Conlon Nancarrow Interview

In April of 1977 Charles Amirkhanian journeyed to Mexico City to talk with composer Conlon Nancarrow, who had settled there after a self-imposed exile from the United States, following the harassment he experienced over his involvement with the Communist Party, and his fighting in the Spanish Civil War. The two discussed the mechanics of composing for the player piano, a process of manually punching literally thousands of holes in long rolls of paper. Nancarrow also relates his association, or lack there of, with other composers, his dissatisfaction with the lack of temporal control in the electronic music of his day, and his experience studying counterpoint with Roger Sessions. Sounding very relaxed and genial, Nancarrow also goes into some detail about how he composes and describes some of his later works.

[@jebbishop3]

in 1988 I was in Mexico City with some friends and I remembered Nancarrow lived there, so I looked up his address in the phone book and we went to his house and rang the bell. He answered and said he was gardening at the moment, could we come back later? So we did, and he invited us in and we had a wonderful visit for an hour or so, he showed us his studio (the player piano was in need of repair at the time, so he didn't play a roll). Looking back, it's amazing that he was kind and generous enough to welcome total strangers into his home who had no connection to him, other than being admirers of his music.

[@jakeyccc5788]

I met him in NYC he was charming

[@inwex8350]

Thank you for this.

[@jwc3o2]

i sure hope this was aired intact when/if it was: "genial" indeed on both parts & it's a pleasure getting to listen in on particularly these 2 people, whose genuine interest in each other & the convivial details of their working friendship makes for engaging listening, both with highly melodic speaking patterns. "No, wait..."

[@finosuilleabhain7781]

That strange tic of Nancarrow's to begin every response with a 'No ... '

[@Gorboduc]

8:00 - Took me a while to realize he was saying "terraced dynamics" instead of "terrorist dynamics".

[@beeble2003]

Yes, me too! You could imagine somebody today using the phrase "terrorist dynamics" to refer to extreme loudness, or alternating FFF/PPP or something like that, but that usage seems far too modern for 1977! They must have said it five or six times before I figured out it was "terraced".

[@andrewlardieri4110]

First learned about this fine young specimen named Nancarrow from my Electronic music professor at TCNJ.

[@PulseEmitter]

thanks so much for sharing this. very enlightening.

[@finosuilleabhain7781]

Thanks for making this - it's good to have your choice of images to complement and contextualize the audio. Great job.

[@OmarDelReal45]

it took 40 years for Mexico to hear it. Damn you Nancarrow hahah

[@austinennis6833]

Thank you for posting this. It will be very useful for a project I have for a communication class. Where did you get this interview, by the way?

[@sn1000k]

What an unusual way of speaking he has, with the constant "no," refrains!

[@daveking3494]

I thought you kept talking about terrorist dynamics, At the end of the interview, I think you meant terrace dynamics. 😂😂😂