Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> wrote on Katahn's cd "Beethoven in
the temperaments":

>Nevertheless, one can make a very strong case for historical tunings on
>something like the Broadwood fortepiano - for historically-informed
>performance.

Yes, and as far as I know this is mostly the case.

>In short, whatever magical effects the historical tuning was supposed to
>work were lost on me.

Exactly my feelings.

>That said, however, an overwhelming reason to buy this disc sticks around:
>the playing of Enid Katahn, a pianist previously unknown to me.  The
>tunings I regard as little more than gravy.  The meat is Katahn's fabulous
>musicianship.

Here I must disagree.  I bought the cd more than 2 years ago and I almost
never play it.  OK, Katahn isn't bad, but I've heard much better Beethoven
pianists.

>I was disappointed only by the finale of the "Waldstein," too much on the
>tame side for my taste.

Yes and frankly, I found the rest also too tame.

There's another cd devoted to Beethoven piano music, played on a concert
grand in historial tuning (Yamaha C-7).  The painist is Susan Halligan
and the music the Diabelli variations.  It was released by Paul List
with commentary on the tuning by Owen Jorgensen, who is supposed to be
one of the world's best experts on historical tuning.  The tuning used
is Kirnberger III, also known as the Prinz tuning.  Kirnberger was a 18th
century musician (1721-1783) and a student of J.S.Bach.  In the liner notes
List and Jorgensen give a lot of information on the background of this
particular tuning.  Their main source is Jorgensen's publication "Tuning:
Containing the Perfection of Eighteenth-Century Temperament, the Lost Art
of Nineteenth-Century Temperament and the Science of Equal Temperament"
(Michigan State University Press 1991).  Halligan is said to be a very good
Bach player.  Is that the reason why I'm not impressed? And I still don't
hear the difference, notwithstanding the fact that one track of the cd is
devoted to a comparison of the Kirnberger III and equal temperament.  It
hardly helped me.  Both Foote and List are nice guys (I've had some
personal correspondence with them), but I think their attempts to sell this
kind of playing Beethoven are not very interesting.  So I don't recommend
these cds, unless one is very curious.

Joyce Maier (mail to: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask])
www.ademu.com/Beethoven