Conlon Nancarrow, Continuum, Cheryl Seltzer, Joel Sachs

This Naxos disc gathers the concert music of Conlon Nancarrow, the composer of the Studies for Player Piano, in performances by the ensemble Continuum under its directors Cheryl Seltzer and Joel Sachs. Its nine works span half a century, from Prelude and Blues and the Toccata for Violin and Player Piano of 1935 to Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra of 1986, which Betty Freeman commissioned for Continuum. Born in Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1912, Nancarrow fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain, settled in Mexico in 1940 and from 1947 wrote mostly by punching rolls, so his pieces for live players date mostly from before 1947 or after the mid-1970s.

The recordings were made in New York in June 1989 at Merkin Concert Hall and in October 1989 at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, with Sachs conducting and Frederick J. Bashour engineering. Among the players are violinist Mark Steinberg, clarinettist David Krakauer, pianist Marian Lee and others, with Seltzer and Sachs also at the piano. The early works come from the years just before the player piano: the Sonatina for Piano of 1941, a Trio Movement of 1942, Piece No. 1 for Small Orchestra of 1943 and the String Quartet No. 1 of 1945, whose three movements run from Allegro molto through Andante moderato to a closing Prestissimo. Study No. 15, a roll from the 1950s, is heard in a transcription by Yvar Mikhashoff, and the short ¿Tango? of 1984 belongs to the later return to writing for human performers. Piece No. 2, at about ten and a half minutes the longest work on the disc, closes the programme.

Naxos CD 8.559196, issued in 2005. The recordings first came out in 1991 on Musicmasters, and Discogs lists this barcode as a reissue.