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Ligeti 6 Bagatelles arr. for Saxophone Quartet

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Hi all, After many years of waiting for Schott's release of the quartet arrangement of Ligeti's 6 Bagatelles, it finally arrived in the mail today. For those of you who have followed this since Quatuor Habanera released their first commercial CD, Mysterious Morning, this should be of interest to you. Although I don't have the CD liner notes in front of me, I'm fairly certain that Habanera collaborated with Ligeti himself on the transcription. At least, they performed it for him in the same version that was recorded on Mysterious Morning. The disc was first released in 2001, so one would assume the collaboration had been ongoing for some time. Fast forward to 2009 - Edition Schott (Ligeti's offical publisher) has released an arrangement of the Bagatelles by saxophonist Fabio Oehrli, of the Konus Saxophone Quartet. In the title page/introduction of the arrangement, Fabio Oehrli writes a brief synopsis of the birth of the Konus Saxophone quartet (2003) and the particulars of the arrangement (2006). Nowhere in this synopsis does he mention the premiere recording/transcription of Habanera, or their participation with Ligeti in the project! Furthermore, lines such as, "After an extensive search, we came across the eleven-movement Musica ricercata for piano composed by Ligeti between the years 1951 and 1953 which greatly interested us and appeared to be suitable for our purposes." By avoiding the obvious acknowledgment that there was already a premiere recording, Oehrli takes wholesale credit for the entire project and ensuing arrangement. Glancing through the arrangement, I quickly found a number of blatant errors of transposition in the parts and inconsistencies in the score. As well, those of us familiar with the premiere recording will find many aspects diluted -- some technical passages in the soprano altissimo or bari low-end have been moved to easier octaves. Voices have been doubled in awkward places, and material has been given to different solo voices in several occasions. While it's great that a published edition now exists, it is also a shame that after waiting so long, the product is still not right. A significant amount of re-editing will have to be done in order to play it from the score. It's also a shame that the title page, without other explanation, seems to suggest outright dishonesty. For those of us who have long admired the innovation and performance standards of the Habanera Saxophone Quartet, I say that it is most unfortunate that they were not credited in the process. A number of American arrangers could have sent a better score to Schott for publication, given the opportunity. I'd be happy to share further thoughts with anyone interested. All best, Paul

And yet, here we have the "official" publication. Performances of other arrangements certainly constitute some kind of infringement, and, in fact, the Habanera arrangement/recording (despite its apparently being sanctioned by the composer) probably infringes on the Ligeti estate (or Schott's) copyright, though perhaps it'll become available through another publisher eventually. It's enough to make you, well, at least really tired. ACK!! So what do we do? Modify the official arrangement to conform with the original and play on; it's what we do with other works, to be sure. It's particularly sad that Habanera's arrangement didn't make it to press, but, ask anyone familiar with the Rascher legacy, and you'll find that many pieces have been somewhat similarly simplified by publishers and editors eager for at least a couple more sales. And so we do what research we can and attempt to play these works as we believe them to be best rendered. Griff (51 and a Junior member! Hot dawg!!)

[QUOTE=pnolen;412]I'd be happy to share further thoughts with anyone interested. All best, Paul[/QUOTE] Hi Paul, I'd love to have a list of errata if you have the time to compile one. Thanks!

How about a general thread for errata in the repertoire section? I've got a bunch of stuff compiled somewhere. I'm sure most of us do, and it'd be a great resource to have. I'll go start a thread right now.

[quote=gcampbe;446]How about a general thread for errata in the repertoire section? I've got a bunch of stuff compiled somewhere. I'm sure most of us do, and it'd be a great resource to have. I'll go start a thread right now.[/quote] Hi Griff, This is a great idea! I've created a forum for errata and have moved one of your posts there. Hope you are doing well, Tom

Here's one error, at least. In movement 6, measure 101, the soprano saxophone should have a Dd, not D natural.