Description
This paper discusses the research carried out as part of the project Artist's Piano Rolls in Spain, led by Lourdes Rebollo at the Universidad Internacional de Valencia.
Artist’s piano rolls are part of the history of recorded music. They provide valuable information about early recording technologies and performance practices, as well as the musical and cultural tastes of early 20th century society. While cylinders and early discs had technical limitations in terms of sound recording and storage capacity, recorded piano rolls captured in real time the performance of a pianist playing on a grand piano connected to a recording device. Piano rolls could also store up to 15 minutes of music. This made it possible to record not only a wider and more complex piano repertoire, but also chamber music and orchestral transcriptions. Many pianists and composers recorded on piano rolls between 1904 and 1930, including a generation of artists born in the mid-19th century, providing a link to 20th century performance practice. Piano roll recordings were also the best way of disseminating composers' works and preserving those performed by the composers themselves (Granados, Falla, Grieg, among others). This paper examines the companies, the artists and the repertoire disseminated on these piano rolls in the historical, cultural and social context of twentieth-century Spain.
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