Michael Broadway has made a study of pianola performance for over thirty years, and has played at the Purcell Room, the Barbican, St Paul’s Cathedral, St John’s Smith Square and Symphony Hall Birmingham, as well as broadcasting on Radio 3, Radio 4 and BBC1. Concerts abroad include Rome, Prague, Budapest, and in Venice for La Biennale di Venezia.
This afternoon he is playing his Orchestrelle Company ‘Push-Up’ pianola of 1914, coupled to the church’s piano. Many would think this no different from listening to a CD; simply switch it on and it plays. Reproducing pianos such as the Duo-Art or the Ampico certainly do this, as they are operated by an electric motor, but the music rolls for those instruments have been recorded by a pianist, and therefore contain all dynamic and tempo changes encoded into the paper music roll.
Here we have something different. The rolls being played today were made as direct transcriptions of the musical score, note for note on to graph paper in a mathematical and mechanical way, and require the intervention of a player to coax a musical performance from the bare notes. If the roll were simply set going, all that would result would be an a tempo rendition played at the same volume throughout, and the use of the pedals and levers on the instrument assist the player in avoiding this. Thus it is possible to explore the entire dynamic range of the piano being played, as well as subtle nuances of tempo rubato.
Today’s performance, as with all live music, will be unique; in the hands (and feet) of another player, the same music could sound completely different.
For more information please visit Pianola Partnership's website