NEW PIANO ROLLS from JULIAN DYER

For Duo-Art and 88-note player pianos

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New rolls let you choose the music for your player piano and buy it when you want it, not just make do with what turns up. New rolls don't have the damage and decay that old rolls suffer from. Buy your new rolls here!

Below are the catalogues of rolls for  standard 88-note player pianos and automatic Duo-Art instruments. Not sure what rolls your player piano can use? Have a look at the page on compatibility. If you know what you want, you can order directly.

Duo-Art rolls

These are special rolls needed to operate Duo-Art pianos that automatically reproduce the performance of the pianist. The copies here are exact replicas of original rolls, containing each and every punch in the original roll, all in the right place and of the right size, so the new rolls perform exactly the same as the original rolls. This is quite unlike the majority of roll copies, where the new perforations only approximate the originals, to the detriment of the music. For the specification of these new rolls, see The Anatomy of a Piano Roll.

A brief description about how the Aeolian Company made the original Duo-Art rolls can be found in the page about the Duo-Art recording process. If you want to know more about how Duo-Art pianos work, have a look at Understanding and Regulating the Pedal-Electric Duo-Art.

Standard 88-note rolls

Most player pianos use 88-note rolls, with the operator (or 'Pianolist') adding all timing and expression. Some instruments have an extra accenting mechanism to highlight certain notes, and the rolls here have accenting when this is appropriate. They will play perfectly on any standard 88-note player piano. The catalogue has a mixture of replica and new rolls, including titles newly arranged by Adam Ramet to play in a way that only the player piano can!

Special recut orders

I can only offer a fairly limited list of rolls off-the-shelf, but there are huge numbers of other rolls that could be recut. Ask for the titles you want: you may well not have to find an original because there are libraries of electronic scans that can be perforated to order! Anything obtainable can be cut for bulk purchase, where the buyer takes the entire perforator run of four copies. I don't copy rolls less than 50 years old, or older recuts.

Custom-cut new rolls

I can cut new rolls from MIDI files, as long as the MIDI file is provided in a form ready for cutting - I can check a file to assess how suitable it is for making into a roll. New rolls are supplied only in batches of four copies; it's not practical to supply single rolls or proof rolls, although I can provide examples of how the MIDI will sound once it's been cut into a roll. I cannot create MIDI files for you, so if there is something you want you'll have to find somebody to create it for you, and I'll then happily cut it for you.

What's new?

November 2017 - new Duo-Art title 

• The wonderful Prokofiev performance of Rachmaninoff's famous Prelude in G minor, Op 25 No 5. Of the three performances that Aeolian issued of this piece, this is the most effective, especially the lyrical middle section.

October 2017 - new Duo-Art titles 

• A true rarity, the only roll recorded by British composer Leo Livens, "The Naiads" and "The Hobby Horse". Livens was a rising star of British music but shortly after making this roll suffered a breakdown which stopped his career. This is from the only original of this roll I know of. 
• "Three Cuban Dances" by Cervantes, played by Adela Verne. One of the earliest London-only issues, and a great favourite of the Frank Holland at the Brentford  museum.
• The well-known Toccata by Paradies, played by Harold Samuel
• Nikolai Medtner's superb roll of his composition "March Of The Knights Op 14 No 2" - although revived thanks to the modern recordings of his compositions by Mac-Andre Hamelin, Medtner's own performances are superb
• "Fingal's Cave" by Mendelssohn, played by Rudolph Ganz and Ernest Hutcheson. From a series of symphonic transcriptions
• "Scheherezade", Prokofieff's own fantaisie of Rimsky-Korsakov's famous work.
• Cecile Chaminade playing l'Ondine, one of the many superb recordings she made in London with Reginald Reynolds as recording engineer.
• Victor Herbert medley, one of the many great selections constructed to show off the Duo-Art by Robert Armbruster
• Two rolls played by renowned English composer, Myra Hess: Debussy's Prelude "Voiles", and Szymanowsky's Etude Op 4 No 3 - an early composition of his with a wonderful late-romantic sweep.
• "Au bord d'une source" from Liszt's Annees de Pelerinage, beautifully performed by by favourite, Alfred Cortot.
• Want to preview these? Try these sample audio files to get an idea (these are simulated, not recordings)

July 2017 - 88-note roll 

• A recut of "La Cumparsita", a roll made in Buenos Aires on the 'Pampa' label. This is a masterpiece of the roll arranger's art, with the entire tango orchestra placed across the roll. The arrangers were Julio Goossens (from the much-extended family of musicians, and owner of the Pampa label) & Emilio Brameri (renowned tango artist)

July 2017 - Duo-Art rolls 

• Alfred Cortot's magnificent performance of Chopin's "Andante Spianato and Polonaise". I've long had a recut of this as one of my favorite rolls, but now have an original that I can replicate.
• A rare opprtunity to buy the entire set of Stravinsky's "Firebird", the composer's own transcription for piano roll. Made under Stravinsky's supervision in Paris for Pleyel in the late 'teens, this was licensed by Aeolian who issued in late 1929 with added Duo-Art coding. This is an extreme rarity, issued only in "Audiographic" form as part one of the composer's autobiography "My life in music", which was printed onto the roll leader. The original comes with numerous musical examples, which while of great teaching use impede simply listening to the music (and have been cut from some original copies of the roll), so are omitted from these recuts. The rolls here have no printing on them, but the printed material is replicated on separate printed sheets. Only available as sets.

April 2017 - Duo-Art rolls composed and played by Serge Prokofiev

• Prokofiev recorded some superb rolls for Duo-Art, many of them his own compositions. I am glad to be able to offer here all but of one of them! Originals of these are very rare. Some issues were very short so I have combined the three shortest into one roll, making 7 recuts in all. One title, the now-famous March from "The Love for three Oranges" was never issued originally, but was cut from the original factory trial by Artona in the 1960s and this is what I've copied. The titles are:
•  6153 Prelude (Op 12 No 7)
   6160 - 6344 - 6253 Marche, Rigaudon (Op 12 Nos 1 & 2), Gavotte (Op 11 No 2) -- three very short rolls merged
   6210 Sarcasms (Op 17 Nos 1 & 2)
   6477 Love for three oranges – Intermezzo
   6774 Scherzo (Op 12 No 10)
   6826 Tales of the old grandmother 
   8018 March from Love for three oranges 

Replica Duo-Art rolls - list updated March 2018

Bulk orders: take 20% off the listed prices if you order 10 or more rolls, or 10% off for more than 5 rolls.

Replica 88-note rolls

New 88-note rolls

Ordering information

Ordering is simple: just email the list of the rolls you want, your details including delivery addess, whether you want fast (expensive) or economical (slower) delivery, and if you want additional postal insurance. You will be sent a payment request for the total, no payment is needed with the order.

All prices are in UK pounds sterling. There are discounts for larger orders: 10% for 5 to 9 rolls, 20% for 10 or more rolls. Alternatively, order a bespoke perforator batch of any title (4 rolls) and deduct 20% for that particular title.

All orders are posted from the UK, or may be picked up from Wokingham. Postage is charged at cost, packing is free. Exact postage costs will be confirmed when the packed weight of your order is known and a postal service chosen – I use Royal Mail or courier services whichever is more economic, on a case-by-case basis. Payment only by cash on collection, bank transfer, cheque (Pounds Sterling, drawn on a UK bank), or PayPal for non-UK buyers only.  

Julian Dyer, 5 Richmond Rise, Wokingham RG41 3XH, United Kingdom

email: enquiries <at> pianorolls.co.uk (using @ instead of <at>)