Popper — The High School of Cello Playing, Op. 73

Tl;dr: Nice printing, but I hate the fingerings; I’m going back to my International Music Co. edition.

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Usually I am very happy with Bärenreiter editions, and I appreciate the text commentary that came with this one, but the fingerings are incredibly frustrating. The editor states in the preface that “we have attempted to make the notation less cluttered […] by dispensing with obvious fingerings” and “many of the fingerings and bowing marks in the original editions no longer seem relevant or appropriate today”. While this is understandable and sounds reasonable, I have found that a number of *new* obvious or redundant fingerings have been added, many fingerings that were sensible in the original editions have been altered to make them less intuitive (sometimes creating 3 shifts where the original edition had 1 shift and a finger extension).

I was hoping to get a clean, legible copy typeset with modern software and without distractions. Barenreiter came through with the printing, but I find myself spending 5 minutes reverting the unnecessary and obtrusive fingerings the editor has added before being able to practice each etude. It is immensely frustrating; I will try to return my copy.

I do not mean these comments as an affront to the editor– I’m sure his intentions were good, and these fingerings will work for some people. They are, however, entirely antithetical to the approach to cello (in particular the left hand) which I was taught by teachers who studied with Silva, Navarra, Cole, and the like.

I would very much appreciate an edition of the Popper books with the quality Barenreiter typesetting and printing but with the standard fingerings which most cellists are accustomed to.. For now, I’m going back to IMC.