My wife found this review of a concert last Friday, 4 December 1998, by
the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.  The headline reads, "Piano Rolls
Enhance Adam's Minimalism".

Pianist Emanual Ax soloed with the orchestra, playing the West Coast
premiere of composer John Adams' "Century Rolls" (1997).  I'm not going
to quote the complete review but here are the major points written by
San Jose Mercury News music writer Paul Hertelendy.

  "In this quasi-concerto, the 51 year-old Berkeley composer uses the
piano rolls that were dominant in home music listening in the 1920s,
and combines them with the minimalism typical of his earliest
ventures."

  "In this way Adams has solved his relative unfamiliarity with
piano-writing by turning to the past.  His journey leads him to an
original composition that uses a few jazz inflections and occasional
Gershwinesque chords."

  "It's an unrewarding piece for the soloist, who has to play within
the strict terrace-like dynamics of piano rolls through a half-hour
piece, with little opportunity for flamboyance, accent or  expression."

  "The first movement's minimalism gives way to the laid-back slow
chords of the "Manny's Gym" section, referring both to [soloist] Ax and
to Erik Satie's 1888 "Gymnop'edies," which is clearly a musical model.
The finale, "Hale Bop," is quirkier and spacier rhythmically."

  "But overall, the strait-jacket of the piano-roll idiom confines this
piece rather uncomfortably."


This has really piqued my curiosity.  What rolls were used, how were
they woven into the piece and, lastly, was it a player piano or
reproducing piano that was used?  Does anyone have more information?

Michael Swanson