Circus Galop
Encyclopedia
Circus Galop is a piece for player piano
written by Marc-André Hamelin
. It was composed between 1991 and 1994 and it is dedicated to Beatrix and Jürgen Hocker, piano roll
makers. Its duration is approximately 4–5 minutes. Scores of this piece are available through the Sorabji Archive. Piano rolls of this piece are available from Wolfgang Heisig and Jürgen Hocker, who have recorded all three of Hamelin's player piano pieces on the MDG label and were released in April 2008.
It is not possible to be played by humans, as at some points all the piano staves are played at the same time, and up to 21 notes simultaneously. It is used to test MIDI software to drive it to its maximum potential, such as Synthesia
, or PianoMIDI. However, some YouTube users have simplified the piece to make it playable.
Player piano
A player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in...
written by Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...
. It was composed between 1991 and 1994 and it is dedicated to Beatrix and Jürgen Hocker, piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
makers. Its duration is approximately 4–5 minutes. Scores of this piece are available through the Sorabji Archive. Piano rolls of this piece are available from Wolfgang Heisig and Jürgen Hocker, who have recorded all three of Hamelin's player piano pieces on the MDG label and were released in April 2008.
It is not possible to be played by humans, as at some points all the piano staves are played at the same time, and up to 21 notes simultaneously. It is used to test MIDI software to drive it to its maximum potential, such as Synthesia
Synthesia
Synthesia is a video game for Windows and Mac OS X which allows users to play a MIDI keyboard or use a computer keyboard in time to a MIDI file by following on-screen directions, much in the style of Keyboard Mania or Guitar Hero...
, or PianoMIDI. However, some YouTube users have simplified the piece to make it playable.
External links
- Circus Galop Hamelin in Stockholm
- Impossible Piano Music contains various videos of Circus Galop