Wolfsonian Ballet Mecanique

Ballet Mechanique @ The Wolfsonian: a live musical-mechanical performance of a 1924 controversial, fascinating (and noisy) musical piece adapted for two dozen pianos, xylophones, an airplane propeller, bells, sirens and fans....
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Ballet Mécanique (1924) was a project by the American composer George Antheil and the filmaker/artist Fernand Léger. Although the film was intended to use Antheil's score as a soundtrack, the two parts were not brought together until the 1990s. As a composition, Ballet Mécanique is Antheil's best known and most enduring work. It remains famous for its radical style and instrumentation as well as its storied history. In concert performance, the "ballet" is not a show of human dancers but of mechanical instruments. Among these, player pianos, airplane propellers, and electric bells stand prominently onstage, moving as machines do, and providing the visual side of the ballet. As the bizarre instrumentation may suggest, this was no ordinary piece of music. It was loud and percussive –- a medley of noises, much as the Italian Futurists envisioned new music of the 20th century. The mechanical pianos keep the tempo strictly at (quarter = 152). Interestingly, all longer rests in the pianola part are notated in 8th rests, as if to suggest the exactness of the instrument. At this rate, the 1920’s pianola played 8.5 feet per minute of paper rolls over three rolls. This logistical nightmare was allegedly caused by a manufacturing error on the rolls, which doubled Antheil’s suggested tempo. Antheil chose not to fix the “error.”