Download Free The Classical Reproducing Piano Roll Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Classical Reproducing Piano Roll and write the review.

The reproducing piano had an incredibly refined capacity to reproduce the playing of the great pianists who recorded on it. Sitsky has made a thorough compilation of this rare material producing for the first time, in as complete a form as possible, the entire repertoire of classical music available on the reproducing piano roll. The introduction contains a real "treasure-trove" of background information on this rare musical art form and details the technical aspects of the reproducing piano and of piano roll production as well as types of pianos and their restoration. Fact filled discussions of the various companies, their catalogs and their problems, and of the types of music recorded are also included here. The bibliography lists catalogs and the extent of the reference sources indicates the mountain of primary material consulted in an effort to make these volumes.
The reproducing piano rendered faithful re-performances of classical and popular piano solos at a time when cylinder and disc recorders were in their infancy. It played notes from a perforated paper roll, but unlike the player piano it was able to replicate expressive performance elements such as articulation, dynamics, and pedaling. Busoni, Granados, Hoffmann, Rachmaninov, and Ravel made thousands of piano rolls for the reproducing piano.
‘Ethnic’ piano rolls are an important part of a still-neglected musical heritage. Having come to prominence in the first part of the twentieth century, they encapsulate the musical life of several continents and various ethnic communities based in the USA. This volume represents the latest research on these unique and rare cultural artefacts.
By the early 20th century the machine aesthetic was a well-established and dominant interest that fundamentally transformed musical performance and listening practices. While numerous scholars have examined this aesthetic in art and literature, musical compositions representing industrialized labor practices and the role of the machine in music remain largely unexplored. Moreover, in recounting the history of machines in musical recording and reproduction, scholars often tend to emphasize the phonograph, rather than player piano, despite the latter’s prominence within the newly established musical marketplace. Machines and their music influenced multiple areas of early 20th-century musical culture, from film scores to popular music and even the concert hall. But the opposite was also true: industrialized labor practices changed the musical marketplace and musical culture as a whole. As consumers accepted mechanical replacements for what previously required an active human laborer, ghostly, mechanical performers labored tirelessly in parlors, businesses, and even concert halls. Although the player piano failed to maintain a stronghold in the recorded music marketplace after 1930, the widespread acceptance of recording technologies as media for storing and enjoying music indicates a much more fundamental societal shift. This book explores that shift, examining the rise and fall of the player piano in early 20th-century society and connecting it to the digital technologies of today.