Conlon Nancarrow

Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) was an American composer who lived much of his life in Mexico due to his refusal to renounce his Communist sympathies. He was a late discovery both by the musical world in general and by Peel in particular: much of his work is so difficult to play that he resorted to the use of player pianos to free himself from the necessity of taking account of human limitations. A dispassionate listening reveals that Nancarrow's early compositions sound like boogie-woogie played incredibly fast (an impression underlined by JP playing Camille Howard back to back with the Study 3E on 04 January 2000): in fact, he called the first five piano rolls The Boogie-Woogie Suite.

Apart from a Columbia set of LPs documenting his work to date in 1969, recordings of his music were thin on the ground until he was rediscovered in the 1980s. On Peel's appearance on the Radio 3 programme Private Passions in 1996, presenter Michael Berkeley played him Study No. 21, which so astonished John that he vowed to play Nancarrow's music on Radio 1, a promise it took him four years to fulfill. The German firm Wergo issued a multi-CD set of the studies and a couple found their way onto the show.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * None

Other Shows Played

 * 04 January 2000: 'Study For Player Piano No. 3E (5xCD-Studies For Player Piano)' (Wergo)
 * 19 January 2000: 'Study For Player Piano No. 3A (5xCD-Studies For Player Piano)' (Wergo)