What edition for the Bach Double Concerto in D Minor?

May 6, 2010 at 12:58 PM ·

Your best bet may be to get a Barenreiter edition, which is an urtext, that is, it reproduces what the composer wrote without edits.  Barenreiter tends to be the most rigorous of the urtexts. Some other folks -- Henle -- also publish urtexts but usually with edits, although the edition will indicate what is Bach's and what is the editor's.  It is possible that the Peters or Kalmus edition is an urtext; you need to look at it and see.  Finally, either imslp.com or the Werner Icking archive may have a free edition that is an urtext.  You can look there.  You should know that urtext is a relative term in Bach's case.  Some of his bowings are not easy to decipher. 

May 6, 2010 at 01:10 PM ·

Thanks Tom. I need the piano accompaniment and I could only find these two edtions (Peters & Kalmus) with the piano part. Would you know any other? or any in the public domain?

May 6, 2010 at 01:37 PM ·

Thanks I found the Barenreiter edition and it has the piano part.

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside/2450552/image/138046

May 6, 2010 at 02:04 PM ·

http://imslp.org/wiki/Concerto_for_Two_Violins,_BWV_1043_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian)http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/bach/bwv1043/

These are links to the free, Icking and imslp versions.  I do not know if either is an urtext.  The imslp has no piano reduction.

May 6, 2010 at 02:42 PM ·

Those running staccato bowings don't have a Baroque flavor, IMO. If you already own this edition, you could just change 'em.

May 6, 2010 at 04:54 PM ·

Every Kalmus edition I've owned has the up bows and down bows marked upside down. Weird! I have the Peters edition of the Bach double (from sheet music plus) and it is urtext.

May 6, 2010 at 06:45 PM ·

Glenda - are you sure the Peters is an urtext?  It appears to be edited by David Oistrakh (not that that is great disadvantage given Oistrakh's wonderful recordings of Bach).

May 6, 2010 at 06:54 PM ·

Thanks, I'll run and buy the Peter edition immidiately ; )  Are all the Peter edition scores edited by Oistrakh generally?  (I don't know much about edition labels!)

Anne-Marie

May 6, 2010 at 08:26 PM ·

Hi Tom,

 I'm looking at my copy right now. It says "Urtext" inside a red box on the upper left side of the cover. In the Preface, it does say: "The separate solo parts contain additions by David Oistrakh: in order to distinguish them from the original bowings, those which have been added are indicated by broken lines." Then there is a quote from Mr. Oistrakh: "My intention was to give logical consistency to the phrasing, which in the original was often written rather hurriedly and where analogous passages are not phrased consistently. In so doing I wanted as far as possible to take account of musical expression, facility of performance, and the best traditions for interpreting this concerto."

May 6, 2010 at 08:26 PM ·

Anne-Marie - I think there may be another Peters edition with a different editor.  You need to look carefully.

May 7, 2010 at 02:47 PM ·

Glenda - thanks for clearing that up.  It confirms my statement that "urtext" used in connection with Bach is a relative statement because of the difficulty sometimes of deciphering what he wanted, and the fact that in the portions that look clearer, he does not always treat similar phrases consistently.  Get a copy of the facsimile of the sonatas and partitas, and you will see what I mean.