Temperaments

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi David:

It is interesting that you mention "The Holy Grail" of temperaments. By 
the strangest coincidence, one of the devotees of historical 
temperaments has named his own favorite version just that "The Holy Grail".
Bill Bremmer and Paul Bailey know about that.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Vanderhoofven wrote:

> Today I got to tune for the Amadeus Trio for their concert in Joplin.  The
> program was a Haydn Trio in C Major (18th century), a Shostakovich Trio in
> E Minor (20th century, and a Mendelssohn Trio in C Minor (19th century).  I
> tuned the piano in Equal Temperament, which turned out well, because the
> Shostakovich was very discordant.  I would think it probably would not have
> done well in a historical temperament.
> 
> My question:  If you had a free hand to tune any temperament you wanted,
> what would be a suitable temperament for this program list?  What
> temperament would be best for this, and Why?
> 
> In the quest for the Holy Grail of Temperaments,
> David
> 
> At 09:42 AM 1/17/98 -0600, you wrote:
> >List:
> >
> >For me personally, I like ET.  If the soprano is having a bad throat day
> >the piece in G can be moved to Gb without changing the whole character
> >of the piece.  There are some advantages to ET.
> >
> >On the other hand I think some concerts can be enhanced by using some of
> >the historical temperaments.  In December, Jeffrey Siegel did a concert
> >at SMU of all Beethoven.  I asked him if he would like to use a
> >historical temperament like a Youngs.  Since sound only travels at 1020
> >feet per second, his "NO" answer was out before my last sounds made it
> >to his ear.  
> >
> >If an artist doesn't want to use a historical temperament for a program
> >of all pre-ET music, he certainly won't want to use one for a program
> >that includes Beethoven et al AND Ravel & Poulenc.  ET is the only thing
> >that will give a reasonable performance of older and contemporary music
> >IMHO.  Having said that, if a performer wants some different
> >temperament, I want to be the one who can deliver for him/her.
> >
> >dave
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >
> >David M. Porritt, RPT
> >Meadows School of the Arts
> >Southern Methodist University
> >Dallas, Texas
> >_______________________________________________
> >
> >
> 
> David A. Vanderhoofven, RPT
> Joplin, Missouri, USA        
> e-mail:  dkvander@clandjop.com
> 
> web page:  http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/
> #pianotech page:  http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/ircpiano.html
> 
> 
>