---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment List, =20 It was quite a serendipitous moment when I open my January 2004 Journal and=20= =20 what do I find on the cover but Chopin=E2=80=99s 4th Ballade. I had just de= cided to=20 program all four ballades at the end of the first half of my next recital.=20= I=20 read with great interest Owen Jorgensen=E2=80=99s article as he laid out th= e emotive=20 key relationships and how they were enhanced by the use of a historically=20 appropriate temperament. Being a tuner of necessity rather than choice, I n= ever=20 comment on tuning issues since I am much more comfortable in the shop, so I= =20 would like to approach this discussion from a pianist perspective rather th= an=20 a tuners=E2=80=99. =20 =20 I was reminded of a conversation I had with a friend way back in High =20 School. They were complaining about having to play a piece with 2 or 3 =20 accidentals, I mentioned that I was working on Tchaikowsky=E2=80=99s 1st Pia= no Concerto and it=20 had 5 flats throughout much of the work. They looked at me incredulously an= d=20 asked why would anybody do that when it would be easier to play if it had no= =20 accidentals. I don=E2=80=99t remember what kind of answer I came up with, p= robably =20 just as inane as the question. But the question has stuck in the back of m= y=20 mind all these years only to finally be brought forward now. There are pie= ce=20 actually made easier to play because of large number of accidentals, such a= s=20 Liszt=E2=80=99s LaCampenella. It is written in G# minor, if it were transpo= sed up =C2=BD=20 step to A minor it would become virtually unplayable. The black keys actua= lly=20 make the large and rapid leaps easier to play.=20 =20 Then there is the issue of timbre. The tonal quality of all instruments,=20 including the piano change as you move through their respective ranges. If= you=20 transposed the Tschaikowsky up a 4th or 5th you would loose much of the dar= k=20 brooding character. =20 Mr. Jorgensen makes mention in the course of his discussions the frequent =20 application of emotional content to keys. While many composers make mentio= n of=20 finding a certain quality in certain keys, I would be hesitant to read too=20 much into these ideas. I think it is more appropriate to look at this issu= e=20 from a perspective on an accumulated and historical experience. As an=20 example, if I had been spending a lot of time playing the Wander Fantasy of= Schubert=20 I might think that C Maj was a pompous key, but if instead I was living in=20 Mozart=E2=80=99s Sonatas K330 or K545 I might imagine a greater elegance and= dignity=20 in that key. Our experience of key color, I believe is strongly shaped by=20= our=20 past experiences with that particular key and reflects that accumulated=20 experience. Even if a musician can=E2=80=99t play =E2=80=9Cname that pitch= =E2=80=9D most still have a=20 subconscious sense of pitch memory, which will inform this idea of key =E2= =80=9Ccolor=E2=80=9D . I know in myself I hear key colors even in ET where theoretically none=20 should exist. The only source for this would have to be previous emotional= =20 experience with those keys. =20 I at time seek others to come and tune my pianos, so when Ron Koval called =20 and said he was going to be in the neighborhood I invited him over to take a= =20 look at a Conover 77 I had recently rebuilt with new board, block, finish, =20 actions. (She is a gem, at least in my eyes!) =20 =20 Ron installed his KV 4.4 temperament. It is a HT of modern origin designed= =20 by Ron, its thirds range from 7.5 - 18.7 cents from pure. More information= =20 is available at _www.rolingball.com_ (http://www.rolingball.com) . I have=20 played music ranging from Goldberg Variations by Bach, Beethoven=E2=80=99s=20= Op. 57 Sonata,=20 Medtner=E2=80=99s Sonata Tragic, all four Chopin Ballades, Ravel=E2=80=99s=20= Piano Concerto=20 for the Left Hand, and for about 1 =C2=BD hours the other day I worked with= a very ta lented young man on the Rococo Variations of Tschaikowsky. =20 =20 I LKED IT! The variations in major keys in the Bach had greater repose and= =20 the minor variations were darker and less stable. All four Chopin Ballades= =20 have a similar alternation between periods of agitation and repose, and the= KV=20 4.4 temperament brought out an increased contrast between these sections. =20 Even the two 20th Century pieces, the Ravel and Medtner, were comfortable i= n=20 this temperament. The Ravel has a jazzy middle section, which may have los= t a=20 little noise in the parallel triad passages, this may or may not be a good=20 thing, though I initially liked the cleaner sound. It also made the=20 repetitions of the theme in more remote key more striking. As far as the T= schaikowsky=20 Rococo went, the cellist had some intonation problems at first but quickly=20 adapted to what was on the piano. =20 Over time Ron has been gradually convincing me of the benefits of some of =20 these mild HT. One does have to be careful about getting too aggressive if=20= =20 your repertoire wanders over a period greater than a generation. I think m= y=20 friend had a great question. Why did the composer choose certain keys? I=20= think=20 the answer is more complex than I have covered here and I am sure a=20 dissertation or two have and could be written on key selection. =20 Andrew Remillard ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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