Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien is offering a new supplement to the Complete Bruckner Edition – a practical performing edition of the orchestral parts.

For many decades the Complete Bruckner Edition, published by Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien and begun in the 1930s as a pioneering project, has formed an essential basis for the reception of Bruckner’s works. From the beginning, the aim of the Complete Edition was not only to document Bruckner’s surviving musical text in score form true to the original works, but to also provide the foundation for authentic performances of Bruckner’s music by producing the corresponding orchestral material. The music volumes available today were published over a period of more than fifty years from the 1950s onwards – which inevitably had the result that the performance material, in accordance with the different notation conventions prevailing when they were prepared, varies in places in both format and the guidelines which were adopted. A frequent problem with Bruckner is the sometimes sparse use of expression marks; in the individual parts this can result in uncertainties in execution where there is no opportunity for comparison with the full score.
For these reasons, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien has decided to make available to orchestras completely newly-produced orchestral parts, with the aim of standardizing the appearance and improving the legibility of the material, improving practical usability and at the same time, continuing to satisfy the historical-critical requirements of the Complete Edition.

Many points including the following were discussed in detail in many individual discussions with performing musicians from the orchestral world, and taken into consideration:

– In contrast with the earlier method of counting bars in groups of ten, the bar numbering is now always placed at the beginning of each line. As a result, rests of several bars can be notated more clearly and grouped together in musical units. Repeated bars are more consistently through-numbered than previously.
– Cue notes appear in standardized form in the appropriate transposition for the respective instrument and – as far as it facilitates legibility – in the same clef, thus avoiding the need for laborious transposing by orchestral musicians in the future.
– One of Bruckner’s peculiarities is his inconsistent notation of the trumpet and horn parts, partly notated with, and partly without key signatures. In this point, the decision was made in favour of the unambiguous established practice, whereby key signatures were avoided and all accidentals were placed before the note concerned.
– In the notation of the Wagner tuba parts, Bruckner’s original notation was retained in deference to the playing and reading conventions established over decades; these often clarify existing uncertainties concerning the intended octave position by providing additional information.
– Finally, textual information contained in the parts has been consistently brought into line with the full scores. Unclear and missing information has been clarified or augmented.

It should be emphasized that the new practical performing edition of the orchestral parts represents an additional option to the previous material available, and has naturally been brought into line with the music text in the full scores of the Bruckner Complete Edition. For all orchestras which prefer the existing appearance of the materials, the older orchestral materials continue to be available on hire.

The practical performing edition will appear over a period of approximately five years, beginning at the end of 2012 with the 2nd version of the 4th Symphony; this will be followed by the 7th Symphony.

Angela Pachovsky
(from [t]akte 2/2012)