My background as a professional orchestral musician has taken me to many beautiful concert halls, but it has also shown me many appalling sets of music. From parts littered with errors, inconsistencies, or sloppy presentation, all the way to a part that had the top inch sellotaped back on after a significant tear. All this - from many of the largest music publishers! I do better.
My ethos as a publisher has always been to place the musician first. What does a musician need? Clean, legible parts with the best possible pageturns; all mannerisms clarified and all mistakes rectified, and a balance between what the composer wrote and what they intended.
This review sums up my approach best:
“the score is truly beautiful, managing very well to reconcile the aesthetics of publication with the practical needs of a performer/listener”
Every score in the Bax Edition comes with the following:
- A beautiful dark-green front cover with a suitable work of art in the centre;
- A full historical purview of the piece;
- A short analysis of the work discussing its main musical ideas;
- The score - critically-edited and ready for performance;
- My critical remarks, so you can understand the editorial journey the piece has been on;
- A discussion of the sources used to create the edition