Selected piano pieces from Bärenreiter’s Urtext catalogue are now appearing for the first time with fingerings. These volumes combine the definitive Urtext from the new complete editions with tried and tested fingerings from well-known pianists and teachers. They also contain notes on interpretation. Our Urtext editions without fingerings remain in print as before.
Notes on Fingering – Suggestions for playing Mozart »Should I play the F-sharp with the 3rd or 4th finger?« I tried to counter this impatient question from a young pianist with a wink of the eye: »Why not try your thumb, your 5th finger, or your nose, so long as it makes the meaning and flow of the music convincing.« Indeed, fingering is a means to the end of making a piece as beautiful, meaningful, exciting, and stylistically appropriate as possible while remaining secure and stable. But since these attributes (and surely many others) can be felt and interpreted in individual ways, and since every hand and every body differs in its shape and training, the choice of fingering is, in the final analysis, a fundamentally personal decision. Moreover, fingering changes over the years. A new view of a piece, changes in the player’s physique, even a different seating height or an instrument requiring an unusual playing technique will create ever-new variants. Thus, the fingering marks in these volumes should be understood as suggestions. The same applies to the ossia fingerings, which are designed to help players find solutions of their own. I considered it especially important to observe Mozart’s demands for »speaking« articulation, sustained cantabile, and a colorful touch capable of conjuring up a wide range of instruments and voices on the piano. Equally important is rhythmic accuracy in elaborate passage-work and accompaniment figures, which must remain precise and controlled even under difficult performance conditions. The fingering must do equal justice to a vivid rendition of Mozart the opera composer, the virtuoso symphonist, and the sensitive chamber musician. To present these aspects on the piano requires stable and creative fingering, which, if not sufficient in itself, must never be underestimated. Matthias Kirschnereit