Contemporary piano in Ituiutaba: an account of the publication and recording of unpublished works by 15 Brazilian composers

Piano contemporâneo em Ituiutaba: um relato sobre a publicação e a gravação de obras inéditas de 15 compositores brasileiros

ABSTRACT:

We aim to share processes and results of the work, which involved commented edition, publication, and phonographic recording of novel pieces for solo and four-hand piano by 15 renowned contemporary Brazilian composers. These were destined to be confrontation pieces to be interpreted in the Piano Contests “Prof. Abrão Calil Neto”, in the city of Ituiutaba in the state of Minas Gerais, performed from 2004 to 2019 in the mentioned town. This material was prepared for publication in four books (two for solo and two for four-hand piano), also recording a CD with some selected pieces of each author, and carried out some lecture recitals, with the objective of recording and spreading the contemporary Brazilian piano music. It is hoped that this article encourages that similar actions are realized.

Keywords:
Music for piano; Piano contest; Contemporary Brazilian music for piano; Recorgding and editing sheet music

RESUMO:

Buscamos neste artigo compartilhar os principais processos e resultados de trabalhos que envolveram a edição e a publicação de partituras e a gravação fonográfica de obras inéditas para piano solo e piano a 4 mãos compostas por quinze reconhecidos compositores brasileiros da atualidade, destinadas à interpretação como peças de confronto nos Concursos de Piano “Prof. Abrão Calil Neto”, da cidade mineira de Ituiutaba, realizados naquela cidade, de 2004 a 2019. Esse material foi preparado para publicação em quatro cadernos de partituras (dois de piano solo e dois de piano a 4 mãos), tendo sido feita também uma gravação de CD (Compact Disc) com peças selecionadas de cada autor e realizados recitais-palestra, ações que visaram registrar e difundir a música brasileira contemporânea para piano. Espera-se que este texto estimule a realização de ações semelhantes.

Palavras-chave:
Música para piano; Concurso de piano; Música contemporânea brasileira para piano; Gravação e edição de partituras

1. Introduction: about the Ituiutaba Piano Competition and its developments

In this article, we describe the main processes and results of the work developed between 2019 and 2021 by the first author of this paper in her postdoctoral studies at the Graduate Program in Music of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), focused on the edition of scores and the recording of a CD (Compact Disc), with the works for solo piano and 4-hands piano by fifteen contemporary Brazilian composers, performed over fifteen years of the "Prof. Abrão Calil Neto" Piano Competition, in the city Ituiutaba, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from 2004 to 2019. Each of these composers, honored in a specific year of the Competition, provided their works to be interpreted in the respective year, in compliance with the different age groups and/or technical-musical levels of the candidates, as recommended in the rules. The works in focus were written specifically for the Contest, which gives the set the character of originality.

These activities of editing and recording are part of a project of elaboration of artistic and didactic material. They consisted of processes of gathering and organizing the documentary sources of piano works, their editing and publication, as well as carrying out the necessary musical and interpretative studies, as well as acquiring knowledge in the editorial area. The studies were carried out by the first author and by a special team that had the objective of interpreting some of the edited works in recitals and in CD recording.

The project was linked to the postdoctoral research carried out at the School of Music of UFMG by the first author and stemmed from her experience as a piano teacher since 1984 at the State Conservatory of Music¹ "Dr. José Zóccoli de Andrade", in the city of Ituiutaba, being one of the creators and organizers of the aforementioned Contest, since its beginning.

To stimulate the students of that school that started to host the Contest the taste for the study of the piano, the "Prof. Abrão Calil Neto" Piano Competition, also called Ituiutaba Piano Competition, was created by some teachers of the Conservatory "Dr. José Zóccoli de Andrade" with an embryonic edition in 1989, being definitively established in 1994. Because of the success of the initial experiment, in 1997 the organizing committee of the Contest decided to establish confrontation works, according to the different levels of the "solo piano" category, exclusively works by Brazilian composers, with an emphasis on living authors. These levels were organized according to the age groups of the candidates.

The initiative was supported especially by the composer Estercio Marquez Cunha and the pianist and Professor Araceli Chacon, who had already participated in the Competition in previous editions as members of the jury. From two days of competition (eliminatory and qualifying), the contest now lasts for a week, counting, among its activities, in addition to the Contest tests, with concerts, master classes, conversation circles, workshops, and lectures, involving the local academic community with the honored composer, judges, students and guest artists.

In 1998 the organizers of the Contest decided to include the category "4-hand piano" and in 2000 this category began to require the interpretation of confrontation works in the various groups which began to be organized according to the different levels of technical and musical ability of the candidates and no longer by age. The following year the chamber music category was created. Subsequently, in 2004, the valorization of unpublished works began and the composers were asked to write or present new works, made especially for the Competition, in attendance to the different groups of the categories - solo piano and 4-hand piano.

It is important to mention that the "Prof. Abrão Calil Neto" Piano Competition has been held uninterruptedly for 31 years (https://www.pianoituiutaba.org/) and it has become traditional in the its City and State, gaining also notoriety at national levels, not only for its objectives and its regularity, but for bringing together young pianists, composers and relevant pianists in the Brazilian scene, and for disseminating unpublished works specially created for the contest, promoting the creative musical practice and the performance of new works.

At the end of the period from 2004 to 2019, there was a wide collection of unpublished works for solo piano and 4-hand piano, specifically intended for the Ituiutaba Piano Competition. Many musical pages of the 15 Brazilian composers honored in the events of those years, written in different formats, from manuscripts to copies scanned in computer software, remained archived in a collection waiting to be reinterpreted.

Aware that the commitment and responsibility with this collection were not limited to the realization of the "Prof. Abrão Calil Neto" Piano Competition, but also to disseminate its broad and representative material, we began the postdoctoral studies, associating this descriptive research with the extension activities promoted by the Extension Program "Minas de Som Seal” of the UFMG School of Music. Thus, since 2018 we have been dedicated to the elaboration of the work plan, and in 2019 we started the four main actions: 1- carrying out editorial studies for subsequent editions of the scores in focus, 2- interpretative studies for recording a CD with part of the repertoire, 3- conducting recitals-lectures to disseminate the project and 4- commitment to the dissemination and distribution of the graphic and phonographic material produced.

The development of the project took place with the realization of interdependent and equally relevant activities, which were:

1. Survey and organization of the bibliographic material or primary sources - source documents, in the collection of the Contest, which constituted the scores used in the contests and which were archived by the Organizing Committee of the Ituiutaba Piano Competition;

2. Establishment of a dialogue with the composers about the proposal for the edition and joint publication, with a request for authorization for editing/publishing the scores and recording a CD;

3. Conducting theoretical studies on editorial processes appropriate to the available source documents;

4. Digitization and revision of manuscript works and feasibility study of using copies already scanned as facsimiles;

5. Definition of the distribution of the works in volumes and their sequential organization, according to the typology of the works and their chronology in the Contest, also considering aspects of the standard formatting of the editorial series;

6. Elaboration and development of financial support project for publication of scores, CD recording, and support for broadcast recitals with the participation of a team of teachers;

7. Survey of the biographies of the composers and preparation of descriptive texts of the musical works for inclusion in the edition;

8. Final definition of chart patterns for publishing;

9. Establishment of the final team of performers, consisting of some of the pianists involved in the organization of the Competition, aiming at selection of works and its interpretative studies for phonographic recording in CD;

10. Elaboration of analytical and explanatory notes for didactic-pedagogical guidance on the edited works;

11. Final publication of the material;

12. Distribution of CDs and books to music schools and the music community;

13. Conducting online lectures (Lives) to disseminate the material.²

Thus, seeking to share information about the activities listed, we describe in this article the actions carried out. We would like to point out that the main result of the project was the materialization of the collection Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba³, composed of 4 musical books⁴ (vol. 12 - solo piano/ tome I and tome II, and vol. 13 - 4-hand piano/ tome I and tome II) and a phonographic album (CD), with at least one work by each of the 15 Brazilian composers.

Figure 1 -
Photos of the 15 composers honored in the Ituiutaba Piano Competition, who wrote unpublished pieces as confrontation pieces. Source: personal collection

The 15 composers whose works were published, honored in the years mentioned in parentheses, whose photos appear in the following figure 1, were: Calimerio Soares (2004)⁵, Estercio Marquez Cunha (2004), Ronaldo Miranda (2005), Dimitri Cervo (2006), Ricardo Tacuchian (2008), João Guilherme Ripper (2010), Marisa Rezende (2011), Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes (2012), Antonio Celso Ribeiro (2013), Denise Garcia (2014), Oiliam Lanna (2015), Marcos Vieira Lucas (2016), Liduino Pitombeira (2017), Alexandre Schubert (2018) and Pauxy Gentil-Nunes (2019).

2. Fifteen years of the Ituiutaba Piano Competitions: a repertoire for publication in “Cadernos Musicais Brasileiros Series”

One of the initial tasks was the gathering of the musical works in focus, based on searches in the collection of the Piano Competition, in the Conservatory of Ituiutaba. This activity was carried out by the first author, who photocopied and scanned in PDF⁶ the entire set of works. The next steps were the separation of the works by authors and by types - solo piano and 4-hand piano, and also separation into typologies, that is, handwritten (or manuscripts) works and the works copied on a computer by the authors themselves.

An estimated number of pages and volumes of publication and approximate phonographic recording time/duration were considered for the elaboration of a funding project. Due to the probable number of pages to be published, calculating the 443 digitized pages added to the textual pages that would be added, it was initially decided to divide it into two volumes, according to the types of works and by periods of composition, that is, one volume with the solo piano works and one with the 4-hand piano works. Subsequently, evaluating the addition of textual pages, containing comments on each work, editorial notes, and biographical notes, it was decided to subdivide each volume into two parts or tomes, leading to the final production of 2 volumes but in 4 tomes. This would allow not only the division into works for solo piano and for 4-hand piano but would also facilitate the handling of the tomes, without the excessive number of pages that in general hinders the turning of the page and the balance of the book.

Arelevant editorial aspect, and fundamental to the dissemination of the work, was the definition of a representative title for the collection. The term initially thought of as "contemporary music" was widely discussed, as it was considered that, nowadays, it could extrapolate the temporal idea, pointing to the use of an avant-garde language, different and even antagonistic to that used in previous historical periods. Many of the works in this collection employ or dialogue with elements of traditional music, such as tonalism and modalism, and, in agreement with Gandelman (2020), when he states that "contemporary means that [music] that is being composed in the time in which we are living...", we finally opted for the title Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba, employing, in fact, the referred term, but to insert the work in the current chronological moment, as well as seeking to locate in space the region in which the Ituiutaba Piano Competition has been held, valuing the initiative developed in the interior of the country, in a municipality far from its main cultural centers.

Before moving on to the description of the editorial process itself, we list the titles of the works along with the names of the composers honored in the Ituiutaba Piano Competition, as well as the year in which each of them was honored (in parentheses). The “groups”⁷ to which the works belonged are also indicated - according to the solo piano (Group A, B, etc.) or 4-hand piano (Group 1, 2, etc.) categories of the Competition. These elements would be fundamental for the separation of the works in the 4 different published volumes.

Pauxy Gentil-Nunes (2019): piano solo - Suíte Ituiutaba, Suíte Ituiutaba I: Bolhas (Children), Game (Group A), Diálogo (Group B), Jongo 1, Velum, Fractus (Group C), Quartzo (Group D). Suíte Ituiutaba II, 4-hand piano: Quod Libet ou Náutilo (Group 1), Modinha (Group 2), Cânon (Group 3), Partições (Group 4), Jongo 2 (Group 5);

Alexandre Schubert (2018): piano solo - Nas estrelas (Children), Divertimento - Lento-Vivo-Lento (Group A) and Allegretto and Allegro (Group B), Dois prelúdios curiosos (Group C), Fuga (Group C); 4-hand piano: Tema singelo (Iniciantes), Cantoria de reis [Folia de reis] (Group 1), Caminho (Group 2), Impressão mística (Group 2), Jeca-Tatu (Group 3), Brasiliana [Marcha Rancho] (Group 4).

Liduino Pitombeira (2017): piano solo: Lamento (Children), Modinha (Group A), Riachos [1. Araibu, 2. Umburanas, 3. Bananeira] (Group C), Vila Platina [1. Tijuco, 2. Pio, 3. Guató/Dobrado] (Group B); 4-hand piano: Octal (Group 4), Pentagrama (Group 5);

Marcos Vieira Lucas (2016): piano solo: Três Lendas Brasileiras [I- O Saci Pererê, II- Iara, mãe d’água, III- O Curupira] (Children), As quatro estações - Pequena suíte, Primavera ou Inverno (Group A), Outono ou Verão (Group B), Duas invenções [I. Invenção a duas vozes, II. Invenção a três vozes] (Group C), Relógios (Group D);

Oiliam Lanna (2015): piano solo: Água e Lua (Children), Brincando com Nuvens (Group B); 4-hand piano: Lembrança (Group 3);

Denise Garcia (2014): piano solo: Na lua... (Children), Cinco por oito (Group A), Rock piano (Group B);

Antonio Celso Ribeiro (2013): piano solo: Godzilla está tristinho... (Children’s Group), Olhar singelo d’uma criança que suplica (Group A), Innocentia (Group B), Three undesirable feelings/He aquí la sierva del Señor [1. Remorse, 2. Repentance, 3. Rue] (Group C), Quisma (Group C), Obscure bazaar (Group D), La mélancolie et la Nuit (Group E); 4-hand piano: A pobre ciganinha está triste/A pobre ciganinha está alegre (Children, young people and adults), A banda dos quatro garotinhos (Children), Urôr ( Group I, young people and adults), Grande marcha triunfal dos soldadinhos do rei (Group 1, Children), Retrato de S. Verônica (Group 2), Rainy day - Silent tree (Group 3), Dolce dame Jolie qui joue du clavecin/ Elle heureuse, ele este heureuse, ele est heureuse (Group 3), Gesang of a ([Melo] dramatically) perduto amour (d’aprés Giovanni Papini) (Group 4);

Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes (2012): 4-hand piano: Improviso (Group 3), Ponteio (Group 3);

Marisa Rezende (2011): 4-hand piano: Castelo de areia (Group 3);

João Guilherme Ripper (2010): piano solo: Três pequenos estudos - 1. Ronda (Children), 2. Cantiga (Group A), 3. Lundu (Group B), Cine Suíte [I. Movido, II. Tranquilo, III. Expressivo, IV. Agitado e com humor] (Group D); 4-hand piano: Noturno (Group 4);

Ricardo Tacuchian (2008): piano solo: Série A bailarina: 1. A bailarina e o jardineiro (Group B), 2. A bailarina e o motorista, 3. A bailarina e o mendigo, 4. A bailarina e o médico (Group B), 5. A bailarina e o mágico, 6. A bailarina e o poeta, 7. A bailarina e o pescador, 8. A bailarina e o alpinista, 9. A bailarina e o pintor (Group A), 10. Felipe e a bailarina; 4-hand piano: Amarelinha (Group 1), Modinha (Group 2), Castanha do caju II (Group 3);

Dimitri Cervo (2006): piano solo: Toadinha (Group A); 4-hand piano: Toadinha (Group 1);

Ronaldo Miranda (2005): piano solo: Valsa só (Group C);

Calimerio Soares (2004): piano solo: O pequeno estudo (Group A), Suíte Juvenil: I. Dança medieval (Group A), II. Pula-pula pelotinha (Group B), III. Acalanto ou IV. Sambinha - (Group C);

Estercio Marquez Cunha (2004): 4-hand piano: Choro (Group 2), Cinco para as quatro e Marcha. The works Cinco para as quatro and Marcha were composed for the Ituiutaba Piano Competition but were not part of the confrontation repertoire of that year (2004).

3. About editorial process, recording and the lecture recitals

3.1 The editions

Continuing the activities recommended in the project, we move on to the evaluation of the sources or documents, as recommended by James Grier (1996, 14-16), with recognition of the typologies of the documents and collections consulted, their description, cataloging, and carrying out an objective evaluation of the editorial purposes.

All the musical works listed above correspond to the original versions prepared by the composers, and their texts were delivered by themselves to the organizers of the Competition on the occasion of the event. Thus, these musical texts, which were photocopied at the time of the Contests and made available to the competitors, constituted the only source documents of the present editorial work, classified as "authorial manuscripts" and "authorial digitoscripts", as we will see below. In addition to these basic classifications, they differed from each other in the dimensions of musical writing, spacing of staffs, fonts, and styles employed by each composer. We can affirm that the only transformation that occurred in the texts, between the date of elaboration of the works by the composers and their submission to the organizers of the Competition, was the production of photocopies and digital computer images - PDF files of the documents, with all documents being autographs (written by the authors) and monotestimonies (unique source). This implies that there is no more than one source document of the same work for comparison of variants.

In a literature review on editorial practices, we use the terms used by Cambraia (2005, 64), who states that the source documents used in the preparation of an edition can be classified as "manuscripts" when recorded using quills, pens, pencils, etc., or "printed" when recorded by mechanical printing systems. According to this author, however, two new categories have emerged in modernity: the "typescripts" (datiloscritos, in Portuguese), recorded employing typewriters, and the “digitoscripts” (digitoscritos, in Portuguese), recorded employing typing on computers, something that has become the most common form of musical writing.

Aiming at the printed and homogeneous publication of the works, the texts of the musical works that were in the authorial manuscript format, in smaller numbers within the set, were typed on a computer, that is, recopied using the Finale software, installed in the research laboratory of UFMG (2019)⁸. These texts were gradually revised by the publishers who authored this article and by the composers themselves, and there were different ways of communication between them, from the exchange of images of the copies via email, to conversations on the phone or instant messaging applications (such as WhatsApp), in addition to face-to-face meetings, previously scheduled by the publishers with the composers.

It should be noted that, although the instant messaging application WhatsApp, according to Alves (2021, 58), is widely used today, as it enables "the sharing and viewing of media files of various types, and the making of audio and video calls", in this research, according to the reality of the composers, face-to-face meetings and phone calls were frequent and necessary for decision-making and for clarifying editorial doubts, conference of possible errors or even for musical alterations proposed by the composers.

In general, the editorial process, as is often the case, took different directions in line with the variety of source documents available and the face of different contextual issues. It was found that it would be unfeasible to re-copy all the works already digitized on a computer, the digitoscripts, according to the same graphic pattern, due to 3 main factors: the task of copying and proofreading would require a lot of time, far exceeding the schedule of the project; copying and proofreading would imply a high possibility of error inclusion; the composers were consulted and preferred to use their sheet music files.

Thus, the three editorial typologies chosen for the publication were: 1 - facsimile edition based on authorial digits, with adaptation of the size of the images to the format of the collection, 2 - edition by digitized and revised copy of single-testimonial manuscripts, with adaptation to the format of the collection and to an approximate pattern of dimensions in the collection, considering the other editions made; and 3 - revised edition, with graphic corrections or musical alterations in authorial digital files, based on access to their open files⁹, registered in music software, and provided by some of the composers to publishers.

It should be noted that many of the composers did not make the open files available for editing due to the outdated software in which their works were recorded, due to the loss of the files, or simply because they chose to use the images of their source documents in facsimile editions. Therefore, one of the challenging points of this edition was to obtain a reasonably uniform dimension for a set of copied and digitized works, aiming at a harmonious publication in visual terms and feasible in terms of the standard format of the Cadernos Musicais Brasileiros Series.

3.1.1 The edited works and their editorial particularities

Among the works edited for solo piano, published in tome I (part I of Vol.12), most corresponded to facsimile editions made from the authorial digitoscripts. The exception was Valsa só, by Ronaldo Miranda, which was scanned in the Finale software, based on the author's manuscript. By Ricardo Tacuchian, the entire series A Bailarina was presented as facsimiles of the authorial digitoscrits. The works for solo piano by Calimerio Soares, Dimitri Cervo, and Antonio Celso Ribeiro were also published according to the facsimile documents of digitoscrits, and changes were made in the dimensions of the images to adapt to the standardized pages of the collection. By João Guilherme Ripper, the piece Cine Suite III - Expressive could be worked from the authorial digitoscript in a digital file open to alterations, with changes in the arrangement of the systems on the pages, without prejudice to turns of pages.

In tome II (Vol.12) of works for solo piano, the works Água e Lua and Brincando com Nuvens, by Oiliam Lanna, were digitized in Finale software, based on the authorial manuscripts. The works of Denise Garcia, Marcos Vieira Lucas, Liduino Pitombeira, and Alexandre Schubert were published according to the facsimile of digitoscripts, and changes were made in the dimensions of the images to adapt to the pages of the collection. The composer Pauxy Gentil-Nunes made available for editorial work the open files of his digitoscripts of the Suite Ituiutaba I, allowing the realization of small formal changes, focusing on the arrangement of the number of bars per system and systems per page, with improvement in the conditions of page turns and without any changes in the musical signs.

In tome I (Vol.13), with works for piano 4 hands, the source documents used were mostly authorial digitoscripts. Exceptions were the works Choro, Cinco para as quatro, and Marcha by composer Estercio Marquez Cunha and Improviso e Ponteio by Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes, which were digitized from autograph manuscripts. The three works by Estercio Marquez Cunha were digitized from authorial manuscripts, undergoing modification in the original format of the presentation: from the layout of the manuscripts, in which the separate parts were read for the first and second pianos, a score in grid format was passed, that is, staves of the first piano noted on the staves of the second piano, in the manner of the other works in the collection. As the work was reviewed by the publishers and the composer himself, he proposed small changes as the works were digitized, such as increasing the dimensions of the bars and readjusting the number of bars per system. In addition, it was decided to insert pauses in the bars that were empty in the manuscripts. Some dynamic changes have also been made.

The 4-hand piano works by the composer Antonio Celso Ribeiro, which were in their original version in digitoscript in the "landscape" (horizontal) layout, were altered by the composer himself, who changed them to the "portrait" (vertical) layout. The facsimiles of these new authorial digits were then used in the edition. By the composer Ricardo Tacuchian, the work Castanha do caju II, whose open file of the digitoscript was made available to the publishers, suffered an alteration in an accident of note suggested by the pianist and interpreter Araceli Chacon and accepted by the composer, who revised his digistoscript and sent it back for facsimile edition. By the composer Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes, the work Ponteio was digitized from the autograph manuscript, having undergone two changes in accidents of notes, suggested by the pianist Marília Chaves, performer of the work, and accepted by the composer. Also by Maria Helena, the work Improviso was digitized from a manuscript and also underwent changes in metronomic indication proposed by Marília Chaves and accepted by the composer. The 4-hand works Toadinha by Dimitri Cervo, Amarelinha and Modinha by Ricardo Tacuchian, Noturna by João Guilherme Ripper, and, Castelo de areia by Marisa Rezende remained unchanged, having been published in facsimiles of the digitoscripts, with only readjustments being made in the general dimensions of the images to fit in the pages of the collection.

In tome II (Vol.13) with works for 4-hands piano, all the works were originally in authorial digital format, except the work Lembrança by the composer Oiliam Lanna, whose authorial manuscript served as the source for the digitization process in the Finale software. Lembrança by Oiliam Lanna, underwent a change in the writing indicated by the composer himself, with the addition of musical signs and modification of notes. The works Octal and Pentagrama by Liduino Pitombeira were presented in facsimiles, based on authorial digitoscripts, with the suppression of footnotes, transported to the editorial notes section, as well as the words of dedicatories to the Contest, aiming at the standardization of the edition.

By the composer Pauxy Gentil-Nunes, the works of the Suite Ituiutaba II were published in this tome II, and the composer made available the open files of his digitoscripts, allowing the realization of formal changes, such as changes in the number of bars per system and systems per page, without having changes in notes or musical signs. There was also concern about page turns.

According to Cambraia (2005), edited texts can undergo exogenous and endogenous modifications. The exogenous ones refer to modifications resulting from the corruption of the material used, and the endogenous ones, as happened in this edition, "[...] derive from the act of reproducing the text itself, that is, from the process of making one's copy on a new material support" (2005, 6). And, this modification can be authorial or non-authorial. In this edition, the modifications were entirely endogenous and authorial, or "author variants" (Cambraia 2005). In this context, we understand that the dialogue between the composer and the editor was essential for the editing process. It should be noted that in the item Editorial Notes, included in the publications at the end of each tome, all modifications/changes were recorded and justified.

Not only issues related to the representation of the musical text were dealt with in this edition. Brief texts were prepared with general comments on each published work, based on information provided by the composers about their creative processes, and by the interpretative and analytical practice of the teachers/performers, related to the preparation of the works for their performance or that of their students. Pointing to the level of the works in the gradation of the Contests and providing some simple technical observations and playful characteristics of the works, the texts, elaborated throughout the project, aimed to assist teachers and students in the choice of works and the development of their studies.

Biographical texts were also prepared, initially based on the archives of the Piano Competition, in consultation with the regulations that disclose each year the biographies of the honored composers. These biographies were then sent to the composers themselves so that they could update the data and reduce the text to about twelve lines, following the limits of pagination of the books.

The process of editing and elaborating the informative texts was followed by general formatting and layout for printing. Texts in Word format, containing title pages, reverse title page, table of contents, biographical notes, comments on the works, and editorial notes, were organized, together with the scores in PDF images, in a file for layout. This layout was done in the In Design software, and the cover art was created by a specialist in the field. It was necessary to register the ISBN¹⁰ and create a catalog file, prepared by professionals from the Library of the School of Music of UFMG, which houses the publishing house "School of Music of the Federal University of Minas Gerais - Minas de Som Seal".

After the printing of the Cadernos Musicais Brasileiros vol.12 (tomes I and II) and vol.13 (tomes I and II), their distribution followed. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, with the isolation of people, and the closure of universities and schools in general, the distribution process of this material was reviewed and changed concerning the initial planning. A professional in media and technologies, responsible for the creation of the cover art of the notebooks and the CD, created a digital diffusion program with launch vignettes in different means of dissemination (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and E-mail, mainly), which allowed greater visibility and interest in the published collection, exhausting the distribution of physical copies (300 units of each tome) in just two months of dissemination. The success of this stage is also attributed to the work and commitment of the people involved in the process of proposing and raising funds for projects with the Federal Law of Incentive to Culture, who acted promptly in receiving, responding to, and posting copies of the Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba, by mail, to interested people who sent their requests over the internet.

Regarding this edition, we can affirm that the results were achieved in their entirety, given the difficulty of many researchers in raising financial resources for the publication of scores in printed format. The success of the task was also due to the support, in the form of sponsorship of a project approved by Federal Law, of the Canto de Minas Dairy industry, located in Ituiutaba, the host city of the Piano Competition.

According to Figueiredo (2004, 1-2), an important scholar of editorial processes in Brazil,

the emphasis on the printed character of an edition does not coincide with academic practice, in which many types of research are carried out to edit a musical work, being taken, however, to the point where the resulting material should be delivered to a printer for printing. However, not many of them manage to reach this point of publication, most of the time due to lack of financial resources (Figueiredo 2004, 1-2).

The tomes of Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba was also made available in digital format, on the website of the Minas de Som Seal (https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom), with the possibility of a download of the scores. This material of contemporary Brazilian piano music organized in 4 volumes/tomes is, in our view, an important and representative didactic-pedagogical material for the teaching of piano in the country. With broad democratization, without omission of the origin of the material, it is expected that the editions produced will serve the readers and creators of the works, constituting preferential material for the musical practice of piano Brazilian music made in the present.

3.2 The phonographic recording

The recording of the CD Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba consisted of the following stages: invitation to the performing pianists, selection of the works to be recorded, request for authorization from the composers, reading and interpretative study of the works by the pianists, survey and budget planning, creation of the cover art of the CD, writing of the presentation and the preface and other technical and artistic data of the CD booklet. Then, elaboration and assembly of the CD booklet, phonographic recording of the works (Recording Seal and Sheet Music Editing - Minas de Som, UFMG), selection of takes and organization of files, mixing and mastering, choice/definition of the CD title, pressing and dissemination of CDs.

The pianists and teachers Abnader Domingues, Araceli Chacon, Daniela Carrijo, Denise Martins, and Marília Chaves participated in the recordings, precisely because of the involvement and commitment previously established with the Ituiutaba Piano Competition as interpreters in previous editions, with other recorded works made available on the Competition's website. The choice of works for recording was related, firstly, to the idea of presenting at least one work by each honored composer, considering the duration of the CD. However, the main criterion used by the pianists in the choice of the works was personal, based primarily on the interpretations already performed in previous years, as well as on the technical-musical skills, preferences, and identification with the different musical languages and aesthetics used by the composers. This choice, however, was carefully accompanied by the pianist Araceli Chacon, musical director of the Collection, who accompanied the entire process of study, recording, and photographic production.

Once the repertoire was chosen, the composers' authorization for the phonographic recording was requested and, while the pianists were preparing for the recording, studying the works, the art and layout of the CD booklet was elaborated, with a preface by the composer Estercio Marquez Cunha and a presentation by the researcher and first author of this article. As referred, at least one work by each of the fifteen composers was recorded on the CD, with musical direction by pianist and Professor Araceli Chacon. This stage of the work required numerous revisions of the takes, based on attentive and professional listening, on the choice and reorganization of the selected takes, extremely technical and artistic work. The works recorded on the CD Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba, as well as the respective composers and performers, were:

Estercio Marquez Cunha

Marcha [1’29”]

Denise Martins and Araceli Chacon, 4-hand piano

Cinco para as quatro [1'46”]

Araceli Chacon and Marília Chaves, 4-hand piano

Calimerio Soares

Sambinha [0'47'']

Daniela Carrijo, piano solo

Ronaldo Miranda

Valsa só [1'37'']

Abnader Domingues, piano solo

Dimitri Cervo

Toadinha [1’13”]

Araceli Chacon and Abnader Domingues, 4-hand piano

Ricardo Tacuchian

Castanha do caju II [5'05'']

Daniela Carrijo and Araceli Chacon, 4-hand piano

João Guilherme Ripper

Três pequenos estudos

1- Cantiga [1’27”]

2 - Ronda [1’50”]

3 - Lundu [1’08”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

Cine Suíte IV - Agitado e com humor [2’26”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

Marisa Rezende

Castelo de areia [4’30”]

Abnader Domingues and Daniela Carrijo, 4-hand piano

Maria Helena Fernandes

Ponteio [1’59”]

Marília Chaves and Denise Martins, 4-hand piano

Antonio Celso Ribeiro

Three undesirable feelings/He aquí la sierva del Señor

1- Remorse [1’46”]

2- Repentance [2’57”]

3- Rue [2’27”]

Abnader Domingues, piano solo

Denise Garcia

Rock piano [1’52”]

Daniela Carrijo, piano solo

Oiliam Lanna

Água e lua [1’48”]

Marília Chaves, piano solo

Marcos Vieira Lucas

Três lendas brasileiras

I- O Saci Pererê [0’39”]

II- Iara, mãe d’água [1’28”]

III- O Curupira [1’10”]

Daniela Carrijo, piano solo

Liduino Pitombeira

Vila Platina

1- Tijuco [0’51”]

2- Pio [1’13”]

3- Guató/Dobrado [0’46”]

Abnader Domingues, piano solo

Alexandre Schubert

Dois prelúdios curiosos

I - Moderato [1’43”]

II - Vivo [0’39”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

Fuga [2’12”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

Pauxy Gentil-Nunes

Diálogo [2’10”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

Quartzo [2’25”]

Araceli Chacon, piano solo

The CD recording was carried out in November 2019, through the UFMG Extension Program, Minas de Som - Recording and Editing Seal -, with the participation of Fábio Janhan in recording, editing, mixing, and mastering the audios. A Steinway Hamburg Piano and other technical equipment provided by the Program were used in the recording. The choice and decision of the title of the CD were shared with the composers, performers, and piano teachers involved in this project, as previously mentioned. Finally, the CDs were pressed and disseminated, available in digital and physical formats. The CD in digital format is available on the Minas de Som Seal (https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom) website, with tracks available for download and links to access Spotify. The availability of this CD in physical format is also due to the sponsorship of the Laticínio Canto de Minas industry, headquartered in the city of Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, given the approval of the project in the Federal Law of Incentive to Culture.

In the following item, we will list all the lectures and recital lectures held to publicize the collection Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba, a relevant aspect in the dissemination of the material produced.

3.3 Lecture recitals

Among the planned activities, the performance of recitals-lecture aimed to disseminate the unpublished works for solo piano and piano 4 hands written by the Brazilian composers honored in the various editions of the Ituiutaba Piano Competition, in the period from 2004 to 2019. The curatorship of these recital lectures was also in charge of the first author of this article. The recitals were initially held in a face-to-face format in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, they also took place in digital format, given the coronavirus pandemic, which ended up expanding the scope and visibility of the work carried out.

The repertoire of the concerts included only works that were recorded on the CD, selected according to the audience and with the participation of the pianists of the team, and not all of them participated in all the recitals, due to their schedule.

The face-to-face lecture recitals were held in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Ituiutaba (2019). The other lecture recitals were organized, recorded, edited, and posted on YouTube, based on a careful script. Pianists Abnader Domingues, Araceli Chacon, Daniela Carrijo, Denise Martins, and Marília Chaves participated in these recitals, as well as guest pianists and composers. For the dissemination of the collection Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba (CD and books), posts and vignettes were elaborated, and disseminated in different media, such as Instagram, E-mails, WhatsApp and Facebook, YouTube, mainly, in addition to online lectures (Lives).

The dissemination carried out in these different and modern means of communication (digital media) was quite effective; In two months, the collection (musical books) in physical format was sold out. For the composers recorded in this collection, the delivery of copies was done in two ways: in person (for composers, teachers, and performers who live in Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte) and by mail (for those who live in other cities).

4. Final considerations

Cambraia (2005) indicates that the term ecdotic is used to "name the field of knowledge that encompasses the establishment of texts and their presentation, i.e., their edition" (2005, 13), which implies restoring the text in its genuine form, but also taking the necessary technical care to present this text to the public and to whom it may concern. Therefore, although related to the fixation of musical texts, in the manner of what is impelled in textual criticism, this editorial work was a philological and critical one, whose relevance resided in the recovery, maintenance, transmission, and perpetuation of the cultural heritage written at a certain time and by a certain culture, in this case, in our musical contemporaneity, which despite the technological facilities, It maintains certain characteristics of dispersion of works and invisibility of national authors.

As researchers and teachers of music, we understand that the importance of this edition resided mainly in the maintenance, transmission, and perpetuation of the cultural heritage written at this time and by this culture, allowing its dissemination both in physical and digital formats. The edition in the physical format required great efforts to obtain financing, given the necessary resources for the costs of printing. This was only made possible thanks to the approval of the project in an incentive federal law, followed by fundraising, steps considered extremely laborious. On the other hand, the digital edition, based on the initial edition, but associated with a website available by the university press in question, ensured the wide and free dissemination of the published works.

Regarding the digital edition, Cambraia (2005, 184) draws attention to the advantages of the format, favored by "cost reduction, space reduction, transportability, versatility, and functionality". However, he draws attention to some of its limitations, such as dependence on electronic equipment and programs to access the material, possible discomfort in reading on a computer or tablet screen, instability of the media, and the issue of copyright, given the possibility of wide reproduction and commercialization. Also according to this author,

Considering that, after the genuine form of a written text is restored, it is, as a rule, republished, this also contributes to the transmission and preservation of this heritage: it contributes to the transmission of texts, because, when a text is published, it becomes accessible again to the reading public; and it contributes to its preservation, because its subsistence is ensured through registration in new and modern material supports, which will increase its longevity (Cambraia 2005, 19-20)

We can conclude that the works for solo piano and 4-hand piano, written in manuscripts, when digitized, received new supports, which granted them the possibility of greater diffusion and durability, given the fragility of handwritten copies and written and loose paper, subject to erasure and loss, in addition to the difficulties in reading the musical symbols noted by hand by the composers, handwriting and sometimes showing little legibility. It is worth mentioning that all the composers involved in the edition of this material signed a term of assignment of copyright, allowing the free distribution of the printed volumes to schools and music professionals from various regions of Brazil.

In the edition of a material, Cambraia (2005) points out that two aspects should be observed: the target audience and the existence of previous editions. About the material edited and published here, the target audience is the musical class, including teachers, students, and the composers themselves. As the material was also made available electronically, people, both in Brazil and in the world, currently have access to it, which gives the edition the character of internationality.

As those responsible for editing the material, we recognize that the editorial process is dynamic, and subject to modifications throughout the process of preparing the works for publication. By editing the works in the presence of the composers, and based on the interpretation of the pianists participating in this project¹¹, we understand that editing works by living composers is, more than a necessity, an urgency. Grier (2008, 11-12), when referring to the authorial sources of a work by Ludwig van Beethoven, recognizes that in the process of editing scores, the authorial sources themselves convey ambiguities. In the work carried out, Piano Contemporâneo Brasileiro em Ituiutaba, the ambiguities identified in the works were discussed and resolved together with the composers themselves, in direct contact with the publishers and performers, in a permanent process of dialogue and collaboration. As it was a collection, that aimed to preserve and transmit the material, not automatically or directly, but based on an editorial process, this entire process was permeated by reasoned, critical, and informed decisions (Grier, 2008).

We consider this work was carried out rigorously, respecting and reproducing the works in their originality, maintaining the signs of indication (dynamic and agogic, place of the stems of figures such as eighth notes, etc.) as in the original writing of the works, valuing the choices and decisions of the composers and even of the current performers.

As the postdoctoral studies were carried out (2019-2021), different opportunities and challenges arose, such as participation in scientific events and lectures, which greatly contributed to the dissemination of the material (books and CDs). The music editing process required contact and continuous dialogue with the composers, who collaborated whenever requested.

As the Ituiutaba Piano Competitions continue to be held and the honored composers continue to write unpublished works for solo piano and 4-hand piano, we hope to be able to record and prepare these works for publication. What is intended in the future is to prepare for publication the pieces for solo piano and 4-hand piano (unpublished) by composers Caio Senna (2020), Rodrigo Lima (2021), and Guilherme Bernstein (2022), honored at the Ituiutaba Piano Competitions.

As a result of the knowledge arising from this editing experience, in 2021, on the occasion of the Coronavirus pandemic and because of the necessity of pedagogical material for online piano lessons, a new action was undertaken - the elaboration/creation and edition of pedagogical activity notebooks for solo piano, 4-hand piano, and music and technology based on the unpublished works of composer Rodrigo Lima, in physical and digital formats. These books are also available on the website of the Minas de Som - Seal of UFMG, tab Livros (https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom/).

Also continuing the successful experience of editing works related to the Ituiutaba Piano Competition, the organizers of the competition and the first author of this article, together with Minas de Som Seal, decided to give priority to another editing and recording project, focusing on the complete piano work of Kilza Setti, a composer to be honored by the Ituiutaba Piano Competition in 2023, whose work was mostly in manuscripts and which would be 90 years old in 2023. This work, developed between 2021 and 2023, resulted in the book O piano de Kilza Setti (book and CD), containing the composer's complete piano publication - with works already written and unpublished -, and a CD with selected works. These products, launched during the Ituiutaba Piano Competition em 2023 september, are also available on the website of the Minas de Som Seal of UFMG, tab Cadernos Musicais Brasileiros (https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom/).

The publication of all this material, based on the realization of the Ituiutaba Piano Competitions, in addition to effectively contributing to the dissemination, circulation, interpretation and preservation of Brazilian music for solo piano and 4-hand piano, aims to stimulate the editing and publication of Brazilian music, considering the difficulties of the music publishing market in Brazil and the importance of critical thinking in the editorial activity, responsibility reassumed by the performer/editor. We believe that initiatives like this can multiply, based on academic exchanges and shared, interdisciplinary and responsible.

5. References

• Alves, Marcelo. 2021. “Construindo arranjos com tríades ao piano durante a pandemia: relato de interação musical informal via aplicativo de mensagens instantâneas a partir de uma perspectiva neurocientífica.” In Revista Música, São Paulo, v. 21, n. 1 - Dossiê Música em Quarentena (parte II); Dossiê Encontro Internacional de Teoria e Análise Musical - 10 Anos Universidade de São Paulo, 55-74.
• Cambraia, César Nardelli. 2005. Introdução à crítica textual São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
• Carmo, Sérgio Rafael (Org.). 2002. Conservatórios estaduais: arte e emoção como aliados da educação em Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte: Secretaria de Estado de Minas Gerais.
• Concurso de piano de Ituiutaba Available at: Available at: https://www.pianoituiutaba.org/ Accessed on: 01/04/2022.
  » https://www.pianoituiutaba.org/
• Figueiredo, Carlos Alberto. “Tipos de edição”. In Debates Cadernos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Música, n. 7. 2004. 39-55. Available at: Available at: http://www.seer.unirio.br/index.php/revistadebates/article/view/4034 Accessed on: 29 de jun. 2019.
  » http://www.seer.unirio.br/index.php/revistadebates/article/view/4034
• Gandelman, Salomea. Títulos para a coletânea de música brasileira Sender: Salomea Gandelman. [S. l.], 25 de maio. 2020, 11:15. (E-mail). 25/05/2020, 11:15.
• Grier, James. 1996. The critical editing of music Cambridge: University Press.
• Selo Minas de Som Available at: Available at: https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom/ Accessed on: 03/12/2022.
  » https://musica.ufmg.br/selominasdesom/

• ¹
  The "Dr. José Zóccoli de Andrade Conservatory ", called Ituiutaba Conservatory, is one of the twelve state public conservatories in Minas Gerais. About these Conservatories, see Carmo, Sérgio Rafael (Org.). 2002. State Conservatories: art and emotion as allies of education in Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte: Minas Gerais State Secretariat.
• ²
  All stages of this work required efforts and difficulties related to financial issues, an essential aspect for each action that required production. We consider that the success of this task is due to the sponsorship of the company Laticínio Canto de Minas, through an incentive law, at the federal level.
• ³
  The title given to the Compilation - Brazilian Contemporary Piano in Ituiutaba - resulted from a consultation made with the composers, piano teachers and pianists participating in this project, who together suggested and defined the title, both for the musical book and CD.
• ⁴
  Cadernos Musicais Brasileiros (Brazilian Musical Notebooks) is an editorial series of Brazilian music scores, nowadays with 16 volumes published.
• ⁵
  The Brazilian composer honored at the Ituiutaba Piano Competition in 2004 was Calimerio Soares, with confrontational pieces at all levels of the solo piano category, a requirement for the tribute. But, in this same year, the composer Estercio Marquez Cunha also wrote unpublished pieces for piano 4 hands, used as confrontation pieces; hence the date of 2004 for the two composers.
• ⁶
  The English acronym PDF stands for Portable Document Format, a file format created by the company Adobe Systems so that any document can be viewed, regardless of the program that originated it. PDF files can preserve documents and images in their original format, allowing any reader to view the document exactly as if it was created without altering it.
• ⁷
  In the Ituiutaba Piano Competition, in the solo piano category, the works were organized into groups according to the age of the candidates: Children's (up to 9 years old); Groups A (10 and 11 years old), B (12 and 13 years old), C (14 and 15 years old), D (16 and 17 years old), Group E (18 years old and above). In the 4-hand piano category, the pieces were organized in groups and not by age, in different and gradual technical-musical levels: Beginners and Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in general.
• ⁸
  By "work" is meant the music itself; the source document or source, is the manuscript or digitoscript of the work; the musical text is, in turn, what one is working on in an edition, copying, editing, revising, publishing; That is, the text presents the work, it is a notable and legible representation of it.
• ⁹
  The open file is the document file registered in a computer program that can be opened and changed when on any other computer, without leaving any trace or indication of the change in the altered document.
• ¹⁰
  The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a numerical standard created to identify publications.
• ¹¹
  According with James Grier, “No text, even the composer’s, is fully authoritative. Only the act of performance carries authority, because in it the mutual creative intention of the composer and the performer is realized. The text carries nothing more than a enabling set of instructions.” (Grier 1996, 68).

• Section Editor:

  Fernando Chaib

• Layout Editor:

  Fernando Chaib

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 Apr 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  23 Apr 2023
• Accepted
  12 Mar 2024
• Published
  22 Mar 2024