THE TENNESSEAN SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013 ■9Exclassical music

early a century agoin a Parisian apart-ment too small for apiano, Americancomposer George

Antheil wrote a score for “Bal-let mécanique,” a film by Fer-nand Léger with director Du-dley Murphy. The film andmusic premiered in Vienna in1924 but have rarely been pre-sented together since then.

That’s partly because An-theil’s score, with its complexrhythms and unusual elements,was incredibly difficult toperform.

“It was 75 years ahead of itstime,” said Michael Holland,artistic director of VORTEX, apercussion ensemble at Van-derbilt’s Blair School of Music.

Now with the help of MIDI(musical instrument digitalinterface processing), roboticsand mechanical pianos, liveperformances of Antheil’smusic are possible, though stilldaunting.

VORTEXwill perform thework and present the accompa-nying film April 7 as part of aday dedicated to Antheil’slegacy. This will be the South-eastern premiere of the pair-ing and only the sixth screen-ing with musicians and filmtogether in the United States.

George Antheil (1900-’59)wrote more than 300 pieces ofmusic. He also worked withHollywood legend and math-ematician Hedy Lamarr todevelop spread spectrum tech-nology, a communicationsconcept used in cell phones,among other things.

Antheil’s most famous, orperhaps infamous project,however, might be “Balletmécanique,” which capturesthe heady rhythms and soundsof the bustling mid-1920s.VORTEX’s performance willinclude eight mechanical pi-anos and 13 performers.

The day will begin with asymposium from1:30 to 5 p.m.,which will include Tufts Uni-

versity professor Paul Lehr-man introducing a screening of“Bad BoyMakes Good,” hisdocumentary about Antheil;Rice University art historianGordon Hughes discussing the“Ballet mécanique” film; andFrench scientist Arshia Conton music created by pairingmusicians and artificial intelli-gence.

A display of robots will beon Blair’s Ingram Plaza begin-ning at 6:45 p.m., while in theIngram Lobby, people canexperiment with techniquesused in the 1924 film throughan interactive experience or-ganized by artists Benton-CBainbridge, Greg Pond and LizScofield.

The concert begins at 8 p.m.and includes Lehrman’s ar-

rangement of a Mendelssohnsymphonic movement for eightmechanical pianos; “DoubleMusic” (1941) by John Cageand Lou Harrison; as well asBrian Blume’s “Strands ofTime” (2010) for field drumwith audio.

Following are excerptsfrom a conversation with Hol-land about the April 7 events:How did this day cometogether?

I learned of this restorationof “Ballet Mécanique” in 1990when there was a very sub-stantial article in Wired maga-zine. I read about Paul Lehr-man’s work and I knew withouta doubt that the day wouldcome when I would do this.

From all accounts, fromfilm archivists who havelooked at this, this is a digitalreproduction of the originalprint that was first screened inAustria in 1924. It’s really ex-citing to reconnect this filmwith the score after 90 years.

The original score was al-most an half an hour long…the film was about half as longas the original score. PaulLehrman went in and veryjudiciously edited the originalscore so that what we havenow wonderfully fits the filmand that is why we’re able to do

this. This was not realized until2001.What is a mechanical piano?

Disklaviers are the modernequivalent of the player pianosof yesteryear. They, in thiscase, run off of MIDI proces-sors. You’re seeing the actualmechanics of the piano work,just like you would with a 1925player piano; the hammers arestriking the keys. It is roboticsby the very definition of it. It’samazing.Tell me about the students inVORTEX.

They are doing marvelouswork, it’s really a treat to workwith these students. They’revery bright and they catch onquick and that’s good. Thispiece has over 640 time signa-ture changes, a lot of veryunusual time signatures.

Here’s an interesting fact:most of these are non-percus-sion majors.This piece requires unusualinstruments— did you haveto search for anything?

My very good friend andcolleague up in Minnesota sentme his Yugoslav ambulancesiren. This thing is a screamer,it is fabulous. Antheil writesfor the sound of three propel-lers; Lehrman sampled those,stood out in front of a Cessna.There’s a large wooden andsmall wooden propeller and ametal propeller.Anything else?

This is probably said toooften about too many things,but in this case, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Whenyou see these mechanical pi-anos, these Disklaviers takeoff, your hair is going to beblown back.

The other thing that is abso-lutely staggering is the speedat which these pianos are play-ing. There is no human thatcould ever touch this. Thefireworks display that goes onwith these eight pianos onstage is worth — right there,just for that — to come and seethis program. This is wizardryon the piano that defies com-prehension.

spotlight

This Charlie Chaplin image is from “Ballet mécanique,” by filmmakersLéger/Murphy. COURTESY OF ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Vanderbilt group performs ‘impossible’

IF YOU GOWhat: “VORTEX and the Bad Boy,”a performance and screening of“Ballet méchanique”Where: Ingram Hall, VanderbiltUniversity’s Blair School of MusicWhen: 8 p.m. April 7; symposiumand other events begin at 1:30 p.m.Admission: FreeContact: 615-322-7651 or http://blair.vanderbilt.edu

nByMiChelle JonesFor The Tennessean

MONDAYLipscomb UniversityDepartment of Musicpresents Mozart & Schu-mann: The Piano Quartets:Free admission, 8 p.m., Lip-scomb University, Ward Hall,3901 Granny White Pike,Nashville. (615) 966-7620,mozartinmusiccity.com.Signature Series: BlairBrass Quintet: Free admis-sion, 8 p.m., Vanderbilt Uni-versity, Blair School of Music,Steve and Judy Turner RecitalHall, 2400 Blakemore Ave.,Nashville. (615) 322-7651,blair.vanderbilt.edu.

TUESDAYOratorio Chorus: Free ad-mission, 7:30 p.m., BelmontUniversity, McAfee ConcertHall, 2100 Belmont Blvd.,Nashville. (615) 460-6408,www.belmont.edu/music.

WEDNESDAYThe Chamber Men, Lip-scomb’s Chamber Quartet:5 p.m., Lipscomb University,Ward Hall, 3901 GrannyWhite Pike. (615) 966-5932,www.lipscomb.edu.

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