source file: mills3.txt Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 21:37:49 +0100 Subject: RE: TUNING digest 1254 From: Joseph Downing On Tue, 2 Dec 1997, Erik Nauman wrote: > >And WTC 2. Bach wrote each Prelude and Fugue pair to fit the > >characteristics of the key it was in. Not "to demonstrate that playing in > >all keys was possible", as I have read in many a conservatory circle-> So > >much for all "interpretations" based on that! > Has anyone recorded WTC 1 or 2 in well-temperament? What doe s a > well-tempered harpsicord sound like? > Erik Nauman Way back in 1974, when I was a freshman at Brigham Young University, the staff piano tuner tuned two 'identical' haprsichords (Neupert!) - one in EQ, and the other in a well-tempered system (I believe it was Kirnberger II). Then, we listened to WTC Prelude #1 in C Major. I was astonished at the difference! To me,the relative stability/instability of chords provided an interest level comparable to the interest level that dynamics provide on a piano. In other words, playing these works in EQ is, to me, akin to playing Beethoven with one dynamic level. Most good harpsichord recordings made in the past twenty years or so will use some sort of well-temperament. (Likewise, the most of today's best organ builders do not use EQ.) Joe Downing, in Syracuse SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Paul H. Erlich" Subject: RE: Bach again PostedDate: 02-12-97 23:08:33 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 02-12-97 23:06:57-02-12-97 23:06:58,02-12-97 23:06:51-02-12-97 23:06:52 DeliveredDate: 02-12-97 23:06:52 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256561.0079782C; Tue, 2 Dec 1997 23:06:46 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04596; Tue, 2 Dec 1997 23:08:33 +0100 Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 23:08:33 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04591 Received: (qmail 2069 invoked from network); 2 Dec 1997 14:08:28 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 2 Dec 1997 14:08:28 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu