Marcus Y. Kim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>In my humble opinion, music that cannot be played by humans defeats
>the entire purpose of the art.  No player piano or computer can produce
>the subtle nuances, textures and expressive qualities that makes music
>much more than mere playing of the notes.  I can't imagine anything more
>repellent than a "soul less" performance of a great work of art.  ...

Well, Conlon Nancarrow - who wrote a set of pretty much unplayable studies
for the mechanical player piano - would no doubt disagree with you....

There are a couple of reasons why a composer might write an unplayable
score.  A distinct lack of competence is an obvious one; but while this
issue can been raised in the context of guitar scores; it's fairly rare
in respect for piano music (i reserve the right to doubts when it comes
to Ligeti).

There's also music which isn't _intended_ for live human performance:
Nancarrow's studies are an obvious eg; but also the Gould Wagner
transcriptions (which were written for recordings; & therefore included
overdubbed parts) or fugal studies such as those written by William
Havgergal Brian.  These scores can be edited for more conventional
performance post composition; but whether the composer really should be
blamed for the difficulties in the final product is highly questionable.

The third category are score which only appear to be unplayable.  Charles
Alkan wrote his scores for promotional concerts designed to showcase his
talent as a piano teacher:  in a sense - & quite apart from any inherent
musical worth - these pieces were musical equivalents of Charles Atlas/i
was an 89lb weakling commercials.  The hustle here was to let potential
students believe that only M.Alkan & his students could play the Symphony
for Piano Solo with one hand tied behind their back; so it made every
possible sense to make the scores appear absolutely unplayable to everyone
else.

(If all this sounds distinctly gladiatorial... it's meant to)

Don't know which category Sorabji's monsters fit into; but i suspect the
latter....

All the best,
Robert Clements <[log in to unmask]>