Music Professor's Documentary to Premier on AETN

Conlon Nancarrow at work.

Conlon Nancarrow

James Greeson

Leo Mazow

Robert Mueller

DVD cover

Dale Carpenter

Photo Submitted

Conlon Nancarrow at work.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The documentary film Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso of the Player Piano will have its television premiere on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. on AETN. James Greeson, professor of music composition in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is the film’s producer.

“This project has many ties to the university,” said Greeson. “Dale Carpenter, one of my colleagues in the journalism department, served as associate producer. I learned so much from him on this project. Also, Leo Mazow in art history and Robert Mueller in music composition were interviewed for the piece.”

Several students and faculty members from the department of music were involved in a filmed recreation of a performance of one of Nancarrow’s early compositions. Professors Er-Gene Kahng, Henry Runkles, Rick Salonen, Gerald Sloan and Bob Umiker and students Jesse Collett and Carissa Porter participated in the production.

The film has received much acclaim since its release by the University of Arkansas Press. It appeared in the sixth annual Little Rock Film Festival and was reviewed by the Arkansas Times. Additionally, Greeson was nominated for a 2012 Mid-America Emmy Award in the Programing (Non-Newscast) for Cultural Documentary.

The 57-minute feature explores the life of an Arkansas-born musician who won a MacArthur Genius Gant for his compositions for the player piano. Nancarrow eventually moved to Mexico after being ostracized in the U.S. for his communist politics.

Born in Texarkana, Ark., Nancarrow studied music in Cincinnati and Boston. He joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in 1937, a force of American volunteers who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Upon his return to the U.S., Nancarrow resumed his musical education and career in New York.

A dedicated socialist, Nancarrow became increasingly unnerved by the treatment he received in the United States and moved to Mexico in in the early 1940s. It was here when he began composing pieces for the player piano in earnest. Frustrated by the inherent flaws of a human performer, Nancarrow sought to compose pieces with only the music in mind.

“Nancarrow has always interested me,” said Greeson. “While many considered a player piano a nostalgic relic, he found ways to compose eclectic, unique music almost exclusively for the instrument. I hope this film leads others to appreciate his work as I do.”

Greeson was awarded an Emmy in 2009 for his original score in the PBS documentary, The Buffalo Flows. Two days after the film’s premier on AETN, the 2012 Emmy Awards will be presented at a gala in Kansas City.

AETN will re-air the film at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30, and 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31. Copies of the documentary are available through the University of Arkansas Press. To see a trailer for the documentary, go to https://vimeo.com/47465527.