Ser. 1, Vol. 1 | Symphony no. 1 c minor op. 68

No research library can afford to be without this volume. It goes far beyond providing a carefully edited text; it invites the detailed contemplation of a score that has lost none of its central importance to Brahm’s career and to the history of the symphony ... If any question remains whether the Neue Brahms-Ausgabe should go forward, this volume alone should lay it to rest.

The new Complete Edition is the first text-critical edition of Brahm's entire Oeuvre. Adhering to principles and techniques of modern scholarship, it will present all Brahm's compositions, their alternative musical versions as well as his unpublished works and authentic piano arrangements ... Extensive source studies on Brahms' music manuscripts as of the late 1960s as well as the completion of a thematic and bibliographic catalogue have made it increasingly evident that a new historico-critical edition of Brahms' entire works is of vital importance. ... This edition will be the first to examine all available sources and thus aims to provide authentic musical scores purged of erroneous readings, such as scribal, copyist's or engraver's errors and all unauthorised textual additions.

... it is anticipated that many significant alterations of detail may be expected in the new edition. In addition to examining all of Brahms' surviving autographs, the editors will take significant information on the genesis, dating and publication of his compositions from his written correspondence. Each volume will carry an extensive introduction and full critical apparatus.

Invero, il lavoro compiuto sulla Prima Sinfonia – il cui presupposto è una conoscenza globale confluita poi nell’edizione critica – presenta un contenuto testuale e un corredo di apparati critici e di appendici che ricoprono una funzione tanto vasta quanto è il beneficio che può produrre, oltre che all’interprete, agli studi in ambito storico-critico e analitico, agli studi sulla genesi e sul processo compositivo, allo studio della ricezione dell’opera.

Die vorliegende Edition ist ein eindrucksvolles Zeugnis unaufdringlicher, uneitler und deshalb um so überzeugenderer Gelehrtheit, wie sie in der Brahms-Forschung leider immer seltener zu werden beginnt. … Der Notendruck besitzt besten Standard, Faksimiles erhellen anschaulich problematische und interessante Sachverhalte. Die Konzeption der JGB überzeugt auf Anhieb, weil sie sachlich-historisch geboten erscheint und der wissenschaftliche Aufwand, etwa auch die erfreulich prägnante Quellenbeschreibung in einem erkennbaren Verhältnis zu seinem Nutzen und Sinn bleibt.

If the new Brahms edition succeeds – … – it will be because in this first volume Pascall has raised a standard that succeeding volumes must aspire to equal.