Dear Bill, I tuned for him once when he came to Iceland. He´s pretty good, and was very grateful. Kristinn Leifsson Reykjavík, Iceland At 11:25 10.4.2000 EDT, you wrote: >Dear List, > >Saturday night, April 8, the French pianist, Désiré N'Kaoua continued his >series, this time on a brand new Kawai 9 foot concert grand again tuned in >1/7 Comma Meantone. The title of his recital was written in French in the >program: "L'Intégrale de L'Oeuvre pour Piano Seul de Ravel" meaning "The >Complete Works of Ravel for Solo Piano". > >That's right, the artist gave a 3 hour concert (plus a 1/2 hour intermission) >in which he played all of Ravel's works for piano in 1/7 Comma Meantone. The >temperament gave the piano and the music an entirely different perspective >from that produced by Equal Temperament (ET). It was all positive though, >never once did I hear any chord or phrase which sounded inappropriate. > >The 1/7 Comma Meantone Temperament (1/7MTT) was invented by a Frenchman, Jean >Baptiste Romieu in 1758. It is one oof the Equal Beating (EB) Temperaments. >It has the same EB properties that I used when constructing the Equal Beating >Victorian Temperament (EBVT) that I most often use. In fact, the EBVT can be >properly defined as a 1/8 Comma Modified Meantone Temperament. > >The EB properties of both 1/7 and 1/8 Comma meantone (and Modified Meantone) >Temperaments cause close harmony played in the simple keys (with 0-3 sharps >or flats) to sound much purer than they really are. This also permits the >remote keys (with 4-6 sharps or flats) to sound less harshly than they do in >many other Meantone or Well Temperaments. This makes the temperament useful >for virtually any type of music, the way only ET is thought to be. > >The 1/7CMTT does have a "Wolf" key (Ab) but it does not really qualify as a >"Wolf" by the accepted definition of that term. It is an 8 cent wide 5th. >While it does sound just a bit dissonant when played by itself, it actually >is absorbed or "swallowed" in any typical musical context. In other words, >you don't really hear it. What you do hear is a powerful, "electrifying" >resonance in the key of Ab. > >Mr. Tim Farley RPT, the host of the event feels that so many French Romantic >composers wrote in the key of Ab because they wanted and expected to hear >that especially powerful sound from that key. This sound can only be heard >if the temperament is a true Meantone. It does make sense to me that if >Romieu invented this temperament in the middle of the 18th Century, it may >have still been in use 100-150 years later. > >Now, I do hear repeatedly that Chopin, Debussy and Ravel all "require" ET and >have certainly never heard a piano tuned in 1/7CMTT anywhere but in Madison >(with the exception of the time I tuned it at the Albuquerque Convention in >1995). But when I think of Helmholtz reasoning and Dr. William Braid White's >teaching (the foundation for the current exclusive use of ET), I find that to >say that only ET is right for this music is at least as far fetched as you >might say Mr. Farley's reasoning is. > >After hearing 3 hours of Ravel in 1/7CMTT, I would never care to listen to >Ravel in ET again. > >If the very name of the temperament scares you, just remember that ET may >also be defined as a 1/11 Syntonic Comma Meantone Temperament. In order to >tune it properly, you must temper each 5th of the Cycle of 5ths by exactly >1/11 of 21.5. That is, theoretically speaking, of course. Inharmonicity >changes that 1/11 value by an unknown amount which is your problem to solve. >Tuning any Equal Beating Historical Temperament (HT) is much easier by far. > >>From the point of view of the 1/4 Syntonic Comma Meantone Temperament >(1/4SCMTT) typically used in the Baroque period, the 1/7 and 1/8 Syntonic >Comma Meantone and Modified Meantone Temperaments are much closer to ET's >1/11 Syntonic Comma than you might realize until you begin to work with and >experience it. > >Bill Bremmer RPT >Madison, Wisconsin > >
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