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]>