This blues-based piece for chamber orchestra is engaging and full of American speech inflections and rhythms. It is a highly listenable piece despite its tendency to add layers of rhythmic complexity, the aspect of music that became the defining characteristic of its composer. Conlon Nancarrow (1912 - 1997) was one of the genuine American maverick composers. He left the United States in 1940 when the State Department denied him a passport due to his activities on the Loyalist (pro-Soviet) side of the Spanish Civil War, so he settled in Mexico. There, he got interested in highly complex counter-rhythms. Soon after writing this piece, he concluded that his rhythms were getting so complex they couldn't be played by humans. So he composed by manually punching holes in player piano rolls. Paradoxically, of Nancarrow output, it is this very abstract, rhythmically dense music that first became well-known, thanks to a Columbia Masterworks LP that appeared in the late '60s. Familiarity with this background and with the Nancarrow piano roll performances does not prepare the listener for this representative of Nancarrow's earlier music. (Or for the music he wrote after he resumed composing for people to play late in his life.) Unexpected is this music's attractiveness and its predominant emphasis on blues elements in melodic lines and harmonies. Although less than seven minutes long, this Piece has four separate movements, though they are played without pause. Their tempos are Andante, Moderato, Allegro, and Molto Allegro, which makes a consistent increase in tempo. As the piece continues, rhythmic layering becomes more pronounced until the texture is quite dense. The music increasingly relies on canons (repetitions of the same material in different voices displaced a bit in time). Different instruments sometimes speed up or slow down while the others play steadily, and rhythmic motives often cross in order to create new juxtaposition patterns, though the appealing melodies and open texture make the work quite listenable even for those who choose not to try to untangle the complex textures with their ears.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.