Mozart Concerto Edition?

[Frank WatsonParticipant]

I am getting ready to start a College student on the Mozart Bassoon Concerto. My quandry is selecting an edition from which to work. I, personally, was taught the Guetter edition, which is still my favorite. Are there other edition(s) currently more in favor? Which do you use?

Thanks

Frank Watson, Bassoon
Greenville (SC) Symphony Orchestra
Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra

[beebejpParticipant]

The Universal edition is viewed by many to be the most accurate and “scholarly.” Personally I play off the Guetter but incorporate aspects of the other.

Happy Bassooning!

Jon Beebe

[Kent MooreParticipant]

I do the same as Jon. I use the Guetter but refer to the Universal.

[Steven MorganParticipant]

I’ve never used the Guetter edition. I like the Universal Edition the most because it’s the closest thing we have to urtext.

[Bryan CavittParticipant]

What happened to the Barenreiter edition? I always thought it was the closest to urtext.

Bryan Cavitt
Bassoonist, Elkhart (IN) County Symphony Orchestra; Bassoon Dad

[Vincent EllinParticipant]

You might contact Mike Sweeney as well. He has been working on a new edition, the barenreuter and the Universal are the best…remember that the editions are all based on the first PRINTED edition of the work as no manuscript has survived. Do write your own cadenzas….the Guetter candenzas are too long for the piece as nice as they are.

[Neville ForsytheParticipant]

Sorry for the delay in responding – I have two editions, the most recent being Breitkopf & Hartel 1981 edited by Henri Kling. It has the number EB3396 and is published in Leipzig.

The older version that I compare it with is a Boosey & Hawkes 1947 B&H 9088. I don’t know if it is even still available.
B&H has some explanatory asterisks to show a few of the appoggiatura renderings bars 38-9, 64 mvt 1, 8 mvt2 , 32 mvt3.

Both editions are remarkably similar with spare markings – the majority of slurs are the same in both editions but the B&H has a few that extend over into the next beat (more so in the 3rd movement).

Neither has a printed cadenza.

I would be interested to know if the “agreed” slurs are Mozart’s own markings. The use of slur two- tongue two and tongue one -slur three in some performances, doesn’t seem to be based on printed markings but most probably introduced by players – quite legitimately I think. Varying the groupings even from one performance to the next can keep up the freshness of phrasing possibilities.

One practice I abhor is carrying slurs over the barline and in some cases over the beat. Slurs help to shape the important and less important “melodic” elements of passages. Anything within a slur is lessened in importance by that effect, where tonguing of group beginnings or even successive notes elevates their significance and contributes to rhythmic shaping as well.

Neville

[James JeterParticipant]

For me, it’s great to use editions as close to “urtext” as possible, but I’m always inspired by my former teacher, Milan Turkovic’s interpretations of the Mozart. He has several recordings out of this work, and each recording is a bit different in interpretation, articulations, etc. He never plays the concerto the same way! I’ve worked with several composers – Thea Musgrave, Jean Francaix, Andrew Thomas, Vincent Persichetti, GianCarlo Menotti, etc. – the common thread I’ve found is that they’re all for the most part very FLEXIBLE about any interpretation an artist makes. I’d like to think Mozart and the “masters” would also be open to lots of different ways of approaching their work! This makes being a re-creative performer worth his/her salt, in my opinion. Too bad we don’t have the actual manuscript of this Concerto (and the other 2 lost ones!!). Peace, Jim

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