Feedback or Controversy on Bach/Lehman's temperament ?

[Avery]

Nice post Ed.

I don't have much feedback yet, but FYI, for a faculty piano recital last
night, I used Lehman's temperament on a harpsichord (Bach), Kirnberger on
a 1700's reproduction Fortepiano (Haydn), Young on an 1850(ish) Bosendorfer
Fortepiano and ET on a S & S 'D' (Berg). Whew! Quite a tuning session. :-)
Both Fortepianos were sharp enough that I had to go over them twice. All in
all, about 3-½ hrs. plus a preliminary tuning in the AM on the Bosendorfer
prior to a rehearsal.

I've also used the Lehman for a concert our harpsichord guy played at a major
hall downtown (all Bach). He also recently did an all Mozart faculty recital
a couple of weeks ago using the Kirnberger on the Maene Fortepiano.

Now if I could just some established on regular pianos. Maybe I should just do
what Ed did. Move a few to something like a Young and don't say anything about
it. Of course, in my position, it would be simple to retune if anyone
complained.

Avery Todd, RPT
University of Houston

At 10:36 PM 4/11/2006, you wrote:
>  << Did any of you try the Bach/Lehman temperament
> >(<http://larips.com>http://larips.com) ?
>  Is it good, Great or just common ? Do you believe
> >it IS the original J.S.Bach's temperament ? etc... >>
>
>Greetings,
>        First, there are three questions, and two of them unanswerable.  I
>have tried this tuning on a piano, and it had some nice qualities, however, I
>don't know that we can classify these temperaments as great, good, or common
>without having some agreed upon ideal.  An ideal 
>from which their departure can be
>measured.   I would suggest the Young, with perfect symmetry from one beat a
>second in C to a full comma in F#, it follows Werckmeister's rules).
>             Unlike ET, well-temperaments create 
> a tonal palette and some were
>better for particular composers than others. The Bach-Lehman is milder at
>both extremes than a number of widely published 
>temps in that the C-E and  F-A
>thirds are tempered about 6 cents and the most expressive third is the
>E-G# at almost 20 cents.  In terms of Jorgensen's definition of harmonic
>balance, it is poorly balanced.  It might be 
>head and shoulders above any other
>temperment for the music of a composer that used 
>it to write the music, but in
>general terms, it is somewhat out of step with a 
>lot of the other temperments.
>       I doubt that Bach had the same tuning under his hands all the time, so
>the idea someone finding  "his" temperament seems rather specious to me.  It
>is plausible that he was using a well temperment, since much of his stuff is
>rather greviously interrupted by wolves when 
>played on meantone.  Which WT is a
>matter of conjecture.  I have listened to the WTC on a Kirnberger III and
>reveled in how expressive some highly tempered 
>17ths were.  Their speed is only
>slightly varied in the milder forms, and it 
>would take a more educated ear than
>mine to actually hear the difference between a 
>Kirnberger and a Werckmeister.
>  Some of the latest research into Bach's tuning 
> involves a code of sorts that
>graces the front cover of the WTC.   It contains the reversed image of a
>series of notes, and has been "decoded" to give a tuning that is making some
>rather strenuous claims to authenticity.
>           Even though we may not be able to discern the exact differences
>between temperaments upon listening, (and we 
>gotta admit, this is nuance level
>stuff),  there IS a difference in what the sensitive performer feels, and any
>given temperament's reception will be a product 
>of the technician's choice and
>the performer's expectations.   I favor an 
>ultra-conservative approach.  I keep
>the concert pianos in a Moore and Company "Victorian" era well-temperament as
>their default tuning.  I can call it a "quasi-equal" tuning around most of
>the faculty without causing alarm.  It can move into a Broadwood tuning or ET
>without anything having to move over three 
>cents.  All our pianos are used for a
>wide variety of stuff, accompanying all sorts of instruments, and nobody has
>said a word about the lack of equality.  There are numerous pianists that
>really like the pianos, though.
>        I have moved one of them into a Coleman 11 for an all Mozart and
>Schubert program and it went over well.  Mixed 
>programs might force a compromise so
>that the later pieces don't get "bent" by something best suited for a century
>before.
>        The Bradley Lehman tuning seemed harsh in places I didn't expect it.
>I remember E and A both  verging on uncomfortable for me. Since the piano's
>vastly different overtone spectrum may make a caricature out of a temperament
>that was nicely colorful on a harpsichord or 
>fortepiano,  I don't know what this
>tuning would sound like on a more authentic instrument, but regardless, the
>balance is still sorta weird.
>Regards,
>
>Ed Foote RPT
>http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
>www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>