I was wrong.
For some reason Katims decided to change one of the notes in the main theme from the C-natural (clearly indicated in the part by the composer, in both the first statement and in the recapitulation) to a C-sharp. [For non-alto-clef readers, it's the eighth note that the viola plays, and it gets repeated three times in the measure.]
Here it is in context:
That altered note (as you will hear in the videos below) changes the main theme considerably.
Spencer Martin plays from the Katims edition:
These very fine (and unnamed players, who are probably Russian) use the 1910 German edition:
I put a query to the 1000-plus-member group of violists on Facebook about the problem, and I didn't hear a peep (though my flutist friend Jean Petree, whose mother is a violist, knew the piece). I imagine that nobody gave that C-sharp (or those C-sharps) a second thought. I wouldn't have questioned it myself if I hadn't come across that Russian recording. Thank goodness for the IMSLP!
(For the record, Katims also changed the measure before the 5/4 section in both the exposition and the recapitulation.)
7 comments:
I find the C# version more interesting harmonically, so that's my vote.
Gotta agree with my old friend, Milton Katims.
Bernie Zaslav
Thanks Bernie!
Playing the C# makes me want a resolution to D natural (which doesn't happen in the viola part, so there is instant disappointment), and playing the C natural makes me want to get to the B natural on the first beat of the next measure. I'm going with the C natural for the sake of making a more satisfying and longer line more easily.
(You and Milton Katims could both pull off a longer line no matter what the notes happened to be.)
I would surely say C-natural. The piano plays that note in m. 12, and that is what appears in the recap. The melodic sequences at Tempo I are all augmented fourths. Katims heard me play it and conceded the C-sharp was a misprint.
I'm convinced; the C naturals have it.
Bernie
Nice Blog Post !
Although this post is MANY years old (RIP Bernie), I actually also think that this is a C#. If you follow what happens in bar 5, where Juon clearly lays out a D-F#-A-C# chord for 2 measures the chord then makes sense in bar 3. I can't see a D dom7 so early in the piece. I have just recorded it for Toccata and I'm keeping my C#. It's certainly more interesting, and I dare say more 'progressive' than a dom 7. Thanks!
I think it is a C#. The material 2 bars later show a D major 7 chord (with a C#) and I think there is a relationship there. A D dominant 7 in the 3rd measure of the work just doesn't seem right. I think the harmonic motion when the keyboard has the music is different. My recording for Toccata will have a C#--with apologies to those who differ. True, I grew up with a Kalmus (not International) edition that claims no editor but it had a C#. I now own Lienau but still don't agree. I need a manuscript consult ;)
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