When Margaret Leng Tan acquired two toy pianos with distinctly separate personalities, it seemed inevitable that Conlon Nancarrow’s “Three 2-Part Studies” had to be heard on them. Even more formidable than the task of performing them was the feat of mastering the transcription. She would long ago have given up had she not been goaded on by the ultimate challenge, to render on a toy instrument the kind of virtuosity and precision that had led Nancarrow to bypass the uncertainties of human execution and invest his energies in the player piano's unfettered possibilities. |
