David writes: << I wasn't quite clear from what you wrote. Did you mean Beethoven in Kirnberger or Werckmeister, or something else.>> We have recorded two CD's, and Beethoven is on both of them,(well, at least a facsimile of his musical intentions (:)}}) The first, Beethoven in The Temperaments uses a Kirnberger for two sonatas and a Young for two. Our second CD,(6 Degrees) presents a Haydn sonata on a Kirnberger and Beethoven's 110 on a Young. Ironically enough, it was a review of Isacoff's book in The New Republic that mentioned 6 Degrees, and we saw the sales begin to increase almost immediately. Last Sunday, in the New York Times Book Review, we were mentioned, by name, in a letter to the editor, and I have been in contact with the editor. He asked me to send him copies of the recordings, so it is possible that we will be reviewed . If so, hang on to your charts and ears, it is going to be a wild ride, ( which was my intention when I started this "this crusade" in 1993. Isacoff's book "Temperament" has proposed that ET was the great riddle that solved music's great mystery. There were initially a lot of glowing reviews of the book, written by people that have never tuned a piano. It made good press, but, in the words of the Times editor, the reviewer is getting a LOT of heat, since Isacoff's book basically glossed over the real riddle, and made Mozart and Bach's music possible!! He has confused the lack of meantone wolves with equality, duh. I have written a critical review of the book and expect, at some point, to be involved in a debate with the author. In the meantime, our 6 Degree record has moved in front of over 215,000 other titles on Amazon.com's sales rankings,(in three weeks). We still have another 14,000 to go before we reach number 1, but the recording is showing some good strength, and the number of piano owners interested in exploring the alternatives is steadily increasing, hence my efforts on this list and at the conventions to get tuners up to speed on the subject. There is money to be made with variety. This is all a work in progress, it is all old/new and offers an opportunity for tuners to expand horizons. Stay tuned(!) for further developments. Regards, Ed Foote RPT
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