Piano Tuner Shows Classical Repertoire Performed in Historical Tunings
Why Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange recommends it
Music: Practice & Theory answerers link it when explaining that keys are not equivalent outside equal temperament and that historical tunings change how music sounds.
Recommended by 2 people across 2 different months, 2015 to 2019.
What it is
A piano tuner, Eben Goresko, presents excerpts from a 2000 temperament recital at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He plays Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Schubert on pianos tuned in well, meantone and Pythagorean temperaments, so listeners can hear how the same repertoire sounds outside equal temperament.
What people said
Recommends Dave · 2015-09 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Effect of keys on modern performances”
The "missing" in "Are we missing something?" implies a value judgment, so instead I'll just address some of the key differences between equal temperament and historical temperaments. At least these things would be different: Older tunings, meantone or tempered, generally had a set of keys where the important major thirds were just, or at least closer to it [LINK] . This affects the degree of consonance of chords (which are stacked 3rds.) The tempered tunings generally have different sets of 5th intervals, e.g. the Werckmeister tunings, and thus, as an example, the root chords for different keys have different degrees of consonance. That the different historical tunings result in different so
Recommends Epanoui · 2017-03 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Can any song in a major key be performed in C major?”
Yes, absolutely. In Equal Temperament, all major scales are mathematically equivalent, in terms of their notes' interrelationships (frequency ratios). Outside of Equal Temperament, this might not be the case. This video provides examples of different temperaments from Bach's time. [this video]
Cites Rusi · 2019-02 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Is practicing on a digital piano harmful to an experienced piano player?”
tl;dr Yes it spoils the touch I prefer electronic (still!) for other reasons most centrally alternate tunings I believe it also has contributed to spoiling my ears Yeah its a tough choice ! In more detail I grew up on an old upright hard steinway and also a schiedmayer boudoir grand. (And Bach and Beethoven were the only guys that mattered!) I find the sheer physical exercise of driving wood satisfying at a level that an electronic imitation never matches… but this is not a musical aspect of the discussion. After some twelve years of having no piano got a Casio celviano with something strange called alternate tunings — Werkmeister Kirnberger Just... and the usual equal. And found that even s