Don ("Don") Mannino said this: [huge snip] > .....It's funny what you can get used to, you know? I have a really > wonderful recording of the Charles Ives quarter tone pieces, for 2 > pianos tuned 1/4 tone apart. The first few times I listened to these > pieces I cringed and laughed out loud at the sound of these two pianos > playing together. But with time and more listening I have come to > really love these pieces! I learned to not listen only to the > dissonances, but to the music, the interplay between pianos, and > musical affect of quarter-chromatic scales. They are really > imaginative pieces, and when played well never fail to lift my > spirits! That's what it's all about, isn't it? Mister Mannino exposed me to this cd several years ago, and I would like to add my three cents worth. My reaction was slightly faster than Don's: I groaned, cringed, and laughed for about the first minute; then I surrendered and just let the awful sounds wash over me, and within a few minutes I loved it. Bought the cd for myself, and every time I listen to it I like it even more. I find the interplay between the pianos particularly interesting, because "the whole" becomes something different from, and greater than the sum of the two parts. I wonder if this music might have a particularly perverse appeal to Piano Tuners. In a way, it's the ultimate bad tuning, although taken to such an extreme that it becomes something wholly other. One caveat: I would not recommend this as background music for your answering machine message. Not that anybody asked. Tom Myler "Well done" is better than "Well said" PS: John Piesik- if you're lurking, please send me your E-mail address.
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC