Sergei Rachmaninoff:<BR>Practical Urtext Editions (based on Critical Edition)

Sergei Rachmaninoff

The first ever critical edition of the Complete Works of Rachmaninoff. Published by Russian Music Publishing, Moscow, and based on original, authentic sources, manuscripts and sketches, this prestigious publishing project brings a new level of scholarship to the works of this ever popular composer for performers, musicologists, composers, libraries and specialist collectors.


Boosey & Hawkes has exclusive distribution of the Practical Urtext Editions (based on the critical edition). Scheduled to publish over the next ten years, these performing editions will be issued in up to 25 paperback volumes complete with extensive notes and commentaries. Each volume is beautifully produced in paperback format (23.5 x 31 cm) and printed on top-quality tinted paper with a luxury dark-blue binding.


Although nearly all of Rachmaninoff’s music has been published in modern reliable editions, most notably by Boosey & Hawkes (successor to Editions Gutheil and Editons Russe de Musique), there has been no systematic scholarly research, based on the original manuscripts, on the composer’s output and his creative process.


Because of Rachmaninoff’s forced emigration from Russia in 1917, the archive sources are scattered around the world. The most important repositories of the composer’s manuscript archive are the State Glinka Museum of Musical Culture (in Moscow) and the Library of Congress (in Washington). Other manuscripts are preserved in archives in Moscow, St Petersburg, London and elsewhere.


The new Complete Works of Rachmaninoff is based on all extant sources: manuscripts, sketches, drafts, fair copies, publishers’ proofs corrected by the composer and authorised copies, and sound recordings by the composer himself.



The following fundamental scholarly principles have been adhered to while preparing the Edition:
* inclusion of all compositions by Rachmaninoff including his earliest compositional experiments
* all arrangements and transcriptions made by Rachmaninoff of works by other composers
* the exclusive use of original sources - autographs, authorised copies, publications issued during Rachmaninoff’s lifetime and proof-read by him
* the detailed study of the history of all texts to establish the composer’s true intentions.


Each volume of the Practical Urtext Edition contains in addition to the music:
* an introductory preface for the particular volume
* an article ‘From the Publisher’, outlining the the principles of scholarship


Forthcoming: Series V: Works for piano solo (in 6 volumes)


In preparation:



Volume 16: Pieces II
(Separate pieces, Morceaux de Fantaisie op. 3, Morceaux de Salon op. 10, Six moments musicaux op. 16).
Edited by Valentin Antipov
M 3520 31050 0 Paperback In preparation


Volume 17: 24 Preludes (op. 3, no. 2, op. 23, 32), Appendix: 1st Versions and Variants.
Facsimiles, LXIII, 140 p
Edited by Valentin Antipov
M 3520 3102 9 Paperback In preparation


Volume 19: Sonatas op. 28 (1st and 2nd Versions), op. 36 (1st and 2nd Versions)


Volume 20: Variations op. 22 (1st and 2nd Versions), op. 42


Volume 21: Transcriptions