AFMM Concert Sat. March 25t, 2006 Report

Hi All,

It would have been truly wonderful to have all of you at Saturday's NYC concert. The big hit of the night was far and away the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven in Kirnberger III tuning played by Joshua Pierce. It was like a coloratura pianist. Frankly, most in the audience would hear nothing other than radiant beauty. But I could hear much more, and we can hear even more once audio engineer Norman Greenspan sends me a CD. (I have never hated a noisy piano bench more!)

The Tui St. George Tucker recorder solo also went over well, with an exchange to a 415=A recorder for a multiphonic section. The lowered half-step gives much more tone to the multiphonics. I was able to hand one recorder to someone in exchange for the other, twice, and seemlessly.

The W.F. Bach Sonata for 2 harpsichords turned out to be the favorite for composer John Eaton, sitting in the audience. But I need the CD for this one because the harpsichords were not in balance, with one being difficult to hear in the audience. (Shades of clavichords!) The recording will be like listening to the performance for the first time, relatively.

I'm not sure the Brahms Clarinet Sonata no. 1 worked at an advantage in Kirnberger III. While the Beethoven was radiant, the Brahms seemed not to get any advantage. Again, the CD is needed for comparisons. Live concerts do show some limitations.

The Kirnberger Sonata no. 3 was a real piece. Wow! It was not pedagogical as some might assume, but romantic. Harpsichord builder Bobby Beuker said to me afterwards, "Now I think I understand Romantic music."

Alas, the Telemann was painful for me as I had an infection and had trouble feeling the reed. Yet, nobody seemed to notice anything more than I was having some kind of difficulty. The music seemed to ride out the discomfort, thank heavens! What a great piece the Sonata for bassoon and continuo is. The tuning gave me a clear point of view in terms of the phrasing. I had been playing this piece for over 30 years (although never before for a concert performance) without a clue as to what to do to it. As stated earlier, there is no Telemann style or school today as there is with Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. Yet audience members heard a musical "point of view" that was memorable. Previously, in 12-tet, it was pedestrian. I am trying to get responses on the piece with the idea that there is a great surprise for them if they can play the piece in sixth comma tuning. This match of composer to tuning is about the clearest that I know in our musical history.

best, Johnny Reinhard

p.s. Come by May 6th if you are in Manhattan.

>As stated earlier, there is no Telemann style or school today as >there is with Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. Yet audience members heard >a musical "point of view" that was memorable. Previously, in >12-tet, it was pedestrian. I am trying to get responses on the >piece with the idea that there is a great surprise for them if they >can play the piece in sixth comma tuning. This match of composer to >tuning is about the clearest that I know in our musical history.

Suggestion for some later concert: Ligeti's "Passacaglia ungherese" with the hpsi tuned in the prescribed 1/4 comma meantone. The migrating ostinato is entirely in pure major 3rds and pure minor 6ths, against a free voice.

Brad Lehman

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Brad Lehman <bpl@...> wrote:
>
>
> >As stated earlier, there is no Telemann style or school today as
> >there is with Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. Yet audience members
heard
> >a musical "point of view" that was memorable. Previously, in
> >12-tet, it was pedestrian. I am trying to get responses on the
> >piece with the idea that there is a great surprise for them if they
> >can play the piece in sixth comma tuning. This match of composer
to
> >tuning is about the clearest that I know in our musical history.
>

Lindley quotes a little bit from Clementi out of Cramer's Magazin der
Musik, 1784: "C-E in the bass beating a little bit high[er than pure].
E-G# very high. G#-B# or Ab-C even higher. Apart from this, the 5ths
seem equal-tempered" (p.116)

Mark Lindley, "Nuances of Intonation - Technical and Historical
Background." Beethoven's Variations for Piano, Opus 34:
Genesis, Structure, Performance. Staatliches Institut für
Musikforschung. Berlin, 2004
http://www.sim.spk-berlin.de/pdf/kub/simpk_kub02_4_lindley.pdf

Clark