Conlon Nancarrow

Composed in 1986, "Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra" begins with an enthusiastic and bright but stumbling march tempo, with piano offbeat accents and staggered fast-tonguing horn, trumpet and wind figures in rhythms that begin to get gradually slower and slower. Then the music begins to build toward its former energy, sort of half succeeds, then stops. A version of the music returns with the same rhythms slowed down, but orchestrated with a jazzy pizzicato bass, with wheezy winds above. When the winds stop, the bass continues, and muted chords in two pianos in multiple rhythms replace the winds. This music also ceases, and coquettish oboe solos, and a bassoon and trombone have a very tenuous duet over very subdued fragments of the bass, muted piano chords, and pizzicato strings. The effect is very droll and charming. Gradually other instruments are added into the pointillistic, hocketing texture, and the beginning music gradually tries to reassemble itself by drawing together fragments in multiple tempi. It doesn't succeed in doing that, but does recreate a new body that seems satisfied enough to proceed with a strong ending cadence. A delightful piece and an interesting extension of Nancarrow's rhythmic compositional procedures for player piano. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide