NEW PIANO ROLLS from JULIAN DYER

Maker of rolls for Duo-Art and 88-note player pianos

---

New rolls let you choose the music for your player piano and buy it when you want it, not just make do with what turns up. New rolls don't have the damage and decay that old rolls suffer from. Buy your new rolls here! Scroll down for the catalogue.

These rolls are exact replicas of originals, made from “recreated master rolls” that contain each and every punch in the original roll, all in the right place, so the new rolls perform exactly the same as the original rolls. This is quite unlike the majority of roll copies, where the new perforations only approximate the originals, to the detriment of the music. For the specification of these new rolls, see The Anatomy of a Piano Roll.

Replica rolls listed here for Duo-Art instruments are copies of original rolls issued between 1914 and 1939 by the Aeolian Company in the USA and UK. These are perforated using the correct-size punches for all tracks, including the smaller "snake-bite" accent perforations. (A brief description about how Aeolian made Duo-Art rolls can be found in the page about the Duo-Art recording process.)

A number of new 88-note rolls are offered. These are primarily “arranged” rolls, taken from the sheet music and intended for the operator to add all timing and expression. Where appropriate these contain Themodist accent perforations that give more musical results on instruments equipped with this type of expression device. They will play perfectly on any standard 88-note player piano.

The number of titles available off-the-shelf is fairly limited. Ask for the titles you want: you probably don't have to find an original, because there are libraries of electronic scans that can be perforated to order! Anything obtainable can be cut for bulk purchase, where the buyer takes the entire perforator run of four or five copies, but if you want something popular I may introduce it into the catalogue so others can share it.

Rolls can also be custom-cut from your own MIDI files, with a minimum order of only four copies. Please ask for more details.

Please have a look at the rolls listed below. If you want to order any, details can be found at the bottom of the page. Take 20% off the listed prices if you order 10 or more rolls, or 10% off for more than 5 rolls.

What's new?

May 2008:

• Three rolls of Granados' music. Two are played by composer Enrique Granados himself: Quejas o la Maja y el Ruisenor (The Maiden and the Nightingale) from Goyescas, one of his loveliest compositions quite beautifully played, and El Pelele, published separately but written as part of Goyescas. To complete the Goyescas theme is Ernest Schelling's version of El Fandango de Candid (Kitchen Fandango).
• The final two rolls of Delius' North Country Sketches (Winter Landscape & Dance; The March of Spring), played by Percy Grainger & Ralph Leopold. These are complex atmospheric pieces, written as a symphonic suite in 1913/4 and arranged in 1921 by his friend, the composer Peter Warlock, as a two-piano version.
• La Danse d'Olaf, by Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli played by William Backhaus. A superb virtuouso showpiece, written in 1916 in what Aeolian called "The idiom of the modern Italian school".
• General Lavine: eccentric, by Debussy played by Eugen d'Albert. From his second book of Preludes, this is one of Debussy's nods towards ragtime, named after a vaudeville performer of the day and "in the style and movement of a cakewalk".
• Le retour des muleteers by Deodat de Severac, played by Robert Lortat. Part of Severac's Cerdana suite, portraying a scene from his native Languedoc, a vivid piece of French impressionist writing that deserves to be better known.
• The delicate Idylle from Pieces Pittoresques by Chabrier, played by Alfred Cortot.
• Where the shy little violets grow, one of Pauline Alpert's fine hot dance rolls.

August 2007:

• Frank Lafitte's wonderful roll of Dohnanyi's Rhapsody, Op. 11 No. 1. This complements the rather more common Rhapsodie No. 3 recorded by John Thompson.
• Rowley's Rambling Sailor, a lively piece based around a Sea-Shanty and a remarkably effective Duo-Art performance. Three pieces of British music on one roll, York Bowen's Reverie, Dyson's Primrose Mount, and Ireland's Rondo. Both rolls are played by William Murdoch, and were originally issued for the Daily Express Piano Playing Competition so are rarely found as originals.
• The famous Bach Chaconne as interpreted by Ferrucio Busoni. This is a massive roll and one of the greatest tours-de-force in the Duo-Art catalogue.
• Two brand-new 88-note rolls, specially created and available nowhere else! Percy Grainger's two concert transcriptions of Gershwin's Love Walked In and The Man I Love on one large roll, arranged and interpreted by Sid O'Connell. And something very special indeed, Moya Maruschka, a Russian Fox-Trot arranged specially for the Pianola by Adam Ramet, transcribed from an original 1930s Petr Leschenko 78 -- this superb roll won the 2007 AMICA pumper contest and should be in everybody's collection.
• A couple of recut requests that others might like: Liszt's Mignon's Song played by Rudolph Ganz, and Chopin's massive Op 49 Fantaisie played by Harold Bauer. The Chopin in its original form was so long that Aeolian reduced it to 2/3 of its original ength by changing the way it was cut: unfortunately this made the gaps between notes too short so some of the fast repeats don't play on most pianos. This recut has been carefully edited to make the fast repeats playable, just as Aeolian should have done when it was new. See before and after comparison of recut and original!

Replica Duo-Art rolls - list updated 29th April 2008

Replica 88-note rolls

New 88-note rolls

Ordering information

All prices are in UK pounds sterling. Prices for off-the-shelf purchases:

• 1 to 4 rolls: price as shown above
• 5 to 9 rolls: deduct 10% from the total
• 10 or more rolls: deduct 20% from the total

Alternatively, order a bespoke perforator batch of any title (4 rolls) and deduct 20% for that particular title. Batch-buys do not count towards the off-the-shelf discount.

All orders are posted from the UK, or may be picked up from Wokingham. Postage is charged at cost, packing is free. To give some idea of postage costs at April 2008 prices:

• Within the UK, a 10-roll order typically falls into the £6.85 parcel post range (4 to 6kg), and 2 rolls can normally go second class for £2.50. The parcel price is nearly £2 cheaper than in 2007, thanks to reorganisation of the weight ranges!
• Overseas, orders weighing up to 5kg (about 10 rolls) airmail to Europe or surface mail anywhere usually cost about 20% of the roll price, double that for airmail outside Europe. Insurance and signed-for delivery are extra. The Royal Mail limit for small packets is 5kg.
• For international orders between 5kg and 10kg, DHL or FedEx flat-rate delivery is substantially cheaper. Anything up to 10kg costs £25 to much of Europe and £45 to the USA, including signed-for delivery. These services are excellent for larger orders, and I am happy to put together orders that maximise the usage of flat rate bands. Other destinations will differ, and heavier ranges are offered, so please ask for more details.

Please ask to confirm exact postage costs. Payment to be sent with order. Cheques must be in Pounds Sterling and drawn on a UK bank. PayPal is accepted for non-UK buyers - a payment request will be sent once the postage has been calculated.

Julian Dyer, 5 Richmond Rise, Wokingham RG41 3XH, United Kingdom

email: enquiries <at> pianorolls.co.uk (using @ instead of <at>)