(All other ARTCRAFT releases are PERMANENT SELECTIONS — titles which are always available from our large inventory.)
Unlike the ARTCRAFT Interpretive Arrangements
featured on our regular Internet pages, these are selections which are
in limited supply and subject to prior sale.
Limited Edition releases
by ARTCRAFT have become collectors' items in rapid time. Rolls such as AMERICA,
THE BEAUTIFUL March (the proposed 1917 National Anthem, from
Maine), SO
AM I Medley (the original FAKE-Gershwin Duo-Art roll coupled up
with a dreadful
MIDI version, involving a Disklavier solenoid player) ... and the
outstanding
RHAPSODY IN BLUE [Aeolian Hall Demonstration Roll] are among
the titles that
are now out-of-print. These — and other Limited Edition
ARTCRAFT Rolls
— are being sought by music roll enthusiasts in the second-hand market
today.
Below
are several ARTCRAFT offerings which — once "sold out" — will not be
available
again.
"Played by the Composer" for The Duo-Art Pianola - $16.50
ARTCRAFT offers a Re-Issue of what is probably the "ugliest-sounding" roll from the original Aeolian library, the musical equivalent of "fingernails on the blackboard" — a perfect gift for that Duo-Art owner you despise! Imagine, if you can, an instrumental piano solo which blends Ragtime with French Impressionist musical elements, an Irene Castle meets Claude Debussy pastiche inspired by AFTERNOON OF A FAUN from the same period. The roll features jerky rhythm (inherent in the early "direct-cut" Duo-Art rolls), excessive sustaining pedal and an expression score which is frozen in the "loud" zone. We have made no effort to Re-Master this rare number, for its many defects add to the campy nature of the performance. The roll stinks, yet ghastly can be intoxicating! Purchase this selection at your own risk. The chances are that you won't find an original copy since our grandparents had better taste in music!
AMER-I-CAN, THAT MEANS THE KLAN - March Song (1925) -Hugh Roy-
Played by Franco Reltih - $18.50
88-Note WORD ROLL
This is an historic Re-Issue of a rare roll published in the 'Twenties by the Ku Klux Klan. Most Klan rolls — though seldom-seen today — were arranged by the Capitol Music Roll Co., makers of 'Supertone Rolls' for Sears & Roebuck, plus a variety of other labels. The 'Capitol' rolls were then marketed through the Kansas City branch of the the organization. AMER-I-CAN, THAT MEANS THE KLAN was published by the Syracuse, New York branch of the group, and it appears that this roll was the work of another perforating concern. Musically speaking, the march can stand upon its own merits. The lyrics, of course, are a matter of personal taste. Our favourite word in the song is "booze-she-vik", a twisting of the word "bolshevik" — a reference to the then-recent Russian revolution.
Check this page from time to time,
to see what other "Limited Edition" rolls are being offered by
ARTCRAFT,
on a 'first-come first-served' basis!
Gershwin Upate on RHAPSODY IN BLUE [Aeolian Hall
Demonstration Roll]: 9/16/2006:
While only
44 rolls were made, from the torn, unplayable original roll, it was
used as a "master" and then hand-edited against the Aeolian copy, in
order
to preserve the clipped staccato effects, running at Tempo 100. This will be used for a planned 3 roll Set
of the complete music, arranged in the ARTCRAFT Studio, using the roll
as "soloist" with the 'orchestra' being adapted from the early Jazz
Piano score and the Victor acoustic 78 epm disc recording.
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