Open Goldberg Variations - new score by MuseScore, recording by Kimiko Ishizaka

[opengoldberg]

Hi Everyone,

I'm the Director of the Open Goldberg Variations project, an effort to make a new digital score of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and a new studio recording as well, and to give both of them away for free, into the public domain, with no restrictions on usage.

The video below explains everything very well, and you can visit the Kickstarter page where we've just hit our first goal of raising $15,000: https://kck.st/opengoldberg

Hope you like it! The sheet music will eventually be available here from Pianostreet.com.

[birba]

No comment.

[thalbergmad]

Hi, I have started a new page to get enough money for a tank of petrol.

Visit my page here https://kck.st/buythalatankofpetrol

Contribute over $50 and i will name the petrol pump in your honour.

Thanks

Thal

[richard black]

Cos obviously we all really needed another new edition, and recording, of the Goldberg. Like a goldfish needs a bicycle.

[john11inc]

Reported.

[liszt1022]

What part of this could possibly cost $15,000???

Ten percent of that would cover the cost of hiring a graduate student to record the Goldbergs for you, and still have money left for the typesetter who will be copying note-for-note from the dozens of available editions - except your copy will have dedications to contributors on EVERY VARIATION.
There is no part of this work that is hard to obtain - recordings or scores. What are you trying to pull exactly?

[birba]

Do you actually think this person is going to answer that?
Oh, I get it.  That question was rhetorical.

[pianisten1989]

I really don't get it. The goldberg variation isn't that expensive! Why are so many so cheap, that they don't want to pay for the music?!

Hmpf.. probably the same people who say 'Information is for everybody', then download 10 movies. Stupid...!

[opengoldberg]

Wow, tough crowd!

@pianisten1989: Keep in mind that the $15,000 has to include not only the cost of creating a new edition of the score and producing a studio recording, but also the cost of manufacturing and shipping several hundred CDs and scores. I've discussed the pricing of Kickstarter projects in general here: https://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/planning-kickstartercom-project-how-high-set-goal

@richard black: There is no edition of the Goldbergs which can be opened up in a music notation editor as far as I know. Any edition that you can find on sites like IMSLP are scans of out-of-print editions, usually overs 70 years old, where all copyright has expired. Whether you need this or not I can't say, but I'm fairly certain it is a unique proposition.

I'm a bit surprised that the idea of a modern recording in the public domain isn't interesting to anybody. Maybe it wasn't clear from the video that it will be a work that anybody can legally download and own, and use in any context or derivative work, without the need to ask permission or worry about getting DMCA takedown notices.

Furthermore, I'm surprised that the $15,000 fund raising achievement is not impressive to you as fellow musicians. How many times has the state of support for classical music been lamented? How many sob stories have been told about funding being cut, programs curbed, and musicians unable to start new projects for lack of money? Isn't it interesting to you at all that the Open Goldberg Project is able to generate the support that it has? Don't you wonder even a small bit if there are lessons to be learned for funding other projects?

Anyway, skepticism is healthy, and I don't intend to take up anybody's time with something that they're not interested in. But we're still going to make an amazing recording of the Goldbergs, and provide a clean edition of the score that can be edited, played on iPads, exported to MIDI, transposed, extracted to parts, and embedded in web pages.

Best regards,

-Robert

[opengoldberg]

I really don't get it. The goldberg variation isn't that expensive! Why are so many so cheap, that they don't want to pay for the music?!

Hmpf.. probably the same people who say 'Information is for everybody', then download 10 movies. Stupid...!

@pianisten1989 - this isn't about being cheap. I've personally purchased a paper edition of the Goldbergs as well as a dozen different recordings on CD (I love Rosalyn Tureck, and am impressed with the new Nick van Bloss recording as well). For me, personally (I'm not the pianist, and I'm not an employee of MuseScore), this is about usage rights. I want to see an edition of the score and a recording of the piece exist where anybody can use them as they please, without worrying about violating someone's copyright. For example, if you want to use this recording in the soundtrack for a movie, you can do so, and you won't owe anybody money or risk having your video taken off of YouTube because of legal issues.

For both Ishizaka and MuseScore, they are volunteering their time to do the transcribing of the score and the recording of the piece because they a) love Bach, and b) want people to be familiar with their work.

I've been involved with the music industry professionally for over 20 years, and I've never seen a project exactly like this one. It's an interesting model, and it is only possible to make successful since the advent of tools like Kickstarter.

If anybody has any questions about it, I'll be around to answer them, so please feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Robert