I heard Orhan Pamuk speak at Stanford University. He mentioned his fascination with colors, having decided to be a painter before he turned to writing. His interest in the novel is that you can create a world where the action takes place, basically, in your head, rather than on a movie screen, say. So the novel allows a writer to create anything, and the reader to picture the action reflective of the reader's own experience. In this sense the novel is a simple but powerful means of creating a world, and thus conveying ideas that might otherwise be hard to express. The basic idea of this novel is, Is there really a difference in the way East and West perceives colors, and painting, and the details of illustration? Spun around this premise are the details and colors and painted tapestry of a murder in Istanbul. In thinking about "who done it" we are led to think about the nature of painting and the motivations and personalities of the painters.
The book is not written for the mass market. That is part of the appeal, at least to me, but unfontunately, it means that most people will not be inclined to finish it. One could wish it were 50 pages shorter, but once you understand a little about Mr. Pamuk and his themes, you will want to read it all the way through, and pick up some of his other novels as well.
I think we need especially to acknowledge the translator of this book. Mr. Pamuk speaks English, but not very fluently. The book was written in Turkish and translated by the show more very gifted Dr. Erdag Goknar of Duke University. Dr. Goknar was born in the USA, but he has an outstanding knowledge of Turkish and Turkish literature, and is a good friend of Mr. Pamuk. His translation reads like an original work. show less
The book is not written for the mass market. That is part of the appeal, at least to me, but unfontunately, it means that most people will not be inclined to finish it. One could wish it were 50 pages shorter, but once you understand a little about Mr. Pamuk and his themes, you will want to read it all the way through, and pick up some of his other novels as well.
I think we need especially to acknowledge the translator of this book. Mr. Pamuk speaks English, but not very fluently. The book was written in Turkish and translated by the show more very gifted Dr. Erdag Goknar of Duke University. Dr. Goknar was born in the USA, but he has an outstanding knowledge of Turkish and Turkish literature, and is a good friend of Mr. Pamuk. His translation reads like an original work. show less
I would dispute some of the things Ms. Hafner says about piano tuning in this book. Most piano tuners will use the "equal temperment" method of tuning, whereby all semitones are tuned to the same ratio, which works out to 1/12 of an octave. This results in the fifths being slightly flat, and the thirds being slightly sharp. There are other methods of tuning a piano, but the piano tuners I have met will only use the equal temperment method. They also use computerized tuning gadgets, which assign an exact frequency to every note. A professional tuner, however, is capable of tuning every note from a single reference, usually A440, derived from a tuning fork. I have tried to do this and believe me, it is not easy.
Another problem is that Beethoven composed his earlier piano sonatas for an instrument known as a fortepiano, which has two strings for the notes in the middle registers. The modern instrument, the pianoforte, has three strings for these notes, and the sound is rather different.
I learned from this book that "voicing" a piano is a completely different activity than tuning. I have never had my piano voiced, and your typical tuner will probably not know how to do it. But I did have a piano on which a few notes buzzed, and now I know that this is a voicing problem, not a tuning problem.
After reading AROTL. I heard Ms. Hafner speak about her experiences in coming to write this book. Apparently her father, a physicist, is an amateur piano tuner, and piano lover, and she show more was looking to write a biography of one famous piano. She chose this piano, used by Glenn Gould, designated CD318. The story is fascinating and very readable, complete with surprise ending.
Nowadays, pianos are sold in music stores rather than in department stores. If you go to a store which sells Steinways, you will be told, naturally, that Steinways are the best. If you go to a store that sells Bosendorfers, you will be told that they are in fact the best. The Steinway, however, is generally considered to be a superior concert piano, suitable for larger halls. The Bosendorfer is more suitable for smaller venues, including living rooms, in my humble opinion. However that may be, I actually prefer a Chickering, and apparently Mr. Gould did also, as that was his main practice piano. The tone is rich but not too bright, an essential requirement for smaller living rooms where the sound will bounce off the walls a lot.
Ms. Hafner gives us more of the personal history of CD318, rather than a technical treatise on its musical qualities, and that makes the book more suitable for the general reader. I am an avid fan of Glenn Gould's recordings, and I consider his last one, of the Richard Strauss sonata, to be the finest recording of piano music ever made. If you listen carefully, you can hear him humming in the background, and this adds to the recording rather than detracts from it. Unfortunately, I don't know what piano Gould used, but we can imagine from this recording what CD318 must have sounded like. show less
Another problem is that Beethoven composed his earlier piano sonatas for an instrument known as a fortepiano, which has two strings for the notes in the middle registers. The modern instrument, the pianoforte, has three strings for these notes, and the sound is rather different.
I learned from this book that "voicing" a piano is a completely different activity than tuning. I have never had my piano voiced, and your typical tuner will probably not know how to do it. But I did have a piano on which a few notes buzzed, and now I know that this is a voicing problem, not a tuning problem.
After reading AROTL. I heard Ms. Hafner speak about her experiences in coming to write this book. Apparently her father, a physicist, is an amateur piano tuner, and piano lover, and she show more was looking to write a biography of one famous piano. She chose this piano, used by Glenn Gould, designated CD318. The story is fascinating and very readable, complete with surprise ending.
Nowadays, pianos are sold in music stores rather than in department stores. If you go to a store which sells Steinways, you will be told, naturally, that Steinways are the best. If you go to a store that sells Bosendorfers, you will be told that they are in fact the best. The Steinway, however, is generally considered to be a superior concert piano, suitable for larger halls. The Bosendorfer is more suitable for smaller venues, including living rooms, in my humble opinion. However that may be, I actually prefer a Chickering, and apparently Mr. Gould did also, as that was his main practice piano. The tone is rich but not too bright, an essential requirement for smaller living rooms where the sound will bounce off the walls a lot.
Ms. Hafner gives us more of the personal history of CD318, rather than a technical treatise on its musical qualities, and that makes the book more suitable for the general reader. I am an avid fan of Glenn Gould's recordings, and I consider his last one, of the Richard Strauss sonata, to be the finest recording of piano music ever made. If you listen carefully, you can hear him humming in the background, and this adds to the recording rather than detracts from it. Unfortunately, I don't know what piano Gould used, but we can imagine from this recording what CD318 must have sounded like. show less