ORIGINAL VERSION OF GEORGE ANTHEIL’S BALLET MECANIQUE
USING YAMAHA DISKLAVIER PIANO TECHNOLOGY PERFORMED AT SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY’S AMERICAN MAVERICKS FESTIVAL

Antheil's musical masterpiece comes to San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO–Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, provided 16 Disklavier pianos to the San Francisco Symphony to recreate a live performance of the original version of American composer George Antheil’s avant-garde musical masterpiece, Ballet Mécanique, at Davies Symphony Hall on June 11. The concert was one of the highlights of the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks Festival, a 12-concert celebration of American Maverick musical heritage, led by music director Michael Tilson Thomas. The composition called for four xylophones, four bass drums, a tamtam (gong), two pianos, a siren, three airplane propellers, seven electric bells and 16 synchronized player pianos. There was also be a documentary slide presentation on Antheil’s life and music.

16 Synchronized Yamaha Disklaviers took center stage for Ballet Mécanique at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.

Antheil (1900 –1959), born in Trenton, NJ, was fascinated by player pianos and percussion instruments. He began work in 1924 on what was to become his most famous creation, Ballet Mécanique. Ironically, Antheil’s musical composition could not be performed at the time it was written because the technology was not yet available – synchronized player pianos existed only in theory.

Today, thanks to computers, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and MIDI-compatible acoustic/digital player pianos, the technology now exists to realize Antheil’s original version of Ballet Mécanique. The technology of the Yamaha Disklavier has finally made it possible to synchronize all the instruments needed to play the musical masterpiece in its original form. The Yamaha Disklavier is a computerized digital/acoustic piano that offers the best of both worlds–a fine acoustic piano and the ability to record and play back performances note-for-note–with its keys and pedals moving up and down as on classic player pianos of old. In fact, its sophisticated system of fiber-optic sensors tracks the movements of the piano’s hammers, keys and pedals while capturing every nuance of performance in digital form on the same 3.5-inch floppy disks used in personal computers. The result is a technological marvel that offers endless entertainment and educational applications. For a look at how the latest technology made this performance possible, read an article by composer Paul Lehrman.

Music publisher G. Schirmer commissioned Lehrman to create MIDI files of the original Pianola parts, with support from Yamaha Corporation of America.

For more information, write Mike Bates, Director of Academic and Institutional Affairs, Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; call (714) 522-9210; e-mail mbates@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com on the Web.

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