Whether for first editions or not ? the primary sources of Beethoven's works always have to be interpreted with great expertise. The editor's knowledgeability is the decisive point when it comes to the level of quality of a new edition. And both Clive Brown and Peter Hauschild are setting standards.

"On the whole, it was a good idea for Breitkopf to give itself time with these editions. The difficult feat of doing justice to the needs of performers and to philological scholarship has been carried off at a level that raises the standards to an almost frighteningly high level." (Peter Gülke)

In the case of the First Symphony, Clive Brown reaches an optimal balance between source criticism and performance-practical requirements. Interpreters and scholars appreciate the "source criticism for performance practice" that Breitkopf cultivates not only in its Beethoven editions.�