Subject: New Recording

From: "stephen arndt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 May 2014 09:33:00 -0500

Dear Friends,

   I invite you to listen to my recording of Denis Gaultier's La
   rhA(c)torique des dieux on an Andreas von Holst 11-course lute strung
   entirely in pure gut (i.e., the basses are not gimped). Quite some time
   ago I recorded the first forty-three pieces and then put the project
   aside for well over a year owing to various reasons. Towards the end of
   last year I resumed it and recorded pieces forty-four to sixty-one but
   was very dissatisfied with my earlier recordings in terms of tempo and
   sound quality, so I redid them. I used the tablature available for free
   on Richard Civiol's site and took the Louis Pernot recordings as a
   model, arpeggiating chords where he did and attempting to imitate his
   ornaments.

   If you care to, you can listen to an individual piece by clicking on
   its title or to all pieces successively by using the playlist at the
   bottom of the page here:
   [1]http://www.verseandsong.com/song/baroque-lute-2/la-rhetorique-des-di
   eux/.  For those of you who do not know me, be forewarned: I am not a
   professional musician, and this is strictly an amateur endeavor.
   Nevertheless, I hope you will find it pleasant enough listening. Please
   feel free to explore my website by using the expandable menu on the
   left side of the page.

   I hope you will forgive my including off-topic information on another
   recent project of mine. I have revised my translation of Dante's Divine
   Comedy in iambic pentameter and terza rima and now offer it as a Kindle
   e-book. It is written in modern diction and normal syntax and strives
   to remain highly faithful to the sense of the original. Moreover, it is
   the only translation in the 400-year history of Dante translations into
   English to employ perfect rhyme throughout. If you are interested, you
   can find generous samples by clicking on the cover image at the
   following Amazon pages:

   The Inferno: [2]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JQWNUXC

   The Purgatorio: [3]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JRD2MPW

   The Paradsiso: [4]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JS3B414

   The whole Divine Comedy: [5]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JST98MK

   Best regards to all,

   Stephen Arndt

   --

References

   1. http://www.verseandsong.com/song/baroque-lute-2/la-rhetorique-des-dieux/
   2. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JQWNUXC
   3. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JRD2MPW
   4. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JS3B414
   5. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JST98MK

---

From: Rob MacKillop <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 17:21:57 +0100

I can highly recommend Stephen's translation of the Divine Comedy, as I've enjoyed a private copy for a number of years. I'm really pleased to see it available as an eBook, and will get a copy of that for my iPad.

Stephen, it is great to listen to your performances with pure gut strings. Can you tell us about your experience with them, pros and cons? And who made them? What string length and pitch? Etc ;-)

And thanks for recording the entire publication! Hearty congratulations for getting through it!

Rob

www.robmackillop.net 

> On 5 May 2014, at 15:33, "stephen arndt" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
>   Dear Friends,
> 
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

---

From: "stephen arndt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 May 2014 11:52:02 -0500

Thank you, Rob, for your kind words about my Dante work. I have revised it 
extensively since the version I sent you a number of years ago and made 
numerous improvements.

I see that the title of the work got garbled because of the acute accent on 
the "e." I'm sure everyone figured out it is "La rhetorique des dieux."

The string length on my Andreas von Holst 11-course is 67.5 centimeters; the 
strings are made by Damian Dlugolecki and tuned to A = 392. Andreas von 
Holst thought that the pure gut basses sounded terrible. I think they needed 
a little time to settle in, and now I think they sound good, but I shall let 
you all judge for yourselves. Some of you may not like them. I use a .46 on 
the top course, and it usually lasts three or four months. I haven't found 
any other stringmaker whose strings last that long.

As for pros and cons, the main advantage is simply the sound of gut. I think 
that even with my amateur technique the sound is both warm and clear for the 
most part. I find it difficult to maintain those qualities when the melody 
dips down into a lower register, which it does often enough in "La 
rhetorique," but that is probably more a consequence of my playing than of 
the strings themselves. The main disadvantage is the instability of tuning. 
I record on a Fostex and get 7 minutes and 13 seconds worth at 48 Hz. If I 
don't get a good take in that time period (and I usually don't the first few 
times), the instrument will probably have gone out of tune, and I shall have 
to retune before the next take. I know that some people on the list perform 
in public on gut strings. I play at my wife's church once a month and use 
the New Nylgut strings for that. I can't imagine what a tuning nightmare 
playing on gut would be. That's about all I can say on that topic. Thanks 
for listening.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Rob MacKillop
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 11:21 AM
To: stephen arndt
Cc: baroque-lute mailing-list ; lute mailing list list
Subject: Re: [BAROQUE-LUTE] New Recording

I can highly recommend Stephen's translation of the Divine Comedy, as I've 
enjoyed a private copy for a number of years. I'm really pleased to see it 
available as an eBook, and will get a copy of that for my iPad.

Stephen, it is great to listen to your performances with pure gut strings. 
Can you tell us about your experience with them, pros and cons? And who made 
them? What string length and pitch? Etc ;-)

And thanks for recording the entire publication! Hearty congratulations for 
getting through it!

Rob

www.robmackillop.net

>   1. 
> http://www.verseandsong.com/song/baroque-lute-2/la-rhetorique-des-dieux/

---

From: Rob MacKillop <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 18:13:25 +0100

Well, I do like the sound you are making, and the basses sound good to my ears - very clear, and with little sustain, which is generally a good thing for open strings and moving bass lines. 

I do wonder though how thick the lowest strings must be, and what size of holes you must have in the bridge. 

Looking around the rest of your website, I'm astonished how much recording you have done. Although not a professional, your interpretations must carry some authenticity for how the many hundreds of good amateur lutenists played. I am perfectly content to sit with headphones on and listen to all this wonderful music through your performances. 

I do wish, however, you would consider joining SoundCloud, and using their player. I'm afraid your player does not work continuously on my iPad. It would be nice to just click Play once, then lie back and enjoy the beautiful sounds, music and playing. 

Rob

www.robmackillop.net 

> On 5 May 2014, at 17:52, "stephen arndt" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> Thank you, Rob, for your kind words about my Dante work. I have revised it extensively since the version I sent you a number of years ago and made numerous improvements.
> 
> I see that the title of the work got garbled because of the acute accent on the "e." I'm sure everyone figured out it is "La rhetorique des dieux."
> 
> The string length on my Andreas von Holst 11-course is 67.5 centimeters; the strings are made by Damian Dlugolecki and tuned to A = 392. Andreas von Holst thought that the pure gut basses sounded terrible. I think they needed a little time to settle in, and now I think they sound good, but I shall let you all judge for yourselves. Some of you may not like them. I use a .46 on the top course, and it usually lasts three or four months. I haven't found any other stringmaker whose strings last that long.
> 
> As for pros and cons, the main advantage is simply the sound of gut. I think that even with my amateur technique the sound is both warm and clear for the most part. I find it difficult to maintain those qualities when the melody dips down into a lower register, which it does often enough in "La rhetorique," but that is probably more a consequence of my playing than of the strings themselves. The main disadvantage is the instability of tuning. I record on a Fostex and get 7 minutes and 13 seconds worth at 48 Hz. If I don't get a good take in that time period (and I usually don't the first few times), the instrument will probably have gone out of tune, and I shall have to retune before the next take. I know that some people on the list perform in public on gut strings. I play at my wife's church once a month and use the New Nylgut strings for that. I can't imagine what a tuning nightmare playing on gut would be. That's about all I can say on that topic. Thanks for listening.
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Rob MacKillop