An outrageously good disc!

For no particular reason (okay, it was on “clearance” at Arkiv), I picked up the above disc. What a delightful collection! The disc has music written between 1935 and 1986, including Pieces Number 1 and Number 2 for small orchestra, the first string quartet, a Toccata for violin and player piano, and some pieces for solo piano or player piano transcribed for piano four hands. The music is jazz influenced, shows a hint of baroque formality (especially Bach) and generally falls into that whole “modernist,” densely written and utterly complex music category. But it’s fun! That may seem hard to believe, but it’s true. The whole disc is bubbly and energetic and may cause smiles to break out. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. I’ve known Nancarrow’s name because of his piano roll music. Now it looks like I’ll have to try some. A superb disc.