[CAUT] HT suggestions

Avery Todd atodd@uh.edu
Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:51:31 -0600


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Thanks, Fred.

At 01:52 PM 12/7/2005, you wrote:
>Hi Avery,
>     I'd say Valotti is a bit pungent for Beethoven, and would
>recommend something on the lines of John Preston, Peter Prelleur,
>Early 18th Century, Representative 18th Century, or Broadwood Best
>(Ellis tuner #4) instead. That would give more contrast from the
>Haydn's tuning.

I really don't want to use Broadwood Best for this. It's just way
too mild for what I'd like to try & do. I'm not familiar with the
others but will play with them some & see.

Someone else suggested (in addition to the Valotti) "or the Young,
(which only moves the consonance center to C instead of F, a very
minor change)."

>I might use Valotti for the Haydn, but a Werckmeister would be fine.

Kirnberger has also been suggested and another person said: "My only
suggestion would be to use some kind of Meantone on the fortepiano
(Haydn) rather than Werckmeister, which is kind of blah. I have been
experimenting with 1/6-comma and 1/7 comma meantones lately, and
found them to be quite lively and interesting.

>I see no reason to assume ET for Berg - you could use
>a Victorian temperament and be well within historic principles.
>"Moore" would be a good choice. But as a practical matter I would
>probably do ET so I didn't have to change the D from where it is.

One of the reasons I'll probably go with ET here is also to give
people a chance to compare.

>(BTW, the Berg Sonata is a great piece, one of my favorites. A real
>transitional, late romantic powerhouse, filled with angst and
>ethereal beauty). It would be nice for contrast sake if the
>harpsichord piece would work with a meantone.

That's a possibility, assuming it's not the WTC!

This is exactly why I posted this so early. I knew there'd be several
different suggestions, so I wanted to have time to try them all & decide
by listening (me & the pianist) which one seems to suit the music best.

>Who's the prof doing this recital? Or is it a joint effort?

His name is Timothy Hester. Teaches private lessons, does a LOT of
accompanying (& teaches it), is into the more contemporary music a lot
(i.e. "Song of the Whale" (I can't think of the composer's name right
now) among others a little more extreme. Because of this, he's used to
hearing weird sounds, so several different HT's should be no problem! :-D

An excellent pianist. He also played the Brahms #1 in d minor this semester
with our orchestra.

>Very interesting project.

I agree. In spite of the extra work, I'm looking forward to it.

>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>fssturm@unm.edu
>
>
>
>On Dec 7, 2005, at 8:26 AM, Avery Todd wrote:
>
>>List,
>>
>>I have a faculty piano recital coming up in April where he's going
>>to use 5
>>different instruments with pieces representative of the time period
>>in which
>>those instruments were in use. A harpsichord, Fortepiano, 1840
>>B=F6sendorfer
>>(just donated to us), a modern 'D' & a toy piano. At least I won't
>>have to
>>tune the toy piano! Each one of the others will have a different
>>tuning on it.
>>A bunch of extra work but should be interesting.
>>
>>These are the pieces he's planning on right now:
>>
>>
>>>Maene Fortepiano: Haydn Andante and Variations in F minor
>>>B=F6sendorfer: Hammerklavier (Beethoven Sonata #29, Opus 106 in B
>>>flat major)
>>>    (the slow movement is in F sharp minor)
>>>Modern Steinway 'D': Berg Sonata (based in B minor)
>>>                      Scriabin 5th Sonata (is in F sharp)
>>
>>I haven't had time to experiment any yet but so far, what I'm
>>considering is:
>>
>>Werckmeister for the Haydn
>>Vallotti for the Beethoven
>>ET (I assume) :-) for the Berg & Scriabin
>>He hasn't decided about the harpsichord yet, though.
>>
>>I'd like to use appropriate temperaments but with enough difference
>>between them
>>to be fairly obvious. Especially to a good musician.
>>
>>Any ideas/comments/suggestions to try? I want to give him plenty of
>>time to get
>>used to them & the effect they might have on his interpretation
>>compared to what
>>might be done in ET. Thanks.
>>
>>Avery
>>
>>
>>_______________________
>>Avery Todd, RPT
>>Moores School of Music
>>University of Houston
>>Houston, TX 77204-4017

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