Alkan - Quasi-Faust Fugue re-notation

[jlh]

Hey all,

I'm in the midst of learning the Grande Sonate "Les Quatre Ages" Op. 33, and am currently working on the Quasi-Faust 2nd movement.  Got to the 8-voice fugue and noticed that it's just a beast to read.  I decided to re-notate it to be easier to read...

If you know the piece and would like to review what I've done, I invite comments and suggestions.

Thanks!

Josh

EDIT:  Updated PDF

[faulty_damper]

Don't you appreciate how considerate he was to use different shaped note heads to help the reader know which voice is which amongst the 8 parts?  That's genius!

[jlh]

Which edition are you referring to? Mine doesn't have different shaped noteheads....

Josh

[faulty_damper]

It's the Billaudot edition reprinted by Masters Music.  It even has a facilitated staff, just like what you did. It uses square note heads 4 measures from the end of the fugetta.

[j_menz]

First B in bar 17 (top one) should be a dotted crochet, not a quaver.

Alkan disapproved of enharmonic spellings, so your key signature changes would not have met with his approval. Too bad for him, I say.

I haven't played this, but struggling to see 8 parts (or even a proper fugue).  Anyone care to enlighten me?

[jlh]

The 8 parts appear in the last 4 measures....

I've updated my enharmonic re-notation after many hours of practice and memorization.  I found several places that are better notated and rearranged within hands.  If someone has another edition with similar facility please pm me.

Best,
Josh

[richard black]

That's a useful thing you've done there, thanks. I probably wouldn't want to perform off it but it's sure to make learning the basic structure of the piece a bit less of a headache. Just one small thing - you've got a note-crash in measure 14.

[jlh]

That's a useful thing you've done there, thanks. I probably wouldn't want to perform off it but it's sure to make learning the basic structure of the piece a bit less of a headache. Just one small thing - you've got a note-crash in measure 14.

Thanks.  There are 2 voices happening there in m 14.. or are you talking about page real-estate... which is something I'll need to fix.

Best,
Josh

[richard black]

It's just that a B and an A are printed overlapping - one should be offset horizontally by just enough distance to avoid overlap.