Century Rolls

Track Listings

1. Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": First Movement

2. Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": Manny's Gym

3. Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": Hail Bop

4. Lollapalooza

5. Slonimsky's Earbox

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Of all the so-called minimalists working today, John Adams is the only one with any good ideas left. Witness this delightful release. The key to Adams's creativity is that he isn't bound by theoretical constraints on what "minimalism" should be. Century Rolls (1995) is a commission by Emanuel Ax, and it was inspired by the composer's listening to a CD recording of an ancient player piano. Century Rolls doesn't duplicate that sound, but it is, instead, an unexpected romp across new rhythmic territory. As for Mr. Ax, he comports himself very well, particularly in the difficult first Movement, which requires deft coordination of all forces involved. The brief Lollapalooza (1995) is more recognizably minimalist but with considerable orchestral color and shifting moods. And Slominsky's Earbox (1996) is a powerfully full-orchestra-driven canter. All this is to say that the CD is one of the best releases of Adams's career, and it will appeal to a very wide audience. --Paul Cook

Tracks:

Sweet And Lowdown
Novelette In Fourths
That Certain Feeling
So Am I
Rhapsody In Blue
Swanee
When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em...
Kickin' The Clouds Away
Idol Dreams
On My Mind The Whole Night Long
Scandal Walk
An American In Paris

Customer Reviews:

Wonderfully American.......2007-05-14

I've had a copy of this CD for years and love it. The power and optimism of the music is really quite remarkable... regardless of who or what is actually playing here. The arrangement of Swanee is light but rich with major chord trains like you just want to go marching around the room. And American In Paris leads you on a swaying, dischordy journey the deeper you go, as the narrative begins to trade delicacy for passion. (and I love renditions where you can hear the MUSIC and the instruments don't get in the way, like four-voice midi versions of Bach which reveal the eloquence).

When I listen to this CD now, and which is most surpring to me, I hear a profound pride in America - back "before." I play it when I have people over and we put burgers on the grill. This CD is the song of sitting in my back yard with the clouds blowing by and for the moment things feel OK.

"Before" - OK, there is no old perfect Amercia; but I'm thinking of the time before we learned to distill petroleum into toxic pollution, before pride meant vanity and thuggery, before hate-filled invective became public amusement, and before presidents went to war because it was good for business.

A Gersh-winner.......2007-01-07

George Gershwin had a long association with the mechanical device known as the player piano. At the age of ten, Gershwin used a neighbor's pianola to teach himself how to play, by very slowly pumping the foot pedal that advanced the hole-punched rolls, and placing his fingers on the depressed keys. His parents were so impressed by his abilities they enrolled the boy in formal piano studies when he turned 13. Thus, an American genius was born.

The existing films of Gershwin (who died of a brain tumor at age 38 in 1937) show him to be a virtuoso at his instrument. His 1924 acoustic recording of Rhapsody In Blue (with the Paul Whiteman orchestra) is further evidence of this. But no film or recording has what is contained within the album GERSHWIN PLAYS GERSHWIN: THE PIANO ROLLS, and that is-- full fidelity range.

The CD comes in a standard jewel case packaged in a heavy paper slipcover. Biographical liner notes are included along with details on the rolls. The earliest performance in this set is from 1916, made when Gershwin was an 18-year-old song plugger. My favorites here are "Swanee," from 1920, and "An American In Paris," from 1933, which is undoubtedly one of the last significant piano rolls ever made.

Gershwin's dynamic performances are not in the least obscured by the few extra notes added to the piano rolls (such practice was standard in those days). Listening to these recordings is like sitting next to this brilliant man, observing his fingers fly over the keys as he plays some of his best work.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 60:36

Interesting... but I think I'd prefer a good Gershwin interpreter.......2006-05-14

Composers are not necessarily the best performers of their own work. A songwriter's songwriter like Jules Shear or Jimmy Webb comes to mind -- surely the best representations of their songs are on other artist's albums.

This album is charming in its own way -- a taste of the music and performance style of a bygone era. Someone complained that these rolls were edited. So what? I'm going to review the final product, now how it was made. Do you eat sausage? Ask not what's in it!

I like to listen to this CD in short bits -- a few songs at a time. For some reason I find it to be fatiguing if I listen for more than 20 minutes or so. I'm not absolutely sure why this is so. Possibly the meter is just a little too metronomic on many of the songs. This lends a "mechanical" quality to the performances.

Additionally, I felt that the dynamic range was restricted. The music does get louder and softer, because of the piano rolls themselves and because of the computer programming used to read the piano rolls -- the dynamics were deliberately adjusted by the record producers in some spots, if I read the liner notes correctly. And yet. And yet. Still these songs do not dynamically "breathe" fully in and out the way they ought to. I find this disappointing, but I think it has something to do with inherent limitations in piano roll recording technique. I'm guessing.

Taken for what it is, it is an interesting concept, and the sound quality is very pleasant. The performances are very good for piano rolls, but fall short of what a good interpreter could do. Take, for example, the Rhapsody in Blue from Woody Allen's Manhattan soundtrack. Listen specifically to the piano part -- the dynamics and variations in rhythm. This is not by any means the best performance of Rhapsody, but it is better than the Gershwin rolls.

Gershwin's playing overated.......2006-04-09

After I heard this cd I bought Gershwin plays Gershwin on the naxos label which arn't piano rolls. Any pianist can tell that many of these rolls are heavily edited and can't be played by a pianists with two hands. On the naxos album that has some of these same songs Gershwin's actual playing doesn't sound very good. Many of Gershwins contempories such as James P. Johnson, Eubie Blake, Luckey Roberts and even Zez Confrey were much better pianists than he was, however they didn't have his melodic gifts as a composer. I would recommend Artis Whodhouse's
transcriptions of Jelly Roll Morton's piano rolls (on the same label) instead because most of those are exactly how he played them and in my opinion Morton was a better musician in every way than Gershwin.

The jazzy Gershwin. What a CD!!!!!!!.......2006-02-23

I got this CD as a gift. I am all for the austrogerman post- romantic music and as imagined Gershwin is not my favourite composer. I know him from his best known works such as the 'Rhapsody", the 'American' and his great songs. This CD is a treasure as mentioned from other reviewers of this site. Gershwin full of passion, his music being jazzy to the very end and that great feeling you get after a great live performance is present all over the length of this 'treasure'. No question about the presence of the music. Not to be missed

Average customer rating:

The Greatest 'Living' Piano Concerto
Everything I like about Adams on one great disc!
Showy but Shallow and Tedious
And while we wait...
Thus far my favorite John Adams recording

Century Rolls

Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Minimal Techno | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
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Chamber Symphony: Grand Pianola
Naive & Sentimental Music
John Adams - Harmonielehre · The Chairman Dances · Tromba lontana · Short Ride in a Fast Machine / Sir Simon Rattle
Road Movies
Adams: Violin Concerto/Shaker Loops

ASIN: B00004YR65
Release Date: 2001-01-02

Tracks:

Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": First Movement
Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": Manny's Gym
Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": Hail Bop
Lollapalooza
Slonimsky's Earbox

Amazon.com

Of all the so-called minimalists working today, John Adams is the only one with any good ideas left. Witness this delightful release. The key to Adams's creativity is that he isn't bound by theoretical constraints on what "minimalism" should be. Century Rolls (1995) is a commission by Emanuel Ax, and it was inspired by the composer's listening to a CD recording of an ancient player piano. Century Rolls doesn't duplicate that sound, but it is, instead, an unexpected romp across new rhythmic territory. As for Mr. Ax, he comports himself very well, particularly in the difficult first Movement, which requires deft coordination of all forces involved. The brief Lollapalooza (1995) is more recognizably minimalist but with considerable orchestral color and shifting moods. And Slominsky's Earbox (1996) is a powerfully full-orchestra-driven canter. All this is to say that the CD is one of the best releases of Adams's career, and it will appeal to a very wide audience. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

The Greatest 'Living' Piano Concerto.......2007-05-10

Much speaks in favour of Mr Adams being the greatest living classical composer. His output for piano is sparse, though including the important masterpiece Phrygian Gates--indeed the greatest major work written for the instrument since Messiaen's Vingt Regards and Barber's Sonata. I will try not to exaggerate: Together with Medtner's Third, Shostakovich's Second, Poulenc's and Barber's Piano Concertos, Adams's Century Rolls is the greatest work for piano and orchestra written since Rachmaninov's landmark Paganini Rhapsody. On the other hand, one could argue there is limited competition--many have tried but utterly few have managed to create something truly memorable since the days of the great late-Romantic warhorses. But that is just why Adams's unique achievement should be anything but underestimated. Even if Mr Ax still has a monopoly on recorded versions, his playing is likely to more than hold its own with future comers.

So, why only four stars? Well, the problem lies with the couplings, which are far from outstanding. My praise for Lollapalooza is considerably lower than many other reviewers'; it is of some interest, though not for repeated listening. Slonimsky's Earbox indeed gives some pleasure--for the moment--though I would be deadly surprised hearing someone humming its tunes. Nagano's conducting thankfully adds some excitement; it is basically on the same level as his edge-of-the-seat account of Messiaens' orchestral masterpiece Turangalila-Symphonie (Teldec--my review pending).

Throughout, the recorded sound is excellent with a great deal of brilliance and impact. I do urge you to acquire this disc--not for the couplings but for the greatest Piano Concerto written by a living composer.

Everything I like about Adams on one great disc!.......2006-11-15

My classical CD's are, like many of yours, alphabetized on my CD rack, and the A - B section probably takes up 20% of the total rack space. This is, of course, partially because Bach, Beethoven and Bernstein all begin with "B." This is also due to the fact that I own more John Adams recordings than any of the above. I'm a John Adams fan.

I've had the privilege of seeing John Adams both conduct and lecture on his own works, and two things are immediately evident when you hear Adams speak...

1) This guy has a brain the size of a Volkswagen, and

2) This guy has a great sense of humor.

Both of these qualities are laid bare for the listener in this recording. Century Rolls is a 3-movement piano concerto indicative of Adams' earlier minimalist style. It's a well-written piece to begin with, and with Emmanuel Ax performing, the recording is downright stunning. Lollapalooza (which may be my new favorite Adams work) is a tight little orchestral work that, as the title suggests, seems to swirl around a few rhythmic motives. Slonimsky's Earbox surprised me quite a bit on the first hearing; it's big, it's violent, it's colorful... all qualities I've come to expect in many of Adams' minimalist works, but this piece is in no way minimalist.

If you're new to John Adams, this disc, along with San Francisco's "The Chairman Dances," is a great place to start your collection. Not really a fan of minimalism? Me neither, but then again, as I look over my John Adams collection, only a small percentage of the pieces represented could actually be described as true minimalism.

Showy but Shallow and Tedious.......2006-05-28

Another reviewer(R.Hutchison) was totally correct.
This is shallow music.It is slick and very well orchestrated but so is much film music(think of the brilliant Elliott Goldenthal).Why Adams is seen by many musically educated critics as the greatest current American composer I don't know.
Adams has a brilliant technique-that cannot be denied.He has actually written some good music-Harmonium is a lovely piece,almost visionary in its scope.Unfortunately in my view he has succumbed to what many American composers have done-crowd pleasing showy orchestration but with music of little substance.Harmonium was a rare example by Adams music of substance and good orchestration.
The piano concerto,like the violin concerto,sees the soloist wasted on banal meanderings while the orchestra assaults us with even more banal repetetive phrases.Poor Emanuel Ax.The slow movement is really banal.
Loopalooza is very clever yes(even catchy) but again gets really irritating so by the end you could'nt give a ...k.
The Slonominsky piece is the best piece by far but again leaves you with the the conclusion 'good orchestration but so what'.It AGAIN descends into obsessively repetitive phrases that drive you mad!
Adams music on this disc is a curious mix of Steve Reich,Stravinsky,Schoenberg,Copland,and his own Shaker Loops but without the unity.We get slushy 'apple pie' Americana Copland/John Williams/Disney films harmonies(you know what I mean!!) colliding with atonal music I thought he did'nt like! Maybe he wants that mix but it drives me nuts and does'nt work.It would'nt be so bad if it did'nt sound all so slick,flash and mechanical.

And while we wait..........2005-05-28

John Adams is popular not only with musicians who flock to him for commissions but also with audiences, who despite the intellectual participation required to delve deeply into the music of Adams' creations, greet him with standing ovations. This recording includes a piano concerto created for Emmanuel Ax, 'Century Rolls', which is as challenging yet engaging a work for piano and orchestra as any recent such compositions. Ax enormous talent makes this piece sound utterly effortless.

It is such commissions as the 'The Dharma of Big Sur' premiered in 2003 by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Philharmonic with electric violinist Tracy Silverman that keep Adams' popularity alive. At a recent performance in Disney Hall with the same participants as for the premiere the audience not only understood the complex, richly colored score which demonstrates Adams' increasingly sophisticated and expanded palette, they accepted the aspect of an amplified electric violin as not just an instrument from the realm of 'pop culture' but as an expressive, completely different aspect of classical music. One only hopes that this work will soon be recorded as it is one of Adams' more complex and cerebral pieces.

Until that recording is made, this wonderful concerto, coupled with 'Lollapalooza' and 'Slonimsky's Earbox' for orchestra alone, will certainly be a fine introduction to the wonders Adams creates in the concerto realm. Grady Harp, May 05

Thus far my favorite John Adams recording.......2005-03-01

As much as I love Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Mozart, etc. I still cannot help but yearn for modern composers who are inspired by modern sounds, human experiences and emotions as the foundations for creating acoustic orchestral music. For me John Adams is one of the few who is successfully doing just this. I don't believe he's doing anything different than composers like Dvorak, Bartok, and Kodaly over one hundred years ago who based much of their works on ethnic popular folk music. Western music has a such a tremendous legacy, I'm glad to see it being advanced by Adams's genius. All three pieces, Century Rolls, Lollapalooza, and Slonimsky's Earbox I find fun and intriguing to listen to. May be they do not take me to the heavens like Mozart's 41st or Beethoven's 5th, but they nonetheless deserve careful attention before being dismissed as reactionary.

Ravel Plays Ravel (Original Piano Rolls)

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incorrectly regulated piano roll reproducing mechanism
Only Ravel Knew!
Ravel as Ravel intended
A fraud!
Good music, but too mechanical.

Ravel Plays Ravel (Original Piano Rolls)

Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pavanes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos / Richter

ASIN: B000001VJ7
Release Date: 1995-05-16

Tracks:

Bolero: Orchestration
Pavane pour une infante difunte
Miroirs Suite For Piano: La Vallee des Cloches, No.5
'Le Tombeau de Couperin': Toccata
Gaspard de la Nuit No.2; Le Gibet
Oiseaux Tristes No.2

Customer Reviews:

incorrectly regulated piano roll reproducing mechanism.......2005-12-05

Not only is the toccata performed by Robert Casadesus and not by Ravel, as the recording states, but the Duo-Art rolls which were used to make this recording has been shown by historians to be _incorrectly calibrated_ (in the Ronald Woodley article in the cambrige compainion to ravel, p222) and therefore absurdly and grotesquely twisted.

There are recordings available with these rolls correctly calibrated and they are *wonderful* (the "masters of the piano roll" cd issued recently by dal segno)
[...]

don't let the cheap price fool you: Ravel would be seriously angered to have this recording attributed to him.

Only Ravel Knew!.......2003-05-09

There is some doubt about this "historical" recording. The title of the CD is "Ravel plays Ravel". Except what you read from the Amazon website, you couldn't find any information about the recording in the accompanying pamphlet or on the CD itself. There is no name for the orchestra that played the Bolero, you are not sure whether Ravel was the conductor to this anonymous orchestra or he was just a cymbals player sitting in the back of orchestra. For the solo piano pieces, it didn't say it was from live recordings or piano rolls. All the accompanying pamphlet said is just a brief generic biography of Ravel. Only two out of the seven works mentioned are actually on the CD.

The copyright of this recording is "1995 Delta Music", Delta Music is a seldem heard name. The CD is issued by a truly budget label - "Laser Light Digital". You certainly get a bottom budget price on this CD, but whether it is historical or not? only Ravel knew!

Ravel as Ravel intended.......2002-12-29

This CD cotains something that we normally do not get a look at - five works as they were actually performed by the original composer.

The "Bolero" that begins this recording, however, is by the Halle Orchestra under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli. Although not the best recording of "Bolero" (that distinction belongs to Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic), it is certainly up to the standards of the remainder of the album.

And it is the rest of the numbers on this CD that give it the distinction it deserves. Transcribed and transferred from original piano rolls that had been manufactured from Ravel's own hand, these recordings are a rare look at musical works that were composed =and= played by the composer.

"Pavanne for a Dead Princess" starts the show, followed by "Valley of the Bells", a toccata from "Le Tombeau de Couperin", "The Gibbet", and "Sad Birds". There five recordings show students how Ravel himself would have played his own pieces.

These five recordings are what make this album a "must buy" for students and fans of Ravel and a worthy addition to the classical library, especially for classical radio stations.

A fraud!.......2002-10-22

Word has it that Ravel had another pianist record these piano rolls. Even if it were Ravel himself--who was no great virtuoso, by the way--these recordings were not restored or transferred with anything resembling care, nor is the piano used in the transfer a concert-worthy instrument. As for the orchestral recording of the Bolero, clearly this is an anonymous modern recording and has no connection to the composer.

Let's face it, this recording is being marketed as a historical document, and in that regard it has no value whatsoever. Why buy it?

Good music, but too mechanical........2002-10-03

credible. However, whenever a transfer is made from performance to recording or back, there is some loss. This is a good example. As much as I love the music, this sounds mechanical to me: I think the process that this was recorded by reduced the power of the recording. Perhaps this is just because I am a pianist, but the other reviewers seem to enjoy the album and seem very versed in music. In any case, my opinion, for what it is worth, is that it sounds like a player piano's playback of a great pianist's recording. (The orchestral Bolero is an exception, but there is a saxophone-sounding instrument that I believe comes out too strongly in the texture at one point.)

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Better than the Robots of Today...
Mechanical Indeed
How Some of the Greats Played (Almost)

Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, 1905-1927

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Polonaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 3: Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Sibelius
Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 2: R. Strauss, Grieg, Chopin, Weber

ASIN: B00009WQU4
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Tracks:

Minuet, Op.14 No.1 - Ignacy J. Paderewski
The Blue Danube, Arabesque - Josef Lhevinne
Rapsodie D'Auvergne In C Major, Op.73 - Camille Saint-Saens
Polonaise In F Sharp Major, Op.44 - Josef Hofmann
Paganini Etude No.5 In E Major - Egon Petri
Military March In D Major, Op.51 No.1 - Telemaque Lambrino
Dinner Waltz - Alfred Grunfeld
Gaspard De La Nuit, No.1 (Ondine) - Walter Gieseking
Andante - Rudolph Ganz
Minuet In A Minor - Hans Haass
Virtuoso Fantasy - Vladimir Horowitz
La Nuit - Rudolph Ganz
Staccato Caprice In F Sharp Major - Yolanda Mero

Customer Reviews:

Better than the Robots of Today..........2004-04-27

In a depressing world of classical recordings where performances are so stiff and mechanical (to the point that the performers themselves may not be able to pick their own recordings out in a group), this set of CDs is a must own for anybody interested in really touching souls by creating music.

The people recorded on these CDs took the words of CPE Bach to heart when he said, "one should play from the soul, not like a trained bird." These are truly heart-felt and inspired performances that any musician can learn from and any non-musician can enjoy.

Mechanical Indeed.......2003-10-03

Many critics dismiss piano rolls and, sadly, this album will persuade new listeners that they must sound clangorous and mechanical. This we know is not true. Wayne Stahnke did an outstanding job with his Rachmaninoff discs. Granted, he used computer reconstruction, but Kenneth Caswell, on the small Pierian label, did not, and his Granados and Debussy albums are uncannily realistic. The latter impressed even Charles Timbrell, an expert on French pianists. Equally musical is a more varied collection on the Phonographe label, which seems to include recordings made many years ago. Perhaps the piano used did not have to be "restored" but had been kept in good condition -- but I'm just guessing. In any event, this Naxos album is, unfortunately, a thumping failure.

How Some of the Greats Played (Almost).......2003-09-05

Periodically recordings like this surface--transfers from the Welte-Mignon piano rolls recorded early in the last century (mostly from around 1905; Horowitz in the 1920s). Similar to the more familiar piano rolls that were the 'software' for the ubiquitous player piano of old, the Welte-Mignon rolls used a very different mechanism and it is generally agreed that they did a better job of preserving the dynamic, tempo, rhythmic and touch nuances of the pianists who recorded them.

Here we have what is labeled Volume I of what presumably will be a series coming to us the Naxos label. They are recorded on a restored Steinway-Welte reproducing piano that has come down in the family of this series' producer, Richard Simonton jr. And the list of famous pianists recorded here is pretty impressive: Paderewski, Lhevinne, Saint-Saëns, Hofmann, Gieseking, Ganz, Egon Petri and Horowitz, as well as some lesser-known artists like Alfred Grünfeld, Télémaque Lambrino, Hans Haass and Yolanda Mero.

The sound is, of course, modern because the reproducing pianos were recorded in 2000 with modern sound equipment.

The primary drawback of these piano rolls is that they, though more lifelike than the old Aeolian piano rolls, do sound just the slightest bit mechanical. Still, one gets a good idea of how many of these pianists--some of them never recorded in modern sound otherwise--must have sounded in their prime. One notes, for instance, a very great use of rubato by such stars as Paderewski and Hofmann. It was certainly true that those old guys had personality!

Presumably Amazon will soon list the contents of this CD on this page --although they haven't done so yet--but suffice it to say that some outstanding selections are Paderewski playing his own 'Minuet,' Lhevinne playing the Strauss/Schulz/Evler 'Blue Danube,' Gieseking playing 'Ondine' from Ravel's 'Gaspard de la nuit,' and Hofmann playing the F-sharp minor 'Polonaise' of Chopin (a wonderful performance). One novelty is Rudolph Ganz playing a delightful Saint-Saëns arrangement of the familiar Andante from Haydn's 'Surprise' Symphony, something I'd never heard before. Another rarity is Hans Haass playing a Rameau minuet as arranged by Leopold Godowsky. We also get Horowitz playing his own 'Carmen Fantasy,' a crowd-pleaser that he recorded later more than once in the 'electric' era of recording. This performance, however, is a barn-burner and I frankly couldn't tell that it was from a piano roll.

So, if this is your meat, go for it. At this price, you can hardly miss.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2004-07-20

This is the third of this series to come out and the third I have reviewed. I am fascinated by the history of piano-playing and grasp at any chance to hear pianists from an earlier era. The Welte-Mignon piano rolls are probably better at reproducing the playing of great pianists of the past than the more familiar piano rolls we associated with the Player Piano. But there are still some unresolved mechanical complexities with the system and a resulting mechanical quality to the music produced. In particular there is a subtle rhythmic instability that is probably discernible by most listeners. Having said that, there are some performances here that I am very happy to have. The pianists represented are: Artur Schnabel, Ferruccio Busoni, Josef Hofmann, Carl Schmidt, Olga Samaroff, Xaver Scharwenka, Rudolph Ganz, Yolanda Mero, Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, Fanny Davies, W. Krowsky, and Wera Schapira. It is of note that some of these pianists lived on to record phonograph records, and where they are available (e.g. Fanny Davies in some of the 'Kinderszenen') they are preferable. Who needs Schnabel's Welte-Mignon efforts when he lived well into the electric period of recording and left a huge recorded legacy, including all the Beethoven sonatas?

American pianist Fanny Bloomfield Zeisler plays two Chopin selections-the Op. 70, No. 1 Waltz, and the B Minor Scherzo, Op. 20, No 1. The former is delightful, with an almost Viennese Schwung. But the Scherzo is a dog's breakfast; I think it is the recording process, not her playing, but one cannot be sure, of course. And in the Scherzo the piano is out of tune. Ferruccio Busoni, a real giant of the piano, is ill-served here. He made a few gramophone recordings but they, too, are not so great, although preferable to the clunky Paganini/Liszt 'La campanella' here. Josef Hofmann's 'German Waltz' by Anton Rubinstein is awkward, certainly not what we would expect from Hofmann's phonographic legacy; again, I blame the recording/reproduction process here. Davies's first six sections of 'Kinderszenen' are nicely done, I must say, but when she re-recorded them two decades later, they were much better.

All in all, I have to give this issue a thumbs down. I do understand that some of this same material is available on the Pierian label, but I've not heard those. One wonders if the reproduction of these Welte-Mignon rolls are done more expertly there.

Scott Morrison

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Henning Wellejus: Orchestral Works

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000467A
Release Date: 1996-11-05

Tracks:

A Danish Summer Pastorale, Op.17
Con for Vc & Orch, Op.56: Andante sostenuto-Frescamente - Morten Zeuthen
Con for Vc & Orch, Op.56: Quasi cadenza, larghetto - Morten Zeuthen
Con for Vc & Orch, Op.56: Andante-Allegro fresco - Morten Zeuthen
Con Choregraphique for Orch, Op.21: Allegretto grazioso
Con Choregraphique for Orch, Op.21: Scherzando, vivace
Con Choregraphique for Orch, Op.21: Lullaby. Andantino
Con Choregraphique for Orch, Op.21: Finale a la galop. Allegro giocoso
Con for Ob & Orch, Op.32: Allegro moderato - Nette Stormlund Demant
Con for Ob & Orch, Op.32: Andante tranquillo - Nette Stormlund Demant
Con for Ob & Orch, Op.32: Rondo, allegro giocoso - Nette Stormlund Demant
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Butterfly
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Angel
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Sweethearts
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Jumpers
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Little Mermaid
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: Clumsy Hans
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Naughty Boy
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Nightingale
Our Childhood Friends, Op.15: The Swineherd
Con piccolo for Orch, Op.29: Allegro moderato - Morten Zeuthen/Nette Stormlund Demant
Con piccolo for Orch, Op.29: Andantino - Morten Zeuthen/Nette Stormlund Demant
Con piccolo for Orch, Op.29: Allegretto - Morten Zeuthen/Nette Stormlund Demant
The Stagecoach Rolls Away, Op.16: Concert Ov - Morten Zeuthen/Nette Stormlund Demant

George Gershwin Plays Rhapsody In Blue Using The Original Piano Rolls

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George Gershwin Plays Rhapsody In Blue Using The Original Piano Rolls

Manufacturer: Intersound Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000BOB
Release Date: 1997-03-18

Tracks:

Strike Up The Band
An American In Paris
Rhapsody In Blue
Swanee
Kicking The Clouds Away
Twee-Oodle-Um Bum-Bo
Drifting Along With The Tide
So Am I
That Certain Feeling
Sweet and Low Down

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Great Pianists on Piano Rolls

Manufacturer: Phonographe Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Polonaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003R21
Release Date: 1995-08-22

Tracks:

Butterfly, Op.43 No.1 - Edvard Grieg
La Fileuse - Vladimir de Pachmann
Polacca in E, Op.72 - Jose Vianna Da Motta
Legende No.2 - Bernhard Stavenhagen
Isolde's Liebestod - Alfred Grunfeld
Hungarain Rhap No.10 - Ignace Jan Paderewski
Rhap D'auvergne, Op.73 - Camille Saint-Saens
Valse Mignonne, Op.104 - Camille Saint-Saens
Nocturne in F#, Op.15 No.2 - Ferruccio Busoni
Erlkonig - Josef Hoffmann
Dance Of The Sylphs - Wanda Landowska
Polonaise in A flat, Op.53 - Eugen D'Albert
Sonatine f#: 2nd Movt - Maurice Ravel
D'un Cahier D'esquisses - Claude Debussy
La Soiree Dans Grenade - Claude Debussy

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Piano: The Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Compendia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000JR0T
Release Date: 1999-08-10

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3. Concerto for Piano "Century Rolls": Hail Bop
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