British microtonal broadcast

In re British broadcast of microtonal music reported in my earlier
post, here is some follow-up from rec.music.early.


David Griffel

Christopher Stembridge (specialist in early organ and other keyboard
repertoire, runs an annual summer school in Italy) broadcast on radio 3
a recital of early kboard music on a reconstruction of the "arcicembalo"
(I think), a Renaissance italian harpsichord with much more than 12
keys/octave. See New Grove et al for more on the arcicembalo. I don't
know if Stembridge has recorded this stuff.

I thought (FWIW) that it sounded very bland: all the intervals were
just, even in remote keys. I missed the extra flavour you get with the
out-of-tune intervals on normal keyboard instruments.

David Griffel



Todd McComb mccomb@medieval.org
I don't think you can really characterize the Neapolitan chromatic
repertory as "totally lacking in temperment" ... and, of course, the
whole point is that the compositions *were* written with split accidentals
in mind.

Anyway, seriously, what do you think of Alan Curtis' recording (Nuova
Era 7177)? Lacking in contrasts? Just curious. I like it, but not
overwhelmingly so.

Todd McComb
mccomb@medieval.org



a440a@aol.com (A440A)

I have had the same experience as David. Total lack of tempering
sounds dull in a hurry, without the specific composition properly written
to utilize the effect. Even then, these 20th century ears soon begin
looking for a little contrast.

The equal temperament of today offers little more contrast than the
meantone tunings of yesteryear. This is logical, as all like intervals
are tempered alike. The key of D has as much dissonance/consonance as
the key of G#
If you really want to hear tonal contrast in the keyboard literature,
it can be found in the keyboard tunings of the 18th century. The music
written for it came from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert,( and some
temperament savvy people say, Chopin.) There are no concrete dates for
temperament changes, but some fairly well supported guidelines. We know
when many of the temperaments were published, and how many of them were
received.
These composers created in the age of Werckmeister, Prinz, Neidhardt,
and Young. We know how these theorists described tuning practises of the
day, and today, we can once again restore the key coloration that the
Well-Temperaments were all loosely based on.
The art of modulation was built on changes in dissonance found among
the various keys. This was not a helter-skelter approach of some keys
good, some bad, but rather, a process that rendered the most used keys
more purely tuned. Broad implications here for modulatory steps.
Since increasing the number of accidentals in the key sig. will
cause an increase in the dissonance of the root tonic third, the
signature will often give a hint of what the mood of the key may be.
(the 3rd has a very strong affect on the tonal character of the triad,
changes in the amount of tempering in the third changes the tonal nature
of the key signature). In any of the major temperaments of the 18th
Century, and much of the early 19th, Cmaj has a very different tonal
character than C#maj, and Ebmin is totally different from both.
More to be said on this later.
Ed Foote
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tenn.



--John


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