A Sense of Place: The Life and Work of Conlon Nancarrow (Documentary)
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- čas přidán 15. 02. 2015
- The life and work of Conlon Nancarrow: a composer who turned an anachronistic gadget, the player piano, into a vehicle for greatness. Born in Texarkana, Arkansas in 1912, Nancarrow was active in his early years as a trumpeter, playing jazz and other types of popular music. He attended the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music from 1929-32, and later studied composition and counterpoint in Boston with Nicolas Slonimsky, Walter Piston, and Roger Sessions (1933-36).
In 1937 Nancarrow enlisted in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. On his return to the United States in 1939 he became involved in the New York new music scene, contributing several reviews to Modern Music and associating with other composers such as Elliot Carter and Aaron Copland.
Nancarrow was a dedicated socialist, which made him politically unacceptable in the United States. This was brought plainly home when he applied for a passport and was denied. Angry at such treatment, he moved to Mexico City in the early 1940s, becoming a Mexican citizen in 1956. He died there in 1997.
Nancarrow returned to the player piano partly because of Mexico's extreme musical isolation. Another more compelling reason was his long-standing frustration at the inability of musicians to deal with even moderately difficult rhythms. He goes so far as to say that "As long as I've been writing music I've been dreaming of getting rid of the performers." With the advent of the phonograph, the player piano has been relegated to the status of an object of nostalgia. But not so for Nancarrow, who since the late 1940s has composed almost exclusively for the instrument.
This half-hour portrait includes interviews with family, friends, and other composers, interweaving the man and his music in ways that illuminate both. This program was written, produced, and narrated by Helen Borten.
Musical Selections: Study No. 40b -- Shreveport Stomp / Jelly Roll Morton -- Just Snap Your Fingers at Care / [arr. by George Gershwin] -- Study No. 43 -- Study No. 21 -- Study No. 2b -- Study No. 43 -- Study No. 1 -- Study No. 3a -- Study No. 40a -- Study No. 12 -- Study No. 21 -- Study No. 26 -- Study No. 27 -- Study No. 41a -- Study No. 45b -- Study No. 43 -- Study No. 43b
Disclaimer- Copyright infringement not intended. The credit for making this documentary goes to Charles Amirkhanian and folks back at radiOM.org . Please visit radiOM.org and support their work as they have countless interviews and shows like these of various composers & musicians. - Hudba
Fascinated by this composer's life and work.
We'll be viewing this at Texarkana College next week! Conlon was born about three blocks from where I live in my grandparent's home, occupied by our family for 100 years. He was few years older than my dad.
I thank the deity that there have been creators like him
Conlon Nancarrow was a genius, no question. His music is so brilliant, surprising, intense, intricate and above all fun, which you cannot say about most composers. Really a one-off.
Absolutely 100%, he is a genius!
Very fun and also often quite emotionally resonant too! :)
"If there's any influence in Uncle Meat it's from Conlon Nancarrow. He's a composer who lives in Mexico, but was born in Kentucky. He writes music for player-piano that is humanly impossible to perform. He writes all these bizarre canons and weird structures - punches them out on player-piano rolls. The stuff is fantastic; there are a few albums of it. If you've never heard it, you've got to hear it - it'll kill you. Some of it sounds like ragtime that's totally bionic". Frank Zappa (Musician, No.19, August 1979)
Den Simms: Would you say that Conlon Nancarrow is the predecessor of what you do with the Synclavier?
Frank Zappa: Not completely. Certainly there's a huge influence, conceptually, in what Nancarrow did. In fact, when Nancarrow was in southern California, I tried to get him to come over, so I could demonstrate the machine to him, because here's a guy who pioneered a type of sequencer music, using a player piano, but it's a limited timbre. It's only the sound of that one instrument ... (Society Pages (US), June 1990)
I read in the sleeve of New World Records NW203, "sound forms for piano," that Conlon Nancarrow was born in Texarkana, AR on October 27th, 1912. He studied for a time with Nicolas Slonimsky in New York. FYI: This documentary differs from the information in the New World Records sleeve in several respects, and cannot be called even-handed in its treatment. I recommend doing more research.
Zappa was wrong, Conlon Nancarrow was born in Texarkana :)
I bought the first two 1750ARCH LPs ~1981 and was captivated. Around 1990 I somehow found myself on the 'phone with Charles Amirkhanian (sp?) who was crucial to those recordings. I think I just impulsively tracked him down to talk and he very graciously returned my call. He reported that Nancarrow had suffered a stroke (or perhaps a series of strokes) and was having difficulty composing - he'd get "lost" in the middle of a piece and "forget where he was". I could only laugh and muse that I was supposedly in posession of all of my faculties and that happened to me regularly when listening to any of a number of Nancarrow's compoaitions.
I went to High School in Dallas, Texas with his Grand Niece, Margie. Of her great uncle, she just said 'We was weird."
got a chance to meet HIM IN NYC very nice cat...
Mellifluous; I like that word!
A revelation Superb.
thanks to Shawn Lane for mentioning this man. A short interview by Shawn Lane on another guitar player named Buckethead. They heard of Conlon and the player piano, and tried playing these insane tempos on guitar. Shawn Lane got close!!
Genio Conlon ¡¡¡
Around 26 minutes it looks like he's met with Ligeti.
Isn't this the guy that said "Everyone's taking it too easy!!! Let's teach 'em a lesson)!!!
"Piano Stellar Overdrive", a very much by Nancarrow inspired classical piece: czcams.com/video/9kKurGnkXJ8/video.html
He was hardly the first person to do this.
Okay, lets here the names.
Sorry, '''HE was weird."
It SOUNDS weird only because you don't understand what you are hearing. You are jus not familiar with what you hearing. It's OK, because stuff like this requires a lot of contemplation and most of all a desire to WANT to understand it. If you aren't compelled to attempt to understand it then it will remain weird.
This music SOUNDS weird to people only because they don't understand what they are hearing. They are jus not familiar with what they are hearing hearing. It's OK, because stuff like this requires a lot of contemplation and most of all a desire to WANT to understand it. If you aren't compelled to attempt to understand "new" music like this then it will remain weird.