"In the eighteen years since his death, the music of composer Conlon Nancarrow has steadily grown in influence and infamy. Viewed as a fascinating anomaly during much of his lifetime, Nancarrow created staggeringly complex pieces with rhythmical structures—borrowed from boogie-woogie and the atonal avant-garde, and, eventually, formed in his own unique language—that he achieved through highly unusual means. After fighting in the Spanish Civil War against Franco’s fascist regime, Nancarrow returned to the United States but was refused a passport renewal on the basis of his political beliefs. He responded by relocating in 1940 to Mexico City, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Working in near isolation, Nancarrow ceased writing music for live performers and instead turned to the only means of realizing his musical vision in the precomputer era: composing for the player piano. ..."
Whitney (Video)
NY Times
Conlon Nancarrow’s Math-Mad Music (Video)
W - Conlon Nancarrow
Conlon Nancarrow: A Chronology By Kyle Gann
YouTube: Study for Player Piano No. 37, Study for Player Piano No. 21 (Canon X), 3rd Study for Player Piano 'Boogie Woogie Suite' Audio + Sheet Music, Studies 2B, 3a, 3e and 5 for Player Piano
YouTube: A Sense of Place: The Life and Work of Conlon Nancarrow (Documentary) 28:48
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