A fundamental re-evaluation

What with all the traditional editions available on the market, can we still expect new readings? This is what editor Clive Brown asked himself as he meticulously examined the often conflicting sources. Beethoven would probably have loved to be able to commission a new edition of his violin concerto from Brown, since the Beethoven scholar is one of the top, unchallenged specialists of our time, with a profound knowledge and experience of performance practice in Beethoven’s day. The result is a wealth of new readings in the score, which deserve as much attention as the extensively commented arrangement for violin and piano. The treatment of the solo instrument is particularly interesting: next to the “Urtext solo part,” the edition also contains a historically informed and marked-up part with fingerings and bowings that go back to Franz Clement, the soloist of the premiere performance, and to the Viennese performance tradition of Beethoven’s time. For violinists of today, this is a treasure trove of new, innovative ideas and suggestions for the individual shaping of the part.