Help needed for Bach Violin Scores

[Eretz Yisrael]

Anybody out there that can help me with the music sheets for Sonatas & Partitas for Violin by Bach? And some advice on listening to who's recordings for them?

Music scores that have been correctly compiled are almost impossible to get in Guangdong; kind of lost as to where I can get the stuff. The whole BWV 1001 -1006, not just the Adagio or Adante part of one the sonatas.

Would really apreciate it if somebody helped me out on this.

 

[Phlegmak]

Anybody out there that can help me with the music sheets for Sonatas & Partitas for Violin by Bach? And some advice on listening to who's recordings for them?

Music scores that have been correctly compiled are almost impossible to get in Guangdong; kind of lost as to where I can get the stuff. The whole BWV 1001 -1006, not just the Adagio or Adante part of one the sonatas.

Would really apreciate it if somebody helped me out on this.

If you can find MIDI versions of the songs, then you can do this:

Get Notation Composer. You can get a free trial version which lasts for 30 days.

http://www.notation.com/

Load the MIDI files in Notation Composer. Clean up the scores, since they will probably not be perfectly rendered in Notation Composer. Print the scores.

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

If you can find MIDI versions of the songs, then you can do this:

Get Notation Composer. You can get a free trial version which lasts for 30 days.

http://www.notation.com/

Load the MIDI files in Notation Composer. Clean up the scores, since they will probably not be perfectly rendered in Notation Composer. Print the scores.

Problem is, MIDI files are terrible when it comes to sound quality.

 

[Mirc]

I have the first Sonata, but of course it would be illegal for me to send it to you... I think your best bet by far would be online music shops. Just google Bach Sonata and you'll have a million versions. If you need them fast, find one that will let you download & print them, not one that comes by post (those hard copies are also more expensive, as you're paying for the "physical" stuff like paper - and for the shipping, which can really be a pain in the anus). The internet solves anything - again, you can easily find lots and lots places to buy scores online.

@Phlegmak: I don't like that idea at all, to be honest. Have you heard the Adagio of the first Sonata? The rhythm is incredibly difficult, it's impossible to get it right that way! What's even worse is that you can never know if something is right or not - it's terrible to be insecure about the scores. On top of that, I've never seen any remotely decent MIDI to sheet music converter. Granted, I've never used the software you mentioned, but anything I've tried was so incredibly bad that it would have taken waaaay longer to correct them than to write them from scratch.

Problem is, MIDI files are terrible when it comes to sound quality.

What he's saying doesn't have anything to do with that. MIDI files create computer-generated sounds, not recordings of actual persons making those sounds. Therefore, a MIDI file is a "score" in itself, one that your computer can read to generate music. As such, it can be converted into a "human" score. Problem is, there are SO many inaccuracies that I don't see how it could possibly be worth it.

Especially in Baroque music. I haven't even thought about that, but it's a huge point! The Fugue of the first Sonata for example... it has 4 voices - there's no way for the software to correctly place a note into one voice or the other (or both, as that occurs regularly in this kind of music).
That info is simply not in the MIDI file. And it's reeeeaaaaally important for a player. Really!

 

[Phlegmak]

Problem is, MIDI files are terrible when it comes to sound quality.

Sound quality shouldn't be your concern. You said you wanted the scores, right? That implies you don't care to play them back. Notation Composer lets you look at the score in a nice, traditional music notation style.

If absolutely necessary, you can give me the MIDIs, and if I can remember, I'll record it on my computer and make an mp3 available to you. The soundcard on my computer does an excellent job of playing MIDIs with an acceptable sound quality.

 

[Mirc]

I don't think that would be a good idea at all. See my edit in the post above yours (especially the bolded part).

 

[Phlegmak]

I don't think that would be a good idea at all. See my edit in the post above yours (especially the bolded part).

What do you mean about the four voices? Four different melodies playing simultaneously?

And I think Eretz Yisrael should try it out anyway. As you say, it might not be useful.

 

[Mirc]

Yes, that's what I meant - 4 melodies at the same time! Fugues are always choke-full of polyphony (multiple melodies in the same time). The different voices also create chords, making them both melodic and harmonic at the same time. They are the typical Baroque music form, and Bach was undoubtedly the greatest writer of fugues of all times.


Here's an example of a Fugue from Bach:

Seriously, I'm pretty sure you'll never get that correctly out of a .midi file... Look here to see how complex a Fugue really is (and that's an overly simplistic way of looking at it).

 

[Phlegmak]

Yes, that's what I meant - 4 melodies at the same time! Fugues are always choke-full of polyphony (multiple melodies in the same time). The different voices also create chords, making them both melodic and harmonic at the same time. They are the typical Baroque music form, and Bach was undoubtedly the greatest writer of fugues of all times.

Here's an example of a Fugue from Bach:

Spoiler :

Seriously, I'm pretty sure you'll never get that correctly out of a .midi file... Look here to see how complex a Fugue really is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue#Example_and_analysis (and that's an overly simplistic way of looking at it).

Notation Composer can definitely get the notes right (based on pitch), but it won't necessarily get the key or the clef correct. If instrument info is in the MIDI, it'll get the instruments right too.

EDIT: I just remembered something it definitely won't get right. Accents. Such as the \/ type thing that's over some notes, or staccatos, and stuff like that. All the bits that aren't related to pitch of notes it won't get right, most likely.

 

[Mirc]

And voices fall into that category. It's not about getting the particular notes that belong to those voices right, but about correctly placing each of them into its voice. You cannot just let them hanging around - in order for a player to read them right, he has to be able to understand exactly what the individual voices are doing. And that info is simply not in the Midi.

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

Thx guys for the help; althugh I kinda hoped for a easier solution than to slog through online shops searching for it, guess I cant help it.

Bach & Vivaldi have always been my favourites. What about you guys?

 

[Phlegmak]

Thx guys for the help; althugh I kinda hoped for a easier solution than to slog through online shops searching for it, guess I cant help it.

Bach & Vivaldi have always been my favourites. What about you guys?

For "classical" composers? Vivaldi is my favorite. I bought some Vivaldi scores easily, 20 years ago, by the way. I don't know what country you live in but they're apparently easy to find here.

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

For "classical" composers? Vivaldi is my favorite. I bought some Vivaldi scores easily, 20 years ago, by the way. I don't know what country you live in but they're apparently easy to find here.

As of now, I live in China.
The problem is the music sheets they sell in China are compiled into books and categorized according to the level of difficulty for the violinist, which is terribly frustrating.

Also they do sell 'complete' works of composers - jsut that its never actually complete.