JAVS Summer 2011

Jerzy Kosmala (b. 1931). Kosmala is a concert and recording artist and teacher. He is a former member of the Kraków String Quartet and the Eastman String Quartet and has adapted and published numerous compositions for viola. Kosmala taught for many years at Louisiana State University and is currently on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine, and visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, England. Publisher information: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Sa PWM 9254, 1997. The Preface is in Polish and English. Kosmala suggests that “because we have so many different editions we are not satisfied with any of the results as yet.” 25 He uses the Anna Magdalena Bach copy, the Johann Peter Kellner copy, and the two anonymous copies (Westphal and Traeg) as reference—the Anna Magdalena Bach is given priority. This spiral-bound, well-spaced edition includes ample fingering and bowing suggestions. Suite No. 6, as discussed in the Preface, is transposed into G major, but there is no mention of the scordatura in Suite No. 5, no indications of conflict resolution between sources, and no realization in the Prelude to Suite No. 2. Simon Rowland-Jones (b. 1950). Rowland-Jones is a recording artist, composer, and teacher. He was the founding violist in the Chilingirian Quartet and has taught at Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden, Royal College of Music in London, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff, and the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England. Publisher information: Edition Peters , No. 7489, 1998. This is certainly the most “scholarly” edition available today. The extensive Preface (English and German) includes a complete guide to sources, bowing, slurs and editorial slurs ( ), ornamentation, dance movements, and useful references. The Critical Commentary cross– references note discrepancies between the Anna Magdalena Bach copy, the Kellner copy, the two anonymous copies (Westphal and Traeg), and Bach’s own autograph transcription of Suite No. 5 for lute. This spacious and clean edition includes measure numbers, crucial slurs, and footnoted references to note discrepancies. Included are two copies of Suite No. 5: one with the original scordatura tuning and one with standard tuning. At the end of Suite No. 5, Rowland Jones has an alternate version of the Sarabande with his take on appropriate embellishments. Further, there are two versions of Suite No. 6: one with the original key of D major with five string tuning (C-G-d-a-e’) and one version transposed into G major, with standard viola tuning. Interestingly, there are only four viola editions of the Bach Suites where the editor has recorded his edition: Simon Rowland-Jones, Leonard Davis, Milton Katims, and William Primrose.

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