On A Roll

Radio 3's documentary 'Rolls, Records and the Return of Myra Hess' told the story of the player piano or pianola (or as some like to call it, 'the reproducing piano'. Though its presence in the middle class drawing rooms of the early 20th century ended with the advent of radio and the phonograph, it remains a unique instrument. No piece of hi-tech digitalia could ever reporduce the physical sensation of a skilled player's performance in quite the same way, and to think it's all done with paper, cogs, hammers and wheels seems almost unbelievable. The great Myra Hess commited a few performances to the roll, and the results (even on the radio) were remarkable, and to me anyway lifts the pianola out of the realm of antique curiosity to something much more important. Before the advent of sequencers, it could also handle material that couldn't be played by a human without suffering permanent physical and mental damage (see below!)

You can listen again till Saturday 2nd Feb.