Reception

Review by Nigel Simeone, Notes 09/2016

Březina’s edition is a model of its kind.

This new complete edition – which I strongly recommend to music libraries and serious Martinů enthusi asts alike – should do much to bring his music in from the margins. These first two volumes are a most auspicious start to the project.

Review praises additional material in the appendices, the extensive introduction and critical apparatus of the volume with Symphony No. 4 edited by Sharon Andrea Choa. Simeone highlights tough task of editing, which has been done very meticulously. The Epic of Gilgamesh, work that is surprisingly not performed very often, was edited with painstaking care by Aleš Březina. According to Simeone, it is “laid out with an admirable combination of clarity and detail.” Simeone appreciate Bärenreiter’s note-setting of both volumes. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh was also awarded the German Music Edition Prize for “Best Edition” 2015 by The German Music Publishers Association.

 

Review by doc. Jiří Zahrádka, Opus musicum 03/2018

The somewhat battered reputation of our publishing efforts should be remedied by the Bohuslav Martinů Institute and the Bärenreiter publishing house. […] The first volumes of the Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition show promise of an extraordinary feat of publishing.

Jiří Zahrádka’s review of the published volumes mainly appreciates the high quality of the musical text, the detailed description of the sources, and the forewords, which shed light on many little-known facts. Besides that Zahrádka takes note of the “polished preparation” and “exemplary production and printing” of the volumes. Drawing on experience from other contemporary complete editions, the musicologists use cutting-edge editorial methods, which is reflected in the high level of both content and form.

You can read the whole review here (available only in Czech).