In the thicket of numbers

The G. Henle publishing house is not only one of the most renowned, but also one of the most diligent publishers of music. And in recent years in particular, there has been much praise here for the highly professional and graphically uniquely designed new editions from this publishing house. However, since the publisher began reissuing Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas some time ago, there has been a small drop of bitterness in this praise. It is actually only a matter of one detail, but one that is not at all unimportant: the fingerings. Murray Perahia's merits as a wonderful pianist are of course undisputed, but his fingering indications in this new Beethoven edition are not very helpful. Unfortunately, it has to be said so clearly!

The recently published single edition of the Sonata in C minor op. 10,1 shows - pars pro toto, so to speak - what ails the system.

1) Perahia's fingerings are very personal and occasionally very awkward. It does not always make sense to notate a finger change for every repeated note. The many silent finger changes are also not really in the service of a lively articulation.

2. there is too much unnecessary information, which makes the score confusing. All the more so as Henle now prints the numbers larger than in the old edition. The nine notes of the rising main motif at the beginning of the first movement, for example, are marked with no fewer than ten numbers! So if someone wants to notate an alternative fingering, they have quite a lot to cross out ...

3. there are obviously also printing errors. For example, the indications in bars 36 and 170 of the Allegro molto con brio are simply incomprehensible.

The new editions of Rachmaninov's piano works, also published by Henle, prove that things can be done differently. Marc-André Hamelin, certainly one of the greatest pianists of our time, carefully places his clever fingering indications only where he considers assistance to be necessary. This makes the musical text clear and much easier to read.

Apparently Henle has also recognized the problem and is now relying on no less than "55 godfathers for 55 sonatas" for the latest edition of all of Joseph Haydn's piano sonatas, at least according to the publisher's advertising.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor op. 10 No. 1, edited by Norbert Gertsch and Murray Perahia, HN 1128, € 7.00, G. Henle, Munich