Re: Pedal cautionary after a line break (current status and improvements)

[David Rogers]

"Mark Stephen Mrotek" <carsonmark@ca.rr.com> writes:

> Paolo,
>
>  
>
> A quick examination of pieces in my collection showed that the
> following editions did not use brackets for the pedal, rather 
> Ped. *
> was used.
>
> Paragon, Fryderyka Chopin Institute, Breitkopf & Hartel, and 
> Edwin F.
> Kalmus.

Unfortunately for the current discussion, these are (by Lilypond's 
own standards) some of the truly run-of-the-mill publishers, if 
they manage to achieve even that standard. That edition of Chopin 
does carry the name of a former celebrity on the cover, it's true; 
he may have been an excellent man (I can't say), but his 
music-publishing efforts were second-rate at best. (It's clear he 
was only lending his name for the celebrity cachet anyway; all the 
PWM Chopin books have the decency to name the real editors at 
least, and Paderewski wasn't among them.) Bad editing, bad 
printing, substandard paper, brittle glue that only holds the book 
together long enough to get it home... well, you can't say they 
were inconsistent. :)

I guess my position as a pianist is that while Paolo seems to be 
mistaken about software politics, musically he's correct. There's 
no musical justification for claiming that Lilypond's sloppy and 
inconsistent handling of piano pedalling is acceptable. (There's 
also no social/political justification for claiming that that fact 
obliges any particular person or group to fix it at any particular 
time.)

--
David Rogers