Bärenreiter: general discussion

Pros: Mistakes of old editions cleared up, wrong slurrings, wrong notes, hundred year old ambiguities, etc

Cons: Expensive, finally does not shed much light on pieces they publish, I.E. differences in editorial problems are not as big as say, Schalk Bruckner vs Bruckner. Even urtext ligatures are not the final word, bowings depend on the phrasing and who/how they can play.

I think what started as a nice effort is now becoming a way to keep the old composers out of the public domain, now that Breitkopf and Henle and Eulenburg are all following up with 'urtext' editions for the old composers. Bärenreiter also insists on many literalisms which do not make any sense and it takes some sense on the reader's part to get into what consists these stupid literalisms. Some of del Mar's introductions are also very literal minded in how he talks about the music, and this attitude translates into the edition, for better and for worse.

OK OK but Bärenreiter is absolutely a must for Bach !!!!!!!