Music Notation and Typesetting

[fredbucket]

Each composer has their own particular and unique musical language. You should be aware that each marking means something to the composer and hence to the performer, since it wouldn't be there otherwise. So all the slurs, appogiaturas, beaming etc should be kept in unless there is clearly an error in the notation, which is not the case here.

Modern music notation programmes have very sophisticated algorithms to optimise placement of notes, slurs etc. This is your sample notated without any manual adjustments in Finale V27. You'll see everything is well spaced and very clear.

The appogiatura slurs are important, and indicate legato to the next the next note.

sample1.jpg

I hope this helps.

Regards
Fred

[pcovitz1968]

I do appreciate your point, but as a pianist, I am trying to think of a situation where I would play a grace note and its following note "unslurred." My understanding of the grace note--i.e., a cue-size note with a slash through it--is that it is to be played nearly as if it and the main note were struck at the same time. The idea of it not being slurred seems nonsensical; the time between the grace note and the main note are meant to be minimized. So isn't the slur just superfluous?

As for each marking meaning something to the composer, I do try to honor that so far as is practicable, but the reality is that composers could often be careless, not only in the writing out of their manuscripts, but also in their review of printers' proofs. I recall reading Marian Macdowell (to cite a somewhat random example), saying that her husband abhorred the tedium of reviewing galley proofs, and often became less and less meticulous as the task progressed.

In this case, my sense is that the slur is there mainly by convention. I'm not convinced they communicate anything significant to the performer in terms of execution or interpretation, although I am open to being persuaded. It's true, Sibelius software does its best to figure out how best to position the slur, but in a piece like this containing many of these grace notes, more often than not they just result in a lot of (unnecessary) clutter.

[fredbucket]

You could well be right, but as a pianist myself I can quite clearly distinguish between staccato and legato appogiaturas. Appogiaturas (I.e grace notes with a slash) do not have to be played as quickly as possible, and this gives opportunities for various modes of attack, as it were. Appogiaturas in Romantic music can well be equated to vocal portamento - I.e. everyone’s interpretation could well be totally different.

Is this a consistent practice with this composer?

If you are using Sibelius, then it does surprise me that it has issues within this passage. With Finale, I did have to adjust the bass slurs but everything else is the default Finale positioning.

If indeed you are going to provide publication quality scores, I would reiterate my point above to include all the notation aspects. The way the composer writes is his/her fingerprints. Whether you include these in performance is a moot point, but they should always be there.

Regards
Fred