Fwd: Errors in Beregovski "Jewish Instr. Folk Music"

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>From: Muziker (at) aol(dot)com
>Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 11:19:03 EDT
>
>Dear Ari,
>A few people from your Jewish music listserve have written to me regarding my 
>recent comments about the recently-published version of Beregovski's klezmer 
>music work.  I wrote the following in response and I would like to offer it 
>to your list for general consumption.
>
>Kurt Bjorling
>***********
>
>WHICH BOOK ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?:
>There seems to be some confusion about publications of Beregovski's work.  
>There are TWO different books of Beregovski's work currently in print.  Both 
>are edited by Mark Slobin, so some confusion is to be expected.  Both of 
>these books are important and valualble and their overlapping content is 
>presented in a significantly different way that makes them good cross-checks 
>against each other.  One of these books is a REPRINT of a work first 
>published in 1982 - it is mosty of VOCAL music and it is called "Old Jewish 
>Folk Music."  This book seems to be more readily available than the other.  
>More than one person I know has bought it thinking that (s)he was getting the 
>other book which is entirely on klezmer music and which is titled "Jewish 
>Instrumental Folk Music."  Although Amazon.com lists it, they don't seem to 
>actually have it or to be able to get it.  (Maybe this has changed since a 
>month ago when orders for it were turned down.)  The simplest way to get it 
>is directly from the publisher: Syracuse Univ. Press.  ALL of my comments 
>here are about "Jewish Instrumental Folk Music" but I have used "Old Jewish 
>Folk Music," and the 1987 Russian edition of "Jewish Instrumental Folk Music" 
>for checking against some of the errors.
>
>
>REGARDING ERRORS in "Jewish Instrumental Folk Music;"
>Several people have asked me to compile an errata list, or something like it, 
>but that would take much more time than I have (unless someone would pay me 
>to do it!).  I have NOT made an exhaustive search, but as I have browsed 
>through the book I have made notes about problems or mistakes I have found.
>I cannot list all of these here - I will just LIST A FEW EXAMPLES and say; 
>let the reader be aware of these and be appropriately skeptical or cautious!
>
>NOTES BY Kurt Bjorling, July 2, 2002
>SOME ERRORS AND OMISSIONS IN THE 2001 PUBLICATION OF "JEWISH INSTRUMENTAL 
>FOLK MUSIC" BY M. BEREGOVSKI, ed. Slobin, Rothstein, Alpert.
>
>First of all;
>1.  I may have missed it, but nowhere in the book do I find a reference to 
>the fact that ALL the transcribed pieces have been transposed to the key of 
>G.  If this is mentioned, it is not prominent enough or in an appropriate 
>place because many people have been surprised when I pointed out this fact.
>Some of the tunes have original key information in the annotations (Appendix 
>A) but many do not.  The amount of information here and its accuracy vary 
>widely.  Some explanation about this is sorely needed, especially for 
>musicians who want to put this volume to practical use.
>Further, some of these annotations are clearly wrong, or inconsistent with 
>earlier publications of the same material, so I have to wonder which of them 
>can be trusted.  For example, see #105: the annotation says "Original pitch" 
>(sic - see 2. below) indicating that the source was in  G, as printed - but 
>this same transcription appears in Slobin 1982 in the key of 'c' - there are 
>several examples like this.
>
>Some errors are generalized throughout the text and often have to do with 
>musical terminology, etc...  For example:
>2. The word "pitch" is consistently mis-used where the term "key" would be 
>appropriate.  In fact, I don't think Beregovski addressed issues of pitch at 
>all.  But where the original refered to key (using the term 'originalna 
>tonalnost') it has been translated as "pitch."  I find many similar 
>mis-translations of musical terminology.  Most of these can be correctly 
>understood within their context.
>
>Besides more generalized problems like those listed above, there are 
>seemingly countless individual mistakes, flubs, and bits of sloppiness, 
>particularly in the musical notation itself.
>Some examples:
>3. In the annotations (Appendix A), see #19,19a: "Transcribed a minor second 
>lower than original pitch (cf. #19a)"  This would put the original in the key 
>of A-flat minor (!), but of course this is both wrong and absurd: #19a, 
>notated in the origianl scordatura, is clearly in the key of D (minor).
>4. #15 gives the absurd key signature of B-natural, E-flat, and B-flat.  
>There are other examples like this, sometimes appearing as a modulation in 
>the middle of a tune.
>5. #14 has an impossible pattern of repeat signs in the first two lines.  A 
>comparison with Beregovski/Goldin, 1987 will show the correct notation.
>6. #13 lacks the notation which differentiates the sung melody portions 
>("badkhn") from the instrumental portions - see Slobin, 1982 or Goldin, 1987
>7. #8 - severl examples:
> a) the final chord contains a B-natural which is not in any of the earlier 
>publications, and which is clearly wrong.
>b) On page 69, last line, first measure, the e-flat is wrong - this should be 
>e-natural.
>c) The repeat sign that appears in the preceding measure is absurd, and 
>belongs at the beginning of this measure!
>d) A fermata is missing over the rest in the fourth line, second ending.
>From these and certain other mistakes it is evident that the notation was 
>prepared by someone using a computer and entering the notes with a midi 
>keyboard.  Simple errors in the fingering of the notes by the person entering 
>them resulted in errors such as this, and they were probably overlooked 
>because the person was looking at his/her hands on the keyboard and not at 
>the entered result!.  The fact that such errors exist is extremely 
>disturbing!  Some of these tunes do in fact have sudden surprising modal 
>alterations, or unusual phrase lengths, and sometimes these are the moments 
>of greatest effect in those tunes - but errors such as in #8 are also common, 
>so the unaware reader who lacks sources of corroboration in these matters is 
>left to founder, not sure whether an odd-sounding note or phrase is 
>intentional.
>8. #41, measure 7, the second note is a g', not an f'.  This is just one 
>quick example -there are LOTS of this type of error.  (#56 is rife with them.)
>9. #47, beginning of last line - there are lots of bloopers like this, 
>usually less gross, sometimes confusing because they are not so obvious.  Big 
>ones like this are nice because one knows they cannot be correct!
>10. #19, there are many low 'g's printed, starting on p. 81, 3rd line, 3rd 
>bar.  This is a solo for violin with the 'g' string tuned to a, AND it has 
>been transposed UP a perfect 4th, so this note is clearly impossible!  (It 
>indicates playing d on an instrument whose lowest note is a, a fifth higher.) 
>Also; in the corresponding #19a, the indications of which string certain 
>notes are to be played upon are frequently incorrect.
>11. #223 - the flat symbol in front of the second b' in the first measure 
>should be a c'' grace note(!)  I find it difficult to imagine the cause of 
>some errors like this.
>12. #6 - (This is my pet favorite!) The first note is given as d#'' - in  a 
>tune with e-flat in the key signature!!  Actually, the sharp sign should be 
>under the grupetto symbol above.  That is, the pickup note is d'' (natural) 
>and the ornament played on this note contains a c-sharp.  The same mistake 
>occurs in the 8th and 16th measures.
>13. The "Extended Musical Selections" beginning on p. 227 are a special 
>element of this new publication - they have not appeared in print before.  I 
>have seen photocopies of the original manuscript and I had a chance to 
>compare them with the book and I'm sorry to say that these are also subject 
>to large numbers of the same inaccuracies and mistakes as the rest of the 
>musical notations.
>14. Also, (something I know details about only because I was involved:) I 
>supplied the editors with a roughly-structured list of recorded sources 
>(appendix C) which needed to be edited and formatted but which was simply 
>copied verbatim.  My original was based on the 1987 Goldin edition and the 
>numbers of the transcriptions needed to be changed to correspond to this new 
>edition, but some numbering mistakes were made.  For instance: #129 should be 
>#128.  Several of my entries were omitted, for reasons I don't know, which is 
>why there are sources listed at the bottom which don't appear in the text.  
>(This project desperately needed a proof-reader!)  For instance, my list 
>indicates that tune #67 was recorded as 'Steh Auf Mein Man" by Herman 
>Weissman, but this and some others do not appear in the book.
>
>Once again - these are just examples of the KINDS of errors to be found.  I 
>have NOT done an exhaustive search for them - this is just a part of what I 
>find while flipping through the book looking for my pencil notations.
>
>SUMMARY:
>There is a wealth of information in this book, but successful use of it 
>requires familiarity with the whole book, with the available recorded 
>resources, and with the basic musical language, to be able to recognize the 
>mistakes and to be able to make informed and intelligent choices when the 
>information contained in the book falls short, as it inevitably must, even 
>without errors!
>Unfortunately, the most valuable part of this book, the musical notes, was 
>apparently trusted to some grad student who either didn't care, or didn't 
>understand what (s)he was working with and the result is disappointing.  The 
>lack of support information, and inaccuracy of usage in the verbal text 
>compounds problems which MOSTLY stem from the music notation.
>
>I hope this information is useful and helpful.  Any and all are welcome to 
>copy this message and the information contained in it, but please cite the 
>source of the message and KEEP IT COMPLETE and WHOLE, including my 
>explanations of the purpose and limits of what I have written here!
>
>Kurt Bjorling - July 2, 2002

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