Pardon me if I weigh in on this temperament biz..as a guy who played viola in a baroque group, and built and supplied harpsichord for many many period instrument groups, I must agree about the use of unequal temperaments, with some reservations. The idea of writing in say, C# minor as opposed to C minor didn't just happen because Beethoven liked to make things complicated. You should experience the "Moonlight" on a piano tuned in Marpurg III. You will never hear it sweeter or more languid. Tuning gives the color, and equal temperament has a neutralizing or perhaps "graying" effect of eliminating the distinct coloration of the various triads. It is not possible to argue that equal temperament was unknown in antiquity, just avoided. Contrary to a widely held notion, Bach's "Well - Tempered Clavier" was written to explore the various colorations which one tuning system, possibly "Werckmeister III" gave to music in all keys, not to prove the superiority of equal temperament. The choice of tunings has always been a factor in musical style, and not surprisingly, many jazz musicians ask for "Werckmeister III", and find it spiffs up the music. I am not sure the "normal" musical ear perceives the difference as tuning, since pianists in particular cannot afford the luxury of close attention to tuning lest they go nuts every time they sit down to an out-of-tune piano. But perceive it they do, and a few well thought out questions about tone and color will usually ellicit the desired response. My reservations come with the modern piano, with its inharmonicity and relatively rounded tonal edges compared to the old style instruments(I don't know how to say muddy diplomatically). Nor am I sure the chromaticism and tonal ambiguity of much current music lends itself as well to a system of tuning which gives a distinct color to different keys. But a fortepiano or harpsichord in a historical tuning - not necessarily a true temperament - is something even the most jaded ear can hear and appreciate. I recommend an old recording of Trevor Pinnock on a splendid Dowd haprsichord playing among other great stuff, Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith", which has been reissued on CD. It will knock your socks off. There are advantages to equal temp, but we have lost something subtle and beautiful along the way. Steve
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC