at heart of contemporary The culture. ensemble is Resident Orchestra Southbank at Centre with its headquarters Kings Place. at Famed for its commitment the to creation new of music, the London Sinfonietta has commissioned over 250 works and premiered many hundreds more. Its pioneering participation an Paper, work includes Blue Touch innovativeprogramme which nurtures and promotes the next generation of inventive partnerships across a variety disciplines,of and the the Writing Future scheme which enables composers to Byron Fulcher, London London Fulcher, Byron principal Sinfonietta trombone Briony Campbell

Saturday 21 April Saturday 21 is

12 Cageand Nancarrow knew each other’s Forwork a time Nancarrow even earlier. experimented Cageian in fashion, the soundaltering player his of pianos with screws, bolts and so on wedged between the strings. (Cage also secured the survival Study of – Nancarrow 26 was discard to going Cage it until expressed for anyadmiration its harmonies.) Yet musical influencein the otherdirection notmay have emerged late, Cage’s until ‘time bracket’ pieces, which of Five Rich and surprising and Rich Rutherford-Johnson, ©Tim 2012 typical. these In works, small groups of pitches given are a period which they in should begin (between 0 and seconds 20 after the start, say) and another which in they should end (between 30 and 70 seconds after the start, This means say). that the which the window in pitches sound can vary and duration relative in position, but strictly within defined limits. The results from way a long are Nancarrow’s canons – not least because theirof glacial pace – but both men shared idea an which pitch music in of material was conceived separately from the framework durational which it in sat. was anotherTenney early devotee. His player piano piece Spectral Canon for Conlon Nancarrow was written 1972 in but not realised Nancarrow until punched the roll two for (Tenney him years later. had already written detailed notes to Nancarrow’s first recordings, so a favour was being returned.) The instrument retunedis give to 24 notes theof first a harmonic series. Each note enters sequence,in from lowest highest, to sounding a rhythm that gets progressively Each entry then slower. also is faster, faster than the last, according a to mathematical sequence that relates harmonic position tempo. to It reads like a mathematical conceit, but the musicis rich and surprising. The execution pure is but most the of ideas (multiple Tenney, canons, harmonically related tempos, and so areon) Nancarrow’s, and would be explored by the spectral school then emerging France in and Germany. Nancarrow in front of Saturday 21 April the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco c1990

London Sinfonietta Players Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso of the Player Piano, Helen Keen – flute (doubling piccolo) a film by James Greeson Melinda Maxwell – oboe (doubling cor anglais) Mark van de Wiel * – clarinet (doubling bass clarinet The Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall and eflat clarinet) 12 noon Timothy Lines – bass clarinet John Orford * – bassoon (doubling contra bassoon) A screening of a film by James Greeson that gives Philip Eastop – horn a biographical overview of composer Conlon Chris Davies – horn Nancarrow’s life and times, from his beginnings in Alistair Mackie * – trumpet Texarkana and his years in Boston to fighting in the Bruce Nockles – trumpet Spanish Civil War and his emigration to Mexico. Ryan Linham – trumpet Byron Fulcher * – trombone The film features interviews with his family members Alexandra Wood – violin and those who were closest to Nancarrow during his Joan Atherton * – violin amazing career, including Yoko Nancarrow, Charles Paul Silverthorne * – viola Amirkhanian, Kyle Gann and Trimpin, among others. Lionel Handy – cello Markus van Horn – double bass It also presents a performance of his first published Andrew Zolinsky – piano (doubling celeste) piano pieces, as well as a newly discovered set of John Alley – piano two-part inventions he composed in his first years in Iain Farrington – celeste (doubling harpsichord) Mexico performed at the Sacher Archive by pianist David Hockings * – percussion Helena Bugallo. Oliver Lowe – percussion * London Sinfonietta Principal player Other highlights include ‘live’ performances of his powerful Player Piano Studies, Numbers 25, 3a, 37 Christopher Alderton – Concerts Manager and 21, his famous Canon X. Lesley Wynne – Orchestra Personnel Manager This free event requires a ticket.

14 15 Sunday 22 April Complete Studies for Player Piano What constitutes an authentic performance Conlon Nancarrow: appears at a higher register Cowell, whose book New Study No.49a – Canon 4/5/6 seem as the ratio is almost of Nancarrow’s Studies For Player Piano? Complete Studies after two minutes, just as the Musical Recourses was a Study No.49b – Canon 4/5/6 exactly the ratio of an interval It has often been said that a personal For Player Piano first moves on to more brutal major source of Nancarrow’s Study No.49c – Canon 4/5/6 of a diminished fifth. Two material. An astonishing inspiration). Listen for a series Numbers 49 a, b and c were voices jump back and forth audience with the composer, his pianos and The Purcell Room at Queen duel of overlapping glissandi of lines and cross rhythms over written after Nancarrow between the two tempi, a glass of wine in his soundproofed studio in Elizabeth Hall eventually develops. a chugging train ostinato that met pianolaist Rex Lawson changing textural character as Mexico City was as good as it gets. For this speeds and slows. and realised that the pedal they do so. weekend’s concerts we are imagining the Rex Lawson Ampico Study No.41b – Canon operated pianola could Reproducing Piano For Yoko and Others integrate his player piano Contraption No.1 Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall has 1 13 Wolfgang Heisig Ampico 3 3 techniques with an orchestra. Arising from a collaboration been transformed into Nancarrow’s studio. π 16 Reproducing Piano 3pm – 3.30pm The plan was that these with Trimpin, this was Even though he is no longer here to guide us Once again a two-voice studies would become a created for a mechanical we have Rex Lawson and Wolfgang Heisig, canon with the lower voice Conlon Nancarrow: concerto for player piano piano that can automatically the two leading experts in the field, playing Synchronised Pianos I beginning. This time the Para Yoko and orchestra but he never prepare itself and adjust the the rolls on a Marshall and Wendell Ampico glissandi interrupt a series Player Piano Study No.51 completed the work (Rex preparation throughout Reproducing Piano identical to Nancarrow’s, 2pm ­– 2.30pm of tense accelerating pulses (No.3750) performs a new arrangement the piece. and cautious fragments, but Contraption No.1 by John A Thomas with the the hammers of which have been prepared Conlon Nancarrow: the pulses and fragments Player Piano Study No.49a London Sinfonietta at this You can find Trimpin’s with metal tacks to produce a bright, sharp Player Piano Study No.41a gradually gain dominance Player Piano Study No.49b festival). Conloninpurple in The Front attack. The pieces that require two pianos Player Piano Study No.41b by speeding to a rattling Player Piano Study No.49c Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall . are performed by Rex and Wolfgang on Player Piano Study No.41c crescendo before slowing Player Piano Study No.30 All three movements are three- pedalled pianolas. Player Piano Study No.50 down to a more sedate pace Player Piano Study No.33 part canons, and the collection Synchronised Pianos II Player Piano Study No.1 once more. has a sense of classical This concert features a concerto form about it with a 4pm – 4.30pm For each piece we have picked out a feature Described by James Study No.41c – Canon fascinating group of studies slow middle movement and a or two that may help you to get more out of Tenney as one of the most that fall outside the suggested flashy final one. Listen out for Conlon Nancarrow: Player astonishing pieces in the 1 13 categories of the main body a bugle-type call that appears Piano Study No.35 the music. Now you’ll just have to imagine 3 3 you’re clutching a glass of Nancarrow’s entire literature of 20th- π 16 of work. after a few seconds of the first Player Piano Study No.32 favourite Irish whisky and breathing the rich century music, Study No.41 movement and then is referred Player Piano Study No.48a for two synchronised player 1 2 Para Yoko to throughout the set. Player Piano Study No.48b aroma of his Cuban cigarettes. pianos is the longest of all the π 3 The only study with a non- Player Piano Study No.48c studies and uses the most numerical title and dedicated Study No.30 for Prepared Now the fun begins: two voices These concerts are kindly supported by complex mathematical ratios. to Nancarrow’s wife and Player Piano Study No.48 stands alongside on each piano, both pianos at Exciting and unpredictable, mother of his son David Nancarrow attended an study No.41 in terms of Denis Hall of the Pianola Institute and the once! The crescendos of the the third movement is the Makoto (Yoko is taking part in early performance of Cage’s duration and sophistication Paul Sacher Foundation. first two movements overlap superimposition of the first this weekend’s celebrations Sonatas and Interludes for and is described by Kyle Gann to create one of the most over the second. of Nancarrow). Written in the Prepared Piano in 1947 in New as Nancarrow’s magnum complex sections in musical early 1990s after a debilitating York. Undoubtedly influenced opus and by James Tenney as history. Buried in the mix are Study No.41a - Canon illness, this is a gentler, more by this, Study No.30 is an ‘somehow perfect’. It is also almost all the techniques that lyrical work than the major unpublished work for prepared one of only three studies that 1 2 Nancarrow has developed for studies. Contains three voices player piano. The instructions features two synchronised π 3 the player piano. but not in strict canon. for preparation have not player pianos. Despite the mind-boggling survived but as they were Study No.50 mathematical tempo ratio, Study No.51 (No.3750) collected in tone clusters, it Study No.35 Instead of a study arranged the musical structure is Study No.3750 is Nancarrow’s is remarkably effective in this Unlike many of the studies for ensemble, this is a player perceptually accessible. humorous title but it is also non-prepared version where this is not a strict canon piano transcription of Piece Consisting of two lines of the known as Study No.51. Several swarms of sound follow one but a series of canonic No.2 for Small Orchestra. After same material and therefore voices using scale fragments another. passages and melodic and Study 41, hearing three voices a strict canon, the first begins reach an almost romantic chord textures. It has an at a ratio of 5:6:7 should be alone and features two sides cadenza before being swept Study No.33 – Canon √2/2 improvisational jazz-like child’s play! of Nancarrow’s personality: a away by a final gush of The first foray into so-called fluidity plus clarity of purpose gentle Copland-esque melody ‘Nancarrow Licks’. This is the irrational tempo relationships. that no doubt emerged after Study No.1 is continually interrupted by final study he wrote. While we can’t precisely hear 30 years of player piano Not actually the first study to ‘Nancarrow Licks’ – lightning- the exact timing relationship compositions – this was be written but the first to be fast glissandi. The second line it is not as irrational as it may written in 1979. published in 1951(by Henry

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Study No.32 – Canon 5/6/7/8 Number 37: a perfect Study No.4 Biographies Nancarrow generally uses construction Jumping back to an early work, canons so the relationship there is an elegant simplicity Wolfgang Heisig between the parts can be 5pm – 5.30pm about this piece. Based on a Wolfgang was born in Zwickau in 1952. Between 1972 and 1978 Dulwich College, as a junior exhibitioner at the Royal College of perceived. In this short work repeating 51-note cycle this he studied piano and composition at the Dresden College of Music, and at Nottingham University. Fascinated by his first the four tempi jump around Conlon Nancarrow: is not a true canon as the Music, then worked as a bank clerk, a Director of a church choir, pianola in 1971, he abandoned plans for a more traditional the four parts producing a Player Piano Study No.37 rhythms of the voices are a bar pianist, music therapist and honorary lecturer until 1990, musical career, and initially concentrated on concerts with melancholy atmosphere that Player Piano Study No.42 independent, meaning that we when he became involved with phonola music. reproducing pianos, ‘bringing back’ Percy Grainger to play the is hard to grasp and almost Player Piano Study No.36 can hear the same qualities in Grieg Piano Concerto at Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1972, over ten absent minded. Player Piano Study No.4 each but not the same actual He has given concerts, edited piano rolls, and reconstructed, years after the pianist’s death. lines. produced and sold Nancarrow piano rolls. He developed Study No.48a Nancarrow was inspired to musical objects and exhibitions and established Zwirn – a At the same time, inspired by William Candy, once the music Study No.48b write for the player piano by a Study No.37 - Canon 150//16 small theatre – with Andreas Jungwirth. He has produced roll critic of the Gramophone and Musical Times, Rex began Study No.48c suggestion in Henry Cowell’s 05/7//168¾//180//187½//200 compositions for the ensembles Musica Temporale, Xsemble, studying the pianola, the foot-operated player-piano, making Study 48a and 48b are both book New Musical Resources. //210//225//240//250//262½ L’art pour l’art, TrioLog, Go Guitars, Singer Pur, Décadanse, his major international debut in 1981 in Paris, performing in the based on a tempo canon It therefore seems fitting //281¼ Ensemble C, and Duo Slaatto Reinecke. world première of Stravinsky’s Les Noces (1919 version), under of two voices at an almost that this concert series ends Featuring 12 separate canons, the direction of Pierre Boulez. imperceptibly close ratio of with Study No. 37, one of the each with 12 voices at tempo Between 2002-3 he was Vice President of the Free Academy of 60 against 61. In each the most extraordinary pieces in ratios approximating those the Arts in Leipzig. In 2007 he was awarded the Gellert Prize. As well as recording extensively, highlights of an international higher voice begins after the the collection and one which of the pitches in a chromatic Wolfgang has worked as a visiting music teacher at Goethe- career include a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in George lower, playing a transposed explores another of Cowell’s octave. The first canon is Gymnasium in Sebnitz (2002-3), Free Waldorf School in Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique, the Last Night of the Proms in 1988, version of the same material. ideas: connecting rhythm a simple five-note melody Magdeburg (2004-5), Vocational School in Döbeln (2006, 2011), and the first concerts of nearly all of Stravinsky’s pianola works, The distance between the ratios to pitch ones. played at twelve different Gymnasium Rochlitz (2009) and Gymnasium Bergstadt (2010). including the Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées two voices at first is great pitches at twelve speeds, so in Paris. The British composer, Paul Usher, and the Venezuelan, enough for them to seem like Study No.42 the music seems to cascade Rex Lawson Julio d’Escrivan, have written pianola concertos especially a counterpoint. As the works Starting cautiously with two down the instrument. Each Rex Lawson’s name is synonymous with the pianola; not the for Rex. In 2007 he gave the first pianola performance of move to their conclusion voices, one low, one high, this canon uses a different version brash, mechanical variety from cowboy films, but the original, Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto, with Brussels Philharmonic the same motifs become piece has a single-minded of this technique and each sophisticated instrument which responds well to serious study Orchestra under Yoel Levi. In 2011 Rex accompanied the BBC recognisable in each, playing mission to add more voices has a contrasting texture and fits in front of the keyboard of any normal concert grand, Singers in the première of Airplane Cantata, commissioned by catch until they perfectly and have them all get faster! so it is possible to recognise playing it by means of a set of felt-covered wooden fingers. the BBC from Gabriel Jackson and broadcast live on Radio 3. overlap at the very end. The By the conclusion there are ten when a new one appears. third movement is the first two voices at ten speeds, but the With a surprisingly luscious Rex was born in Bromley, Kent in 1948, to parents who met played together in such a way ear perceives them more as a ending, Study No.37 is through playing two-pianos together. He studied music at that they all end at the same high ‘swarm’, a mid one and a arguably the perfect example time. Just about every one low one. of Nancarrow’s innovative of Nancarrow’s player piano structural invention. techniques appear in this Study No.36 - Canon piece revealing a virtuoso at 17/18/19/20 the top of his game. A single line of music played All Complete Studies for at four different speeds at Player Piano programme notes SOUTHBANK CENTRE four different transpositions. ©Dominic Murcott, 2012 The slowest and lowest starts MEMBERSHIP first and ends last with each ‘grunts and layer starting later and ending Enjoy priority booking for world-class earlier on top. All four reach EXPERIENCE events, free entry to the Hayward snarls like a their mid-point at the same Gallery, invitations to Members Events, time for an extraordinary MORE access to the private Members bar wild animal series of grunts and snarls like with fantastic views of London, 10% trying to a wild animal trying to escape savings at Foyles Southbank Centre from within the piano. There WITH and many more benefi ts. escape’ may not be another piece of MEMBERSHIP music in existence like it! Members experience, save and access more. 0844 875 0071 SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK/ MEMBERSHIP

18 Sunday 22 April Arditti String Quartet String Arditti International Chamber The player piano certainly dominates Mathematically irrational Music Season 2011-12 Nancarrow’s output, but works for live Such pros and cons are even more musicians make up around a quarter of pertinent to Paul Usher’s arrangement Impossible Brilliance: the entries in his catalogue. And if we of Study 33. The creative compromises The Music of Conlon Nancarrow count duration rather than sheer number, begin with the simple fact of transcription. the ratio is perhaps even closer, given that This study is the first piece (for Queen Elizabeth Hall, 6pm so many of the player piano pieces are less Nancarrow and for history) to make use than four minutes long. Among these 15 or of mathematically irrational rhythms. In Irvine Arditti violin so works, composed in the early and late this case, tempos in the ratio 2: square Ashot Sarkissjan violin years of his career, the string quartets hold root of 2. Marking these sorts of rhythms Ralf Ehlers viola special places. The first was Nancarrow’s on piano roll paper is relatively easy – a Lucas Fels cello parting work for live performers before he geometric exercise. Transcribing them to turned to the player piano. It may not yet be the strictly rational musical world of beats Conlon Nancarrow: String Quartet No.1 mature Nancarrow, but it contains many and bars, however? Impossible. of the seeds of his later work. There are In practical terms, many of the rhythmic György Ligeti: String Quartet No.2 canons, blues inflections, accelerations displacements in Nancarrow’s original Conlon Nancarrow: String Quartet No.3 and decelerations, and even multiple (some of them fall closer than 1/300th simultaneous tempos. Although he would second apart) are so small as to be Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study have to wait until 1982 and the Kronos inaudible, so it was a simple decision No.33 arr. Paul Usher for string quartet Quartet to hear it properly, Nancarrow ‘He spent his inheritance to work towards a ‘best fit’ rather than was obviously pleased enough with his complete accuracy. In this way the contrapuntal experiments to want to find on his first player piano’ impossibility of literally transcribing a medium in which he could explore them Nancarrow’s original opened the door to a more fully. Two years later he was in New freer approach. Usher chose instead not York, spending his inheritance on his first to be completely faithful to the original, player piano. but to seek an analogue to how the piece exploits the unique possibilities of its ‘If anyone can do it, they can’ Music that might tear the machine apart medium, and this informs his overall The First Quartet is undeniably complex, Nancarrow transcribing Although the string quartet is, like the arranging approach. a score c1950 and it has vexed several groups who have piano, a relatively homogenous sound, tried to play it. Yet a few years after the the switch of instrumentation adds A great discovery Kronos premiere Nancarrow showed it to new dimensions and takes at least one György Ligeti first came across the Arditti Quartet at the Almeida Festival important one away. The construction of Nancarrow in 1980, when he saw a page in London. They sightread it perfectly. the Third Quartet may be similar to many of his music in an article on mechanical ‘Unbelievable,’ the composer later said. of the Studies, but its effect is remarkably music. A few months later he picked The Arditti’s skill prompted him to return different. Firstly, the mechanical anxiety up some recordings in a Paris music to the medium for the first time in four is lost. The Studies push their instrument store. ‘This music is the greatest decades. ‘If anyone can do it, they can.’ to its physical limits: part of the thrill of discovery since Webern and Ives,’ he String Quartet No.3 was the result. listening to them live is the chance that the enthused to the American composer (A second quartet dates from the 1940s, music might just tear the machine apart. Charles Amirkhanian, another admirer. but it is unperformable and unfinished. In the quartet, however, the challenges Ligeti’s role in the world’s ‘discovery’ of Nancarrow retained its number, however, are all mental, internal. That physical Nancarrow was significant. He arranged just in case he ever did complete it.) tension has been displaced. On the other Nancarrow’s invitation to the 1982 The Third is possibly Nancarrow’s most hand, distributing the contrapuntal lines festival of the International Society for significant statement for live performers. between four players gives each one more Contemporary Music, and facilitated The canons are still there, of course. In character: the music is more apparent his meeting with Jürgen Hocker, a player fact all three movements are canons; as a bundle of lines than as a shuddering piano enthusiast. Hocker played a part they run at tempo ratios of 3:4:5:6, so mass. Nancarrow is also able to make use in disseminating Nancarrow’s music each instrument is playing at a different of a greater range of sounds. This he does through recordings and, latterly, videos. speed throughout. All four instruments to great effect in the second movement. Ligeti’s Second String Quartet long co-ordinate at only a handful of points in Here, ethereal harmonics and scattered predates this discovery, however. the entire piece, demanding tremendous pizzicati bring a new emotional colour to There are resemblances between discipline while giving the impression of his canonic technique that simply isn’t the two, but they seem less uncanny great freedom. heard anywhere else. when one observes that since Webern many European modernist composers,

20 21 Sunday 22 April Trinity Laban Trinity from Stravinsky to Aldo Clementi and Biography Trinity Laban Conservatoire Ligeti himself had been drawn to the of Music and Dance Contemporary possibilities of canonic technique. None Arditti String Quartet Music Group had quite separated themselves from the The Arditti Quartet enjoys a worldwide constraints of barred notation, however. reputation for their spirited and The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall Nancarrow remained unique for his technically refined interpretations 12.30pm – 1.30pm exploration of hitherto unimagined of contemporary and earlier 20th- tempo relationships. century music. Several hundred string Gregory Rose conductor quartets and other chamber works Whilst Nancarrow de-mechanised his have been written for the ensemble Liam Mattison: Nix falling out of orbit music when writing for string quartet, since its foundation by first violinist Ligeti sought to mechanise it in his Irvine Arditti in 1974. These works Emma-Jean Thackray: the first time Second Quartet. Rhythmic canons have left a permanent mark on 20th- i met judy are used to create and unfurl delicate, century repertoire and have given the Aled Start: Helix inorganic forms. As in much of Ligeti’s Arditti Quartet a firm place in music Ben Corrigan: Autonomous point being that the music should convey music, however, the machinery is history. World premieres of quartets more than the sum of its parts. I have also poetically broken. The metronomes tick by composers such as Adès, Bertrand, sought to musically convey aspects of (most obviously in the third movement), Britten, Cage, Denisov, Dusapin, Trinity Laban’s contemporary music group chaos theory, namely that although there but wind down or occasionally skip a beat. Francesconi, Gubaidulina, Harvey, are some logical, casual sequences which Heard side by side, Ligeti sounds a curious Kurtag, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Nancarrow, works closely with emerging composers on a variety of projects, often involving immediately make sense to the ear, the epitaph to Nancarrow, the sound of the Rihm, Sciarrino, and Xenakis and way in which they play out in reality is far machine finally shaking itself apart. hundreds more show the wide range of contemporary dance and other art forms. In this concert they perform pieces by more complex and unpredictable than we music in the Arditti Quartet’s repertoire. would like to think.’ ©Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 2012 The ensemble believes that close current composition students written collaboration with composers is vital in response to Nancarrow’s music and the first time i met judy to the process of interpreting modern mentored by composer Andrew Poppy. The students explain their pieces below. Emma-Jean Thackray: ‘This piece music and therefore attempts to co- explores the essence of memory and operate with every composer whose focuses on the life of one particular works it plays. Nix Falling out of Orbit Liam Mattison: ‘Nix is a small, possibly character. By taking a melodic fragment to represent the protagonist, passing The players’ commitment to educational the smallest, moon of Pluto. It is also the name of the Greek goddess of night (with it through quasi-episodic musical work is indicated by their masterclasses surroundings and creating rhythmical and workshops for young performers an alternative spelling, to avoid confusion with the asteroid 3908 Nyx). interaction with adjacent lines, I wish to and composers all over the world. The capture the tensions, experiences and Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography ‘Nix Falling out of Orbit creates the often ephemeral environments one now features well over 170 CDs. 42 discs passes through in the lineage of life. have so far been released as part of the relationships between players, sounds ensemble’s continuing series on the and textures which, throughout the piece, fall away from the expected paths.’ ‘As the roles of, and relationships French label Naïve Montaigne. Renowned between, instruments are questioned, so for recording many composers’ portraits are the people in our lives – both those of in their presence, the quartet recorded Helix Aled Start: ‘Having spent some time transient and perennial companionship. the complete quartets of Luciano Berio As this piece ends, it leaves us shortly before his death. The latest deconstructing Nancarrow scores with Andrew poppy, I was drawn to the questioning the possible nihility of our releases include Donaueschingen 2006, ventures.’ Lachenmann, Moe, Nancarrow, Paredes effectiveness of the techniques he used and Spahlinger. Over the past 35 years, and decided to take a little foray into the enchanting world of multi-tempi. Bryan Autonomous the ensemble has received many prizes Ben Corrigan: ‘Although I only discovered for its work including the Deutsche Appleyard’s book The Brain is Wider Than the Sky was also an inspiration in seeking the film A.I. after finishing Autonomous Schallplatten Preis several times and the the synopsis for the film fits the piece Gramophone Award for the best recording to convey the inherent complexity in biological systems. perfectly: “A highly advanced robotic of contemporary music in 1999 (Elliott boy longs to become ‘real’ so that he can Carter) and 2002 (Harrison Birtwistle). regain the love of his human mother.” The prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music ‘As the title suggests this music refers Prize was awarded to them in 1999 for generically to the double helix, but could ‘lifetime achievement’ in music. be transported to any situation, my main

22 23 Southbank Centre would like to thank the following companies, trusts, foundations and individuals for their valuable support.

Corporate Supporters Bloomberg JTI Shell Christie's Lloyds Banking Group Sotheby's Clifford Chance LLP Louis Vuitton The Book People JCB MasterCard I was fooled by a Player Piano Everyone gathered around the piano (the only one J.P. Morgan Russell-Cooke Solicitors in the street, I later discovered) and joined in singing Trust and Foundation Supporters to the marvelous sounds Rusty so skillfully and Biffaward Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust effortlessly played. After some time Rusty looked British Council Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Finnis Scott Foundation down and asked if I would like to play the piano. Clore Poetry and Literature Awards Heritage Lottery Fund The Henry Moore Foundation I turned the colour of cherries and wanted to Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for Institut Français The Kirby Laing Foundation contemporary music Korean Cultural Centre The Westminster Foundation escape. My mind was racing - how could I possibly Embassy of Brazil Paul Hamlyn Foundation Western Riverside Environmental Fund play the piano? I looked to Mum to rescue me, but Embassy of the United States of America Pro Helvetia she was sitting on the sofa at the far end of the room with one of the neighbours, smoking and laughing, Classical Music Patrons and there were too many people in the room for me Richard and Rosamund Bernays Sir David and Lady Sieff Player pianos are not just instruments for the to get her attention. concert hall – they were often found in family Artistic Director’s Circle homes until the 1920s, and became something Susan Gilchrist David and Clare Kershaw The Coral Samuel Charitable Trust Before I could escape into the kitchen, Rusty had Rick and Janeen Haythornthwaite Midge and Simon Palley Richard Thomas of a collector’s item by the 1960s. Many an uncle picked me up and sat me on his knee, and everyone or grandad fooled little listeners into thinking clapped and cheered. My whole body flushed bright Directors’ Circle he was a virtuoso pianist. However, these pianos red and then turned deathly white and I froze with fear. Brian Abel Jacqueline and Michael Gee Carmen Marrero could even fool their players, as Southbank Centre Jane Attias Lee Hall and Beeban Kidron Mr and Mrs E Scott Mead Member Karen Whelan shows. Rusty took my tiny hands in his big ones and Richard Buxton Louise Hallett Alex Noyer Carole and Neville Conrad Sheila Hayman The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts positioned them on the keys. As if by magic I was Mr and Mrs Saeb Eigner Alexandra Joffe Anand and Lena Saggar ‘It was a hot summer evening, in a small town in New playing the songs expertly and had visions of genius. Fine Family Foundation Donovan Kelly and Ann Wood The David and Jennifer Sieff Charitable Trust Zealand in the 1950s and I was three. I was so swept away in the hedonism of the feeling Eric and Louise Franck Mr and Mrs Herbert Kretzmer OBE Harry Simpson that it took me some time to realise that whatever keys Emily and Horacio Furman Angie and George Loudon Michael and Andrea Stèwart Paul Gambaccini The Maplescombe Trust Marina Vaizey The Baty’s were a family of three boys and one on I pressed at whatever pace the music played on. the way. Mr. Baty, known as ‘Rusty’ to the neighbours, worked as a tanker driver for BP. He was a ‘real man’ When the music stopped the whole room cheered Southbank Centre Governors but with a mellow, amber, playful vibe about him. and laughed and I said: ‘But I don’t know how to play Rick Haythornthwaite Brent Hansen Maggie Semple OBE the piano!’, with tears in my eyes. Rusty stood up Chairman Fionnuala Hogan Mark Wallinger We lived opposite them at No 1. Miro Street, and and opened the top of the piano. Very gently he lifted Robin Woodhead David Kershaw this evening Rusty and his wife Marie had invited me up and showed me the rolling paper and how he Deputy Chairman Julian Lloyd Webber Alan Bishop my parents and some of the neighbours in for an made the sounds by pressing the pedals at the base Nihal Arthanayake Cornelius Medvei Chief Executive Dame Vivien Duffield DBE Ursula Owen OBE impromptu party. It was custom for the men to take of the piano. Susan Gilchrist Jamie Ritblat a bottle of alcohol and the women to take a plate of food. The ‘kids’ were not always invited, but this He reloaded the music cylinder and we sat down evening my older sister and brother were away again and continued to play. This time I loved the staying with an Aunt and I was too young to be left experience and giggled with sheer delight at making at home alone. music by magic. Sponsor a pipe today and help restore

I was dressed in my favourite yellow dress and stood A few years later my Father bought a piano, and I had the Royal Festival Hall organ close beside my Mother as we entered by the back lessons. I soon discovered I had limited talent for door of their house, through the kitchen, which was playing a real piano. However, I have carefully nurtured familiar, and then on into the living room which I had my exceptional imagination and the world has never been into. continued to present me with wondrous experiences.’

The party was in full swing and Rusty was sitting at the piano as the most thrilling sounds filled the room. I always felt safe with Rusty and I stood close to him, my head just about reaching the piano keys. I could feel the energy and vibration of the sounds that flowed out of this structure. This was my first experience of a piano.

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