Radiant Apples

First notation drew lines around each of Cezanne's radiant apples (i.e., tones), then increasingly "refined" recording technology made those lines ever thicker and darker, until now it seems that cultivating interest in overtones is taboo.

Yet it is precisely fascination with overtones which enables a true musician to play a given work many times over a lifetime: the overtones themselves - and awareness of them! - are in constant flux, influenced by humidity, room acoustics, etc.

Knowing that the intonation of stringed instruments does not match that of the piano (nor should it), I give "the A" (the "la du jour") by putting the pedal half-way down, then repeatedly touching the A lightly so as to release as wide an array of overtones as the string player needs in order to discern compatibility within my inevitable mess of sound.

Are we then in tune? If by "we" you mean our ears, yes.

An eminent cellist/collaborator once remarked: "You give the best A!"