The Classical Reproducing Piano Roll: Set A Catalogue-Index [2 volumes]

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Description

In the history of the piano, the brief appearance of the mechanical piano's most sophisticated manifestation, the reproducing piano is of special interest and importance. Unique among mechanical musical instruments, the reproducing piano had an incredibly refined capacity to reproduce the playing of the great pianists who recorded on it. The turn of the century to 1930 was a period of high activity during which thousands of performances were produced on the reproducing piano roll and this two-volume study surveys the work accomplished by the pianists who recorded their playing for reproducing pianos during this time. Though only 60 years have elapsed since the overnight disappearance of the reproducing piano, some performances by major artists of the time remain merely as lists in catalogues. Larry Sitsky has made a thorough compilation of this rare material producing the entire repertoire of classical music available on the reproducing piano roll.

Author Bio

LARRY SITSKY is Head of the Department of Composition, Canberra School of Music, Canberra, Australia, and is an internationally known pianist, and active broadcaster, teacher and lecturer. His numerous articles on music have been appearing regularly since 1974 and his previous book was Busoni and the Piano (Greenwood Press, 1986). He is currently completing The Unknown Russian Avant-Garde forthcoming from Greenwood Press.