e-concertpianola

e-Concert #8

Choice rarities from dusty forgotten shelves. An archival quality copy of everything you hear has been matrix scanned for preservation. Many thanks as ever to Julian Dyer for scanning and making this possible.

1. One Summer Night - foxtrot
Dvorak in 4/4 tempo. One of those finds that make your day. A dusty old roll, no title label, no box, feint pencil writing "Songs My Mother Taught Me". Fortunately what caught my eye was the unusual punch pattern of square and round holes and a foxtrot rhythm on the sheet. In the UK these were made by the Up-to-Date Music Roll Company and Parex and also Pianostyle Music Rolls of Chadwell Heath who used the same labels and tags as the American company but traded later. All very curious and little / nothing is known is about UK Pianostyle and Parex, their inter-relationship and the mystery square/round perforator. It is thought that the perf pattern comes from some 1-1 semi-manual roll duplicating machine. The real song title was identified from the midi file by Niels Berkers (many thanks!) from the Netherlands! Up-To-Date Music Roll Company : One Summer Night - Coslow & Spier (1927) - foxtrot 88-note

2. She Don't Wanna : When You Played the Organ : Just Another Wasted Day
More square-round perfs! This is an Animatic SJ orchestrion roll from the late 20s. Made by Up-to-Date for Keith Prowse in London. Keith Prowse advertised music rolls for all types of "foreign" coin pianos and orchestrions. After WWI there was a lot of anti-German feeling and instruments were re-badged by Keith Prowse to appear non-German and fresh music was supplied. The rolls have a separate section for xylophone and controls for tympani and mandolin. I've added the xylophone and mandolin into this roll to give an idea of how it sounded originally. Keith Prowse J75 - She Don't Wanna : When You Played the Organ : Just Another Wasted Day

3.Buzz Buzz
A long selection from WWI-era London revue Buzz Buzz by Herman Darewski - incidentally absolutely no relation to pianist Max Darewski. Almost everything in the revue score was designed to be as crash-bang-wallop as the action. K-K-Katy was interpolated into the show and other numbers have endearing titles such as "Mr Nosey Parker" "Everything is Buzz Buzz Now" and "The Corpse Reviver Rag". Most of the published complete vocal score is written in the key of F which makes it easy but a little tedious to play through. I wonder why?Themodist TL23551 Buzz Buzz (sel) - Darewski 88-note

4. Singing
Jack Hylton was the UK equivalent of Paul Whiteman - really the foremost danceband leader of the 20s and 30s. Hylton started out in 1921 and when he heard Whiteman he knew what he wanted to aspire to. The band continued with unabated success throughout the 20s right until the early 40s when it ceased due to service call-up to the army for many of it's musicians. Hylton went on to be become a very successful theatre impresario for many years to come. Here is a tune that Hylton recorded in mid-1922 and is curious in that it is one of his own compositions too! All the band parts are on the roll in typical early 20s danceband style. Metrostyle L30250 Singing foxtrot - J Hylton 88-note

5. Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich
A beautiful waltz by Strauss and played by Johann Strauss III - the grandson on J Strauss I. He had his own orchestra and made plenty recordings of the family music in the 20s and 30s but never had much success with his own compositions. However, judging by this performance he was a fine performer! A rare recording on the Philag label from the Phillips Company otherwise better known as piano orchestrion manufacturers.Philag 590 Dorfschwalben aus Oesterreich - J Strauss played by J Strauss 88-note

6. Gypsy Suite
Edward German was regarded as the finest composer in England at the turn of the last century. It was only he who was considered capable enough to complete the final unfinished opera of Sir Arthur Sullivan - The Emerald Isle. He had immense success with his own operas Tom Jones, Merrie England and also the well-known incidental music he wrote for Nell Gwynne and the dances from Henry VIII. His Gypsy Suite for Orchestra dates back to 1895 and here are parts 1 and 2. On the roll is essentially the composer's own 4-hand arrangement with a few additions to make it closer to the full orchestral score. Movement I - Valse (Lonely Life) and Movement 2 Allegro (The Dance) conclude e-Concert #8 - thanks for listening in! Themodist TL71509 Gypsy Suite - Edward German 88-note