Granados' Wrong Notes or Typos??

[dhorn]

I recently started playing the Granados Spanish Dances, and I ran into a problem that I've never encountered before. While reading through the 7th Spanish Dance (Valenciana o Calesera, in G), I found a number of notes that just sounded wrong. They were usually in the upper register and to my ears were always missing sharps. Of course I might just be wrong, and those notes were exactly what Granados had intended. So I listened to a recording of Alicia de la Rocha playing the same piece. She played the notes that I thought sounded right. So either she has the 'correct' version of this composition, or she did exactly what I'm doing - playing what she thinks Granados intended. I also noticed that she made other alterations to the piece; the ending is slightly different, and she sometimes plays octaves in the bass where the music indicates single notes.
What's going on here?   In my admittedly limited experience I've never run into wrong-note typos in musical compositions. The worst I've seen is what I'd call misinterpretations of either ornaments, fingering, or use of pedals. Could I have a bad version of the piece (mine was published by International Music Company, New York)? If so, does anyone know how I could find the correct version?

[Diabolos]

Well, it might just be a typo - don't wonder about finding these in sheetmusic; even some of the best editions, like Baerenreiter Urtext make these mistakes (like in Mozart's piano concerto KV 459, F-major - there are about 9 mistakes which sometimes lead to harmonic trouble).

It may be that the edition you have is a reprint of a not corrected one or somthing - just play the notes you think are right, or at least try to compare your sheetmusic with another exemplum.

Good luck with the Dances!

Regards,

[dhorn]

Thanks for the reply. I'm (somewhat  ) relieved to know that this isn't the only instance of musical typos. However there are a couple of places in this manuscript where I suspect a wrong note, but I'm not sure. Fortunately I have the de Rocha recording as an independent opinion. But as I said previously, she has either made several changes in the music (especially the ending) or else she has a different version of the manuscript. It's interesting for me to try to decipher exactly what she's playing before deciding for myself what to play. Good ear training!  

[Diabolos]

Yah, good ear training indeed   However, if you've got the chance - go and check another edition.

I'm facing that problem myself - I found some differences in some of the Chopin Polonaises; and they're pretty big, like in the first theme of the 'heroic'. I'm pretty close to let the dices decide since I realized there are good reasons for either version.

Good luck with the Granados - it's great music.

Regards

[dhorn]

Thanks for the new insights. I keep hearing anecdotes of musical typos since I posted this topic.
I tried finding other editions of these Spanish Dances, but they're all the same - like xerox copies of one another. I'd love to see the edition played by Alicia de la Rocha, but I have no idea how to contact her. As a last resort I'll listen to other recorded versions; then I'll just decide which notes sound the best to me. After all, I don't plan to play these pieces in a contest on accuracy.  

[dhorn]

I just discovered where Alicia de la Rocha got all of the notes, and much of the phrasing, for her recording of the 7th Spanish Dance - right from the horse's mouth! I found a 1913 recording of Granados playing his own piece, and it's virtually the same as Madame de la Rocha's recorded version, except that she plays it SO much more lyrically. I'm left believing that there isn't a 'correct' printed edition of this piece. As I suspected, I'll just have to use my ears - and fortunately    I also have the somewhat flawed written version.

[pianorama]

In my teacher's RCM gr.8 book in a song called 'Pink' they list what should be C as a B in the right hand near the beginning, but in my edition, which I bought later than hers, they corrected it. (Though mine is the exact same book)

Hehe.... I love reviving old threads.

[nanabush]

WOW, ya this topic is like 3 years old......  I played Pink/Crimson in RCM grade 8, I never noticed that mistake, lol

[sw2pec]

Hi Dhorn ,

You are absolutely right!  There are a lot of wrong notes in the most common edition of the Spanish Dances and No. 7 is the worst of them all in that respect.  Like you, I remember being really baffled when sight-reading it a few years ago and grappling with lots of dissonances which sounded totally out of place to me.

The good news is that Alicia de Larrocha supervised the publication of an Urtext edition of the complete Granados works a few years ago!  The scores can be bought from:

https://www.boileau-music.com/

De Larrocha is director of the Marshall Academy in Barcelona and Granados used to teach there; all his manuscripts are kept at the Academy and De Larrocha went over all the original scores bar by bar when preparing the new edition.

I haven't got the volume with the Spanish Dances but the one containing the Goyescas is absolutely superb!  I remember reading an article about Volume 2 (Spanish Dances) and from what I recall, the reviewer singled out the 7th Dance in order to underline how important the new edition was as the old one was riddled with errors. 

I hope this helps.

Best,

Pec