[CAUT] ET and atonal

[Fred Sturm]

On Jan 16, 2009, at 10:35 AM, reggaepass at aol.com wrote:

> (and the intriguing connection he makes between the symmetrical-- 
> and, therefore, non-tonal nature--of ET and concurrent developments  
> in atonal music)

	Here is another "truism" seemingly accepted by all (certainly stated  
often in Jorgensen): that ET is necessary for "atonal" music, which is  
usually intended to include Debussy and his ilk, music which is  
written with other than 18th century functional harmony. There has  
been a school of thought, again stated very precisely in Jorgensen,  
that claims that the perfection of ET that became possible in the 20th  
century is essential for this atonal music.
	Is it? Personally I am not so sure. I have stated before on several  
occasions that I believe there is a very wide range of tuning that  
will be perceived by virtually everybody, in musical context, as ET. I  
do not find that "atonal" (in the broad sense described above, or in  
the 12-tone serial sense) sounds in the least bit "strange/different"  
when played on a mild WT. Maybe my hearing isn't very acute, sensitive  
to that sort of thing.
	I have finally completed production of a CD in which I played all  
Villa-Lobos on a piano tuned in Moore and in ET. I did the original  
takes when the piano happened to be tuned in Moore. I did retakes of  
about half the tracks a month or so later, when the same piano was  
tuned to ET. The tracks are random as to temperament (there is no  
particular pattern to which tracks I did retakes on). The VIlla-Lobos  
pieces use a lot of "coloristic harmony," where vertical sonorities  
are chosen for color rather than for function. There are sections that  
are more or less functional harmony as well.
	UPS says the actual CDs will show up first of next week. I'll be  
putting it on CD Baby shortly thereafter, and they will do 2 minute or  
so excerpts of each track for customers to sample. I will let you know  
when this has happened, and then anyone who wishes can go to the site  
and listen, and see if you can hear a difference. (I will also send a  
CD on request). Personally, I cannot hear the difference. Blush. Just  
don't have the hearing chops I guess. I would very much like to know  
if other people can. I haven't found anyone who can yet, but I haven't  
managed to persuade all that many to listen closely and tell me.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


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