As the astute viewer will notice, the Pianola arrangement of BALLET MECANIQUE builds upon itself, changing in rhythms and patterns, but doing so in a logical progression. If you compare this passage with that of the Introduction, you'll see those pulsating bass patterns (the "pile driver" or "thumping effect" of industrial machinery) continuing in the bass ... while highspeed treble figurations "sweep" up and down the keys in staccato precision, reflecting that same section of the first roll. However, things are more complex and superimposed here, so there's a dramatic tension to this percussive Player-Piano composition.
 

    Note also the stark transition at the end of "TIME SPACE" #50 (which is at the bottom of the photograph) to "TIME SPACE" #51, which dominates this scene from Roll II. Here is "movie music" at its most convincing point. Something on the motion picture screen changes, and instantly so does the Player-Piano accompaniment!  Film music often requires immediate shifts in mood or texture, to match the screen's images. This isn't the case with purely instrumental music, but then the "TIME SPACE" invention of George Antheil was particularly suited to the moving picture medium — right from the start!

    Are you ready to examine Roll III?  Continue with the link below --