Edited by Clive Brown, Neal Peres Da Costa and Kate Bennett Wadsworth. With an Urtext solo part as well as a second
part with performance markings.

Edited by Clive Brown, Neal Peres Da Costa and Kate Bennett Wadsworth. With an Urtext solo part as well as a second
part with performance markings.

Barenreiter's pioneering scholarly-critical editions of Brahms' works for one instrument and piano (BA 9429, BA 9430, BA 9431, BA 9432, BA 9433, BA 10911, BA 10908, BA 10907, BA 10906) are edited by a team of musicologists who are also performers. They offer today's musicians not just a reliable musical text based on all known sources, but also a comprehensive approach to the works, which aims to place them in their historical context and to elucidate the complex of meanings that the composer wished his notation to convey to performers. An integral part of Barenreiter's Brahms publication complex is this text booklet which approaches general performance practice issues of the 19th century with regard to e.g. tempo, rubato, rhythmic flexibility and articulation. Furthermore musicians will find valuable information concerning vibrato, portamento and bowing. Last but not least characteristics of Brahms' own piano playing as well as that of his circle and contemporaries are discussed.

Brahms had already announced his „retirementÂ" from composition when in the spring of 1894 he played chamber music with the cellist Robert Hausmann and the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. This encounter apparently renewed his enthusiasm for MühlfeldÂ's much admired playing and inspired him to write two clarinet sonatas in the summer of the same year. It remains unclear when exactly Brahms drafted viola parts to his two sonatas. In any case the viola and clarinet versions of the works were first published by Simrock at the same time in 1895. Today there is no doubt about BrahmsÂ' authorship of the viola parts. They include important differences from the clarinet original in order to do justice to this string instrument. An important part of this edition is the extensive preface. Firstly it informs about the sonatasÂ' origins, their compositional process, pre-publication performances, their publication history as well as early reception. Truly remarkable is the unique Performance Practice Commentary. Here the editors start from the premise that already a few decades after Brahms' death, a widening gulf developed between the composer's expectations and the performance practices of the early 20th century. On the basis of manifold sources which include memoirs by pupils and chamber music partners, treatises and essays, early instructive editions and historical recordings, the editors deal with key issues in understanding Brahms' notation. By a section-by-section analysis of rhythm and timing, dynamics and accentuation, dots and strokes, slurring and non legato, piano pedalling and overholding, piano arpeggiation and dislocation, string instrument fingering, string instrument harmonics and vibrato, the editors provide an indispensable assistance for a historically informed interpretation of the works. At the same time, the edition offers an exciting and often surprising insight into musical interpretation of the German Romantic Era in general.

Scholarship has advanced, new sources have come to light and the renowned Beethoven expert Jonathan Del Mar has turned his attention to the centrally important works in the cello oeuvre, the five Beethoven sonatas. This scholarly- edition contains the first Critical Commentary ever to the sonatas. All known sources consulted including the printer's proofs to op. 69. Large format (9-1/2" x 12-1/4")

BeethovenÂ's three sets of cello variations comprise the Â"Twelve Variations on a Theme from HändelÂ's Oratorio Â'Judas MaccabeusÂ'Â" (WoO 45), the Â"Twelve Variations on the theme Â'Ein Mädchen oder WeibchenÂ'Â" (op.66) from MozartÂ's opera Â"Die ZauberflöteÂ" and the Â"Seven Variations on the duet Â'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlenÂ'Â" (WoO 46), also from Â"Die ZauberflöteÂ". These works have existed in many different editions, some of which have from time to time been (tacitly) reprinted with corrections to keep up to date with the latest scholarship. This new Bärenreiter Urtext edition, however, is the first to give all BeethovenÂ's rhythms in the violoncello part correctly. BeethovenÂ's autograph manuscript of op.66 is lost; the critical commentary (English) includes a complete facsimile of the violoncello part from the only surviving source (the first edition), illustrating the various problems encountered in determining the best musical text.