Dear Colleagues
It's been ages finding a performer game enough to play some of the 48 Preludes being willing to sightread ones she's not familiar with just as a test of all the keys in unequal temperament tuning.
In the spirit of proof-of-concept rather than in presentation, the recording has deliberate inadequacies:
- some preludes were a matter of sightreading
- we recorded on magnetic tape - with hiss
- tried out a tape-recorder new to me - an ex BBC Ferrograph Logic which started superbly and then - probably on account of the tuning - went all of a flutter . . .
- didn't do a special tuning of the piano, so a concert, 2 months and change of weather and humidity away from its last tuning. One unison in particular suffered as a result.
So there's every reason not to hear anything special in such a terrible recording, but perhaps you might decide.
Because of the resonance that the tuning opens up, pianists can engage in open pedalling, specified by Chopin and Beethoven, and perhaps one can contemplate Bach at the organ in a cathedral or as his writing for singers to sing.
Accordingly potential new interpretations can open up, giving an excuse to re-record the whole repertoire and perform on stage to audiences who haven't heard the boring old music before. Perhaps it might restore Steinway back from a three day week to a full work schedule.
Best wishes
David P
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David Pinnegar BSc ARCS
Hammerwood Park, East Grinstead, Sussex, UK
+44 1342 850594
"High Definition" Tuning
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