"Historical Mindset" -Reply

[remoody-0001]

 Steve wrote as quoted from below


>But until you hear the
> Goldberg Variations or the WTC of JS Bach in Werckmeister III,
played on
> a fine harpsichord, you haven't heard everything ol' JS was trying
to tell
> us.  

Yes and I wish JS Bach had told us how to TUNE the WTC. if Well
Tempered meant so much.  

>There really was a reason Ludwig picked C# minor for the
> "Moonlight". 

Just a kwibble, how long does it stay in C# minor? and/or where does
it go to after that?

 > And there's room for all of us.  At the risk of getting
> preachy, Duke Ellington said it well: "If it sounds good, it is
good." 
> Just my opinion..

> Steve ;-)

mine too
Richard Soundgood









----------
> From: Steve Pearson <SPearson@yamaha.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: "Historical Mindset" -Reply
> Date: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 5:24 PM
> 
> There are few out there who appreciate a nice historical tuning
better
> than I, but I think it is a stretch to say that there is something
haywire with
> us as techs, and/or musicians if we don't hear the subtleties.  I
have
> tuned countless harpsichords for all manner of groups, from
"period"
> instruments, to the standard chamber ensembles.  I tend to use a
tuning
> appropriate to the period and "aimed" at the keys of the music
where
> appropriate.  Never had a complaint, and usually got compliments on
the
> richness of the sound of the instrument, but nobody has ever
recognized
> that the difference was in the tuning until I mentioned it.  As
listeners, we
> hear the music one way, as tech / tuners, we listen differently. 
> Toulouse-Lautrec, when asked what  he saw  when he looked at a
> tomato, replied, "That depends on whether I am going to paint it or
eat it!" 
> To be sure, we lost something in ET when C# minor sounds just like
C
> minor a half step higher, but we also gained in tonal flexibility
and
> consistency.  Everything comes at a price.  Is the music "better"
> performed in a historical tuning?  If I had to live with one tuning
all the time,
> for Bach,  Prokofief, Mozart, Chopin, Szymanovsky, Billy Joel,
Thelonius
> Monk, I think I would be inclined to pass on the charms of the
historical
> tunings, for the flexibility and consistency of ET.  But until you
hear the
> Goldberg Variations or the WTC of JS Bach in Werckmeister III,
played on
> a fine harpsichord, you haven't heard everything ol' JS was trying
to tell
> us.  There really was a reason Ludwig picked C# minor for the
> "Moonlight".   And there's room for all of us.  At the risk of
getting
> preachy, Duke Ellington said it well: "If it sounds good, it is
good." 
> Just my opinion..
> Steve ;-)