Post by Beagle February 26, 2006 (1 of 43)
|
|
Dear Nick 'n' Darwin,
As a fan of The Lindsay Quartet, I know my hearing is suspect.... But what am I hearing here? Is this 'period tuning'?
|
|
|
Post by akiralx March 1, 2006 (2 of 43)
|
|
Beagle said:
Dear Nick 'n' Darwin,
As a fan of The Lindsay Quartet, I know my hearing is suspect.... But what am I hearing here? Is this 'period tuning'?
Well, one famous conductor did describe HIP performance as just an excuse to play out of tune...
|
|
|
|
|
|
akiralx said:
Well, one famous conductor did describe HIP performance as just an excuse to play out of tune...
Then what's the Lindsays excuse?!?
|
|
|
Post by Darwin March 1, 2006 (4 of 43)
|
|
|
Beagle said:
Dear Nick 'n' Darwin,
As a fan of The Lindsay Quartet, I know my hearing is suspect.... But what am I hearing here? Is this 'period tuning'?
Is it maybe the sound of the fortepiano that's bothering you? If so, you're far from alone...many people find it downright irritating!
There's a fairly good page on the fortepiano at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano
The first entry under "Opinions about the fortepiano" is shared by lots of folks.
|
|
|
Post by Beagle March 1, 2006 (5 of 43)
|
|
Darwin said:
Is it maybe the sound of the fortepiano that's bothering you?
Nope. To quote myself, "I am a fan of the forte-piano..." [Haydn Seven Last Words thread]. And I am a keen fan of Podger's playing in the Vivaldi Stravaganza disc (cf review).
The piano is a bit droopy at the beginning of track 1, vol. 1, but it is still good funky f-p. What invokes my wonder is the sound of Podger's violin. It is not the glorious golden sound of the Stravaganza disc. Might be less vibrato, could be tuning to an A that is closer to 400 than 440Hz. I was hoping there would be a correspondent out there with an oscilloscope or a calibrated ear....
|
|
|
Post by nickc March 1, 2006 (6 of 43)
|
|
Beagle said:
Nope. To quote myself, "I am a fan of the forte-piano..." [Haydn Seven Last Words thread]. And I am a keen fan of Podger's playing in the Vivaldi Stravaganza disc (cf review).
The piano is a bit droopy at the beginning of track 1, vol. 1, but it is still good funky f-p. What invokes my wonder is the sound of Podger's violin. It is not the glorious golden sound of the Stravaganza disc. Might be less vibrato, could be tuning to an A that is closer to 400 than 440Hz. I was hoping there would be a correspondent out there with an oscilloscope or a calibrated ear....
I agree Beagle - I thought the violin sounded great on the Vivaldi disc but harsh on this one.
Cheers
Nick
|
|
|
Post by Ken_P March 1, 2006 (7 of 43)
|
|
Beagle said:
Might be less vibrato, could be tuning to an A that is closer to 400 than 440Hz. I was hoping there would be a correspondent out there with an oscilloscope or a calibrated ear....
Note: I do not own and have not heard this particular disc. I would guess, though, that you're correct about the lower tuning. I noticed the same thing on Hidemi Suzuki's recording of the Bach cello suites (I'll be reviewing that in a few days). That recording sounds a half step low to our ears, meaning the cello was probably tuned to A415 or so. I expect Podger's violin is tuned similarly.
|
|
|
Post by seth March 1, 2006 (8 of 43)
|
|
Ken_P said:
Note: I do not own and have not heard this particular disc. I would guess, though, that you're correct about the lower tuning. I noticed the same thing on Hidemi Suzuki's recording of the Bach cello suites (I'll be reviewing that in a few days). That recording sounds a half step low to our ears, meaning the cello was probably tuned to A415 or so. I expect Podger's violin is tuned similarly.
I don't own this recording either, but HIP performances of Mozart and beyond are typically tuned to 430.
|
|
|
Post by ramesh March 1, 2006 (9 of 43)
|
|
The Manze/Egarr SACD of the keyboard and violin sonatas stipulates tuning at A=430.
Interestingly this disc has a restored fortepiano whereas the Channel has a modern copy, yet the action and various creaks are more audible on the Channel than the Manze disc.
|
|
|
Post by seth March 1, 2006 (10 of 43)
|
|
ramesh said:
The Manze/Egarr SACD of the keyboard and violin sonatas stipulates tuning at A=430.
Interestingly this disc has a restored fortepiano whereas the Channel has a modern copy, yet the action and various creaks are more audible on the Channel than the Manze disc.
In general, I've heard people make this same assessment, that restored fp's have a more pleasurable sound than modern copies, specifically, that copies are too bright sounding.
|
|
