Greetings all,
-> with snips (hopefully "non-context-changing-but-for brevity-sake" snips)
Bill writes
>the Balwin Recital in 1995 too.
sigh
<big, eye-rolling,groping for a beer, head-shaking, mouth-gaping SIGH!)
Bill's post is a combination of temperament crusade and and personal
attack on Gina Carter. I will only respond to the techincal side of this, as
Gina, though never met, has always been a delightful correspondant with me,
and more to the point, is accepted and respected by a mutual friend that I
think a lot of, so I shall let the lady swing her own sword, and would expect
her to swing it forcefully and freely when so openly attacked. (you go
girl..)
>Yes, the temperament used on that occasion was the boldest and strongest
>yet, the 1/7 Comma Meantone.
I fail to see the reasoning that would couple so strong temperament with
such a refined piece of modulatory art as the Waldstein.
>It had many people very interested. So much so,
>that people were gathering all around the piano, testing and listening
>to intervals and asking questions afterwards. The great majority of the
>audience was very impressed.
I must indignantly disagree. People will gather around a car wreck or a
house fire, please don't think that is an automatic blessing.
I heard that recital, and it was the worst sounding Waldstein that I have
memory of hearing. It was not helped that it was an amatuerish performance by
the young lady, I think she was in way over her head.
I had been listening to Ludwig's stuff on a great many tunings, and
noticed in the Baldwin performance a lack of the refinement I have come to
expect from him. Even having this obtuse obsession for tonality as I do, I
thought there were numerous places where there was way too much "salt".
(Beginning in measure 35!) The huge clashes of dissonance felt
like they were in the wrong places. This tuning may have worked on a
fortepiano in front of an gallery of experienced early 19th century ears, but
I thought it was the wrong tuning for that instrument, composition, and
audience.
>Yet, as you might expect, what might please,
>interest and titillate most listeners sounded objectionable to a few, a
>very few.
Half the people that I heard talk about that performance didn't notice
anything different, and the other half thought it sounded out of tune. I
didn't think it was well received. That is not a scientific poll, just what
I remember getting in the way of feedback.
>The fact is that there will be no Historical Temperament performance at
>the Convention this year because there are a few people within the
organization.
Puhleeeeze! There will be performances on a non-ET tuning, Thursday and
Sunday. All you have to do is put up with me talking in between them. (No,
I am not going to identify the temperament, that will be done in class, by
attendees.......)
If some factory rep hears it, and likes the sound,(many of those people have
good ears and refined musical tastes too!), it may find its way onstage, you
never know.
>List, it is time to get real about this stuff. <snip> It is not a place for
people to assert their desire for power and control over others.
To get real? I say way too much color was used in a very scrutinized
venue, and people squawked. For the tuner to respond by blaming political
machinations is to sidestep responsibility for the amount of tempering done.
This is a no-no in my book. If there is a negative reaction to one's
tempering, then accept that as evidence of having missed the mark, and
resolve to hit closer to home next time. That will allow the door to remain
open, rather than losing options for all the wrong reasons.
The acceptance of something new is the result of carefully matching the
power(temperament) to the impedance (audience). Doing this is a learned
skill, and with my classes in K.C. I hope to be of some assistance to those
that would like to add it to their expertise. Clouding the issue with
perceived personal vendettas and paranoia is counterproductive to progress
and unpleasant as all hell to read in my email.
Regards,
Ed Foote
( If it is of any interest, Bob Seger just finished a week-long recording
project here, on a Victorian tuning after hearing both it and ET
side-by-side. I could have had a stronger tuning there, but the risk of it
being rejected was too high,(IMHO) so I took the win with lower odds. I
really think that temperament progress in the current music world is made one
small step at a time, not by big jarring changes.)
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