I have been collecting the Janacek complete edition published by Bärenreiter/Supraphon since it started in 1978. I've also collected all the volumes in the parallel series published by Editio Janacek in Brno. Believe it or not, Elgar has had it relatively lucky by comparison with this: progress on Janacek has been glacially slow and the larger volumes are hideously expensive (Osud came out earlier this year and retails at around £420 - a brilliant thing it is too). With any of these projects - whether Elgar, Janacek, now Martinu and soon Bartók - you really have to be in it for the long haul - but it makes the arrival of new volumes a pleasant (if rare) surprise. Delius and Walton happened quite switfly by comparison.
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That's fascinating. How many volumes have there been so far, and how far is there to go? -
Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that (argh!). Some works (e.g. Diary of one who Vanished, Ballad of Blaník, Concertino) have been published in Brno by Editio Janacek, using the same editorial guidelines, and numbered in a way that seems to match the Bärenreiter series (but in fact doesn't quite match as there are some duplicate numbers!). And neither Bärenreiter nor Editio Janacek makes any mention of the other - but there's no duplication of anything except series numbers. (The Brno volumes, for anyone who is interested, are available online and are very reasonably priced). And THEN there are the operas. The only one so far from Bärenreiter is Osud, and Bärenreiter has also recently done an edition of The Makropulos Affair. But at least for a time there was serious talk of taking the recent Universal Edition scores of the operas (starting with the Mackerras edn of Katya, and Mackerras/Tyrrell Jenufa) and reprinting those for the Bärenreiter edition. That plan seems to have gone quiet - but since the people who are best qualified - by far - to do this work (John Tyrrell and Jiri Zahradka) have already done it (or are doing it) for UE, it's extremely unlikely that anyone else will be asked to take it on. So that's all a bit of a mess...
This is getting too long - apologies. While I've got all of the Bärenreiter volumes (except one - maddeninly I mislaid the First Quartet in a house move, and even more maddeningly it's one of the volumes that's now out of print!!), and all the Editio Janacek ones, there's still quite a long way to go. However, there are exciting volumes in prospect and in preparation. Among others, apparently the Sinfonietta will reveal some fascinating discoveries, despite several new editions of the work since the 1970s. It's nice to look forward to things like that appearing, one of these days!
Is anybody collecting the Martinu edition, I wonder? This is incredibly well produced and scrupulously edited - a real treat. There are two volumes so far (Symphony 4, Gilgamesh), with a third due out any day. I reviewed the first two (for the journal Notes) so was lucky enough to get them that way, but I'd encourage anybody serious about Martinu to start saving up for them - there are none of the problems of editorial procedure that bedevilled the Janacek edition for so long.Comment
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Does it make any sense to have to competing complete editions of Janacek's music?Comment
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