Pure 5ths/Bacchus incarnate

[w sikora]

List, 

I used Jim Coleman Sr.'s pure fifths method (for the SAT) to tune the
Hamburg S&S 'D' for the Stuttgart Philharmonic concert here yesterday.

The piano was to be tuned to A443. That was no problem, with the SAT.  C#5
was rough and there was very little sustain past C7. There was no time to
work on these problems.  Still, it was probably the best voiced, most
musical sounding piano I've worked on.

The concert (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat major) was further
evidence to me that the ear wants to hear octaves stretched to the max, but
not beyond.  The piano had a lilt and lift that seemed to take the entire
orchestra up with it.  The sound seemed to fit perfectly with something I
had never noticed in Beethoven's music before--his playfulness.  

This seemed to fit in with a quote from Beethoven in the program:

"I am Bacchus incarnate, to give humanity wine to drown its sorrow...He who
divines the secret of my music is delivered from the misery that haunts the
world."

I sincerely appreciate the contributions of Jim Coleman Sr. and others on
this list who are helping to raise the level of musical culture here in
Chapel Hill, and elsewhere.

Walter Sikora, RPT
Chapel HIll, NC