Les Smith writes: <<He played a bit and then stopped abruptly and peered in at the strings, distastefully. He then whispered something to Bill, while pointing at the piano, and Bill immediately retuned the note in question. The final judge as to whether or not the note was in tune was not Bill, it was Rachmaninoff.>> Was it ET before Rachmaninoff intervened or after? Or was it *more* ET when Sergei said it was right? Then, with contrite erudition, he states, <<(Hey, pal, so much for that pile of bill-bull about Romantic Era composers writing quiet, serene pieces, "filled with p's, pp's, ppp's and even more when writing in the foreign keys.")>> I guess if Les says these composers didn't do this then we have to take his word for it. When the head of any pecking order pecks, then you've just got to back off or you'll be pecked again. Please don't check any of your 19th Century literature. You cannot argue with whatever those who only want ET think. *They* are right now, always have been and always will be. I assume too that if the piano had been tuned in a, God forbid, HT, the intensity of the musical moment that Les spoke of would have been just a little *too* intense. Therefore, we *need* ET to moderate it. Take it from the one who knows, folks, he's been here since the days of the "real tuners". They all *know* about those HT's but as everyone already knows without it being written anywhere: No one ever tunes anything but ET, except when the artist points out the note he wants to be *more* ET. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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