On 11 Dec 2010 at 15:37, Darcy James Argue wrote: > Terry Riley's Transylvanian Horn Courtship for Kronos calls for > custom-built Stroh instruments (not just violins but Stroh viola and > Stroh cello) built for them Walter Kitundu, and tuned a full fifth > lower than the standard instruments. You can read more about these > instruments, and the piece, here: > > http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_13018_pn.htm > l?selecteddate=03112010 > > I'm not sure if it was because of the lower tuning, but the > instruments Kronos used were very soft -- much softer than standard > string instruments.
I can't help but think that they re-invented the viol consort by doing that. One of the complaints about the viol that resulted in the eventual hegemony of the violin family was that the instruments were not loud enough, and they certainly fall in a lower range than the corresponding instruments from the violin family (for the upper end instruments; the bass doesn't go as low as the cello, of course). And the one viol that survived longest, was the one with the widest range in both dynamics and pitch. I'd be interested in hearing these instruments. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
