Wyschnegradsky's _Ainsi Parlait Zarathoustra_

> [Johnny Reinhard, TD 398.19]
>
> Joe, are you sure that Wyschnegradsky asked for a piano
> tuned up? I don't think so.

Positive - he says it twice.

And for two of the four pianos, actually.

From the first page of the score:

> Les pianos 1 et 3 doivent etre accordes au diapason normal,
> les pianos 2 et 4 a un quart de ton plus haut. L'orchestre
> est divise en deux groupes - I et II, dont chacun se compose
> d'un piano au diapason normal et d'un autre a un quart de ton
> plus haut. Chaque groupe realise ainsi d'une facon complete
> le systeme de quarts de ton et forme un tout homogene.

My translation:

> The 1st and 3rd pianos must be tuned in the normal way,
> the 2nd and 4th a quarter-tone higher. The orchestra is
> divided into 2 groups - I and II, of which each is composed
> of a piano in normal tuning and another a quarter-tone higher.
> Each group thus realizes in a complete way the system of
> quarter-tones and forms a homogenous whole.

Wyschnegradsky goes on recommend other ways to acheive a
homogenous sound, and says that 'the whole work will always
have to be executed under the direction of a conductor'.

> Though, Ives did want a piano tuned up for his "Three
> Quarter-tone Pieces" for 2 pianos.

Wasn't this a fairly standard way of achieving quarter-tone
music in the first few decades of this century? (You'd
know that better than me, Johnny.)

> When we recorded it for the CD Joshua Pierce found that the
> touch of the piano had changed radically. The top lines have
> more punch and bounce. There is a difference in the music.
> (Though most piano owners would rather the tuning was flatter
> rather than sharper.)

You guys did Wyschnegradsky's _Zarathoustra_ and I missed it??!!
Aaarrrrrghhh !!!!!!

So it sounds like you're saying that you tuned the second pair
of pianos *down* when you recorded it...?

And I only added that bit about 'except for minor
differences of timbre and range' as an afterthought.
Apparently it makes much more of a difference than I
thought, that Wyschnegradsky asks to tune two of the
pianos up rather than down...

-monz

Joseph L. Monzo Philadelphia monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html
|"...I had broken thru the lattice barrier..."|
| - Erv Wilson |
--------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

No, we didn't record or even perform Zarathustra. It was the Ives 3
Quarter-tone Pieces that we recorded. I do have a recordig of Zarathustra
played over the radio with Wyschnegradsky in the KPFK Berklee studio with
well known DJ - Amirkhanian. I believe that Pierre Boulez is playing one of
the 4 piano parts.

Boulez is one of the Honorary Advisors of the Wyschnegradsky Society in
Paris. He is not really hostile. There is a story people tell of
Wyschnegradsky bringing a score to Boulez who had said he would look it over.
A long time passed before Wyschnegradsky returned to ask about the piece.
Boulez kept Wyschnegradsky waiting outside his door while he retrieved the
unlooked at volume of work.

It could have been worse, Boulez was much nastier to Stravinsky...at least at
first.

And no, there was no impetus to tune up a quartertone in the the earlier part
of this century. The idea is usually to go a quartertone lower because that
puts less tension on the strings which already has an increadible amount of
tension. Who wants to break strings?

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM