Oh, goody, we(Ed Foote and I) have a disagreement on temperament choices. This could be interesting. > So, I would recommend the following starting places, > > >Rameau > Depending on key signature, the Aaron 1/4 comma is a good place to start. >Later work? perhaps Werckmiester III Absolutely not. Rameau should be either in French ordinaire, or , gasp, E.T. as he experimented with it and wrote about it. Personally I prefer French ordinaraire for Rameau. It favors the sharps in such a French way. > >>JS Bach Wohltemperierte Klavier >Werckmiester III I'd use a 1/6 comma well temperament. Werckmeister is pretty close, but not my favorite. > >>Scarlatti > ?????? no experience here. The arguments are still going in the academic community producing a new paper every few years. A 1/6 comma well is pretty good, but definitely not Thomas Young or Vallotti. Indeed, his music is so guitar oriented, a fretted instrument, that perhaps that is the way to go. He writes in keys both with 4 sharps and 4 flats. The jury is still out. He was also geographically and socially very isolated from other harpsichordists and pianists. > >>CPE Bach a well temperament. >>Mozart/Haydn > By the key signatures in Mozart's piano compostitions, it would appear >that he stays within the seven keys or so that one would expect a meantone >tuning to offer. With that in mind, we listened to Mozart on a Hawkes >Modified, and a Aaron 1/4 comma meantone. > The purity was too much, it was everywhere, and the music seemed dull >after a little while. I kept waiting for something to stand out. Listening >later to the same things on a Kirnberger, there was a tonal interplay that was >missing and the music was much more pleasing to our ears. So, which is >better? > This is an important question because it demonstrates that what we like >may or may not be what the composer had in mind. We have 20th century ears, >and our past impressions and imprints are very real factors in what we like >today. Just as a rough estimate, I think the modern pianos and their >audiences like a WT that is slightly later than the composers era. This may >be because of our unfamiliarity with more than 14 cents in the thirds, or >because the instrument is offering so much more overtone in the signal, at >increased levels of inharmonicity. (I would like to ask Steve Birkett to >address this point, as he has experience enough to make an educated >comparison. ) Now, we're not sure again. Some favor what they call a Viennese temperment with substantially more purity at the top of the circle,. increasing color as you add accidentals. Note that Mozart doesn't add more than a couple of each ever. I was playing him this morning in Vallotti and it sounded wonderful. Meantone tunings are more French I think. > > > >>Early Beethoven > The 1/7 comma meantones ,and even the Hawkes Mercantor comma temperament >that Owen posts, sound really good for a lot of this music. There may be >clashes occasionally, which have to be decided upon as a mistake in tempering, >or possibly an intentional tonal effect by the composer. (See, ain't this >fun!?) > The Kirnberger III is a strong varient to try if any of the meantones >cause discomfort. > >Late B. >The Young(1799) is a "can't miss" tuning here, though going back to even a >little earlier temperament can add depth and intensity which is more enjoyable >to those with the palette for it. So far, the track on the CD that has drawn >the most comment is the most highly tempered part of the entire CD, ( 2nd mvt >of the Pathetique). So, perhaps heavy tempering is not so foreign after all, >if the composer was putting things together with creative beauty. > Similar comments as for Beethoven, athough Hummel, a contemporary, was advocating Equal Temperament, though of course, one can argue what that would result in at the time. >>Chopin/Liszt > ET for Chopin, and either a Young or ET for the Liszt >(Once again, personal preference is at work here. I don't actually care for >Chopin's music in ET, but the WT seems to take a step backward's. absolutely not. No E.T. for Chopin. He was an advocate of well temperaments. Use a modified well temperament. Same for Liszt, but evolving to a Victorian well temperament. Same for Brahms. And Yes, a good 1/7 meantone adapted to the modern piano is really swirly beautiful for all these. > >Brahms >Young, or ET > >>Debussy/Ravel >ET only. (IMHO) > I have heard these composer's work in other than ET and their >compositions seem to lose something. I am not sure where or how, but a >noticibly unequal temperament for Debussy disturbs what I have always enjoyed >as a flowing feeling, and the textural landscapes that he paints seem to >stumble over unwelcome tonal intrusions from an unequal tuning. I believe >that ET is as essential to this music as WT is to Beethoven. A pseudo-E.T. , late Victorian style is stunning. That's what I play these in, and they have more shimmer in the right places, less in the right places. How's that? ab Anne Beetem Harpsichords & Historic Pianos 2070 Bingham Ct. Reston, VA 20191 abeetem@wizard.net
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