an Artistic Score Engraving update from September 2024

Dear all,

Welcome back to the monthly update, the last one live from Belgrade for this year. The summer is being impossibly hot and working in these conditions has proven to be a real challenge. I hope the climate is being benevolent to you wherever you are.

The Gratitude Corner

I would like to continue this habit of expressing gratitude towards others, since I believe it helps to stay humble and with both feet anchored to reality.

On August 3rd, Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses (born August 23rd, 1957) left this world after a brief, intense, and fearless battle against an aggressive form of brain tumour. As such, August 23rd is not the World Day of the Brazilian Cellist!

I knew him only from afar, as a listener, as an admirer, and because he had studied—as a child—with the same teacher as my professor had in Rio de Janeiro. Then, one day in 2023, I reached out to him innocently, wondering if he would have liked to contribute his performance suggestions to my edition of Piatti's Capriccio sopra un Tema della Niobe di Pacini, which he marvellously recorded on his CD "Capriccioso". To my surprise, he immediately accepted.

He didn't know me, he didn't have to do it, and yet, he reached out his hand and deliberately decided to help me, wanting nothing in return… He was the first one to truly help me in my independent publishing journey, and his help came both unexpected and at the best time possible.

I will forever be grateful to him…

May he rest in peace and bring his unworldly tone among the angels…

NEWS

Print

As announced last month, I am back on track with printing scores. Here are the first five titles that are now available for purchase on the HNE Store.

ASE 0043

Johann Sebastian Bach — Suite IV in E-flat major for Cello Solo, BWV 1010. Piano accompaniment by Carlo Alfredo Piatti.

Links: printed edition – digital edition – view on nkoda – listen to how this sounds.

Access the Editorial Notes here.

ASE 0044

Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer — Pot-pourri for Cello and Guitar, Op. 21, with the extraordinary contribution of Josephine Vains for the historical cello part and of Emanuele Buono for the guitar part. Fine, there is also my version, but this is something you are already used to getting in my editions.

Links: printed edition – digital edition – listen to how this sounds. Access the Editorial Notes here.

ASE 0049

Gaetano Donizetti — Largo for Cello and Piano. A most important edition because it contains the musicological research of Fabrizio Capitanio and a massive Critical Note section comparing the autograph with the three other previously available editions which claimed to be based on the autograph. Believe me, you are up for a tasty surprise!

Links: printed edition – digital edition – view on nkoda – listen to how this sounds.

Access the Editorial Notes here.

ASE 0056

Carlo Alfredo Piatti — A Farewell, Song for Voice and Cello with Piano accompaniment. This is the first of two versions of this song, based on the poem by Samuel Rogers.

Links: printed edition – digital edition – view on nkoda – listen to how this sounds.

Access the Editorial Notes here.

ASE 0065

Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer — Six Songs for Voice and Guitar, Op. 18. This is the second of the three works Dotzauer dedicated to the guitar, an instrument particularly in vogue in those years (1811-5).

This edition marks the start of a great collaboration with historian and musicologist Bernd Krause of Büro für Geschichtswissenschaften.

Links: printed edition – digital edition – listen to how this sounds.

Access the Editorial Notes here.

These five editions join the other nine already available in printed format. The next batch should come in October. I am doing my best to juggle what to print and when but, at least, this kind of quantity is something that I can do even if I do not sell enough. Mistakes are excellent teachers!

Editions

Besides working on these printed goodies, I have managed to push out four new editions, three of which proudly represent my new IKEA line!

ASE 0074

Gaetano Donizetti — Larghetto “Una furtiva lagrima”, for Piano solo.

I am very proud of presenting this new collaboration with Fabrizio Capitanio and the Biblioteca Donizetti in Bergamo. This edition stems from the autograph that Donizetti kept in his wallet and that presented to the librettist of L’Elisir d’amore (Felice Romani) hoping to insert it at the beginning of the Second Act. Despite Romani’s opposition to the idea, the aria was eventually added and became incredibly popular. The original version, though, is for piano solo, and it is a pleasure to offer it to you now.

Find the digital edition here, listen to how it sounds here, and save this link until the release of the Editorial Notes later this month.

ASE 0076

Friedrich August Kummer — Daily Exercises in the form of 28 short caprices for Cello solo.

This edition is being released in BETA form, meaning that it lacks the Editorial Notes and the final design proofing round. As explained last month, you can get it now for 30% off the full price and get the final version for free when it gets released. Here’s a sneak-peek of my favourite caprice:

ASE 0077-78

Friedrich August Kummer — Souvenir de la Suisse | Concertino for Cello with accompaniment of Grand Orchestra, String Quartet, or Piano.

This is a massive 20-min-long piece, and for that reason, I have not been able to give it the finishing touches I would have wanted to. For now, you can find, at this same link and with the 30% discount already applied:

0077: the Cello and Piano version with both score and part
0078: the Cello and String Quartet/Quintet version with both score and parts. While the original cover states “Quartet” accompaniment, the fourth part is labelled “Violoncello e Basso”, which also opens the doors to a string orchestra wider adaptation with ample use of divisi. As it was customary at the time, the string parts always had cues marked to be played when the winds were not available.
0080: the Cello and Orchestra score, in pre-order, as it is being prepared right now. The orchestral material (0081) will be available for rent in due course.

Website

I have spent some time updating the Publications page of my website so that it now contains direct links to the physical copies (if available) or to the product in the nkoda app. This means that if you click the “view on nkoda” button next to a title, and you have the nkoda app installed, the app will open automatically and load that score. Please let me know what you think of this redesign.

One-year gift

I am amazed at how sometimes reality just likes to punch you directly in the face! Last month I have sent the 52nd weekly gift email to my mailing list subscribers, explaining how this week there was no specific edition, rather any one they wanted. All they needed to do was to suggest a colleague, a friend, or a family member to join the mailing list as well, then write me back telling me who it was that they prompted to subscribe, alongside the desired gift. I also gave the possibility of refusing to do so, lifting that requirement if they didn’t feel comfortable with it. They just had to tell me so!

Out of more than one hundred people who received this, no one replied! Amazing, right? Replying to claim a gift you are already entitled to obviously is too much of an effort to ask for! Lesson learned, thank you!

What’s next?

I am preparing four more editions for printing (not five because two of them are bigger and will therefore be pricier to produce), bringing a massive piece to a close, and planning far too much! Every day I get more ideas or more suggestions, and I note all of them down, hoping to get the time to realise at least some of them.

Fifteen years ago yesterday (08.31.2009), my arrangement of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata for solo cello and guitar orchestra was premiered with Umberto Clerici as soloist. I have asked online if a professional edition of this would be an interesting thing to do, and the response has been quite positive. In my experience, though, what people comment on social media posts doesn’t directly translate into a future sale. Perhaps I should propose a pre-order, and if I get enough traction, get down to work on it. If you are interested, please go to this form and fill it out. To those who will answer positively, I will send a successive email asking to pre-order it. As soon as I get enough of those, I will prepare the edition.

What I know will keep me busy this month will be a massive project dedicated to the memory of Maestro Antonio Meneses.

Bottom Line

Thank you for reading so far. As always, I value your input, comments, and feedback but, as a dear friend told me, if already you are not unsubscribing, it means you are interested in what I do.

You can join my mailing list here to get weekly gifts and promotions, browse my editions here, and check what’s available for print in the HNE Store. My YouTube channel, finally, contains video renditions of most of my editions.

See you next month for the October update, and I would love to hear from you about what you are doing and where your more or less musical endeavours are bringing you.

Michele

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