An Artistic Score Engraving update from August 2026
Dear all,
Welcome back to a new instalment of the ASE newsletter, this time live from Belgrade, Serbia, where we are spending our summer break. The climate here is just incomparable with NW Italy, as so much better! We got hot days but never too humid, and always with a soft wind patch in the background. If this is a dream, please do not wake me up!
After last month’s report from Dresden I have a few threads to catch up with so, without further ado, let’s go through them.
Engraving news
Back in April, I completed the engraving of a new cello concerto by Italian composer Alessandro Baticci called Out of Sight of Polaris, which was premiered on June 9 at the Philarmonie de Paris. This piece had graphical elements that needed to be drawn in Illustrator and then placed in the notation software on every, single, page! My skills were stretched thin in every direction, but I learned a lot along the way, especially when it comes to the order of doing things. So many times there were no noteheads for entire bars (or systems!), with lines connecting invisible objects because, to get a straight line, you need a starting point A and an ending point B, regardless of whether those points are visible!
The directions composers of today are following are most variegated and peculiar, some focusing on adding plenty of electronics over a more classical base, some others refusing this and looking for a comeback of more comfortable sonorities while expressing a language that still feels original and personal.
Looking at what is on my desk now, I see music from early counterpoint (XVI century) to ultra-modern music that is being composed as we speak. There is even a piano concerto where the composer wrote a trace over which he would then improvise and had someone else orchestrated it. That is proving quite complex because you just cannot write improvisation and the orchestra needs to know what to do. From what I heard, the film industry is a lot like this: the genius composes the tune and has their name written big on the screen, while the slaves orchestrate, arrange, correct, and make everything come to life for a small, almost invisible presence.
I have also been trying to help composers find their way in the industry, assisting them in their decision on whether to try to insist with big publishers or self-publishing and perhaps going with a minor publisher. I am certainly no expert and I have much less “insider knowledge” than those who contact me think I have, as I am merely an engraver, but I have learned a thing or two over the years, and I am always willing to help. In the end, it often comes to how much control you want to have over your music. A standard publisher may give you more visibility and performance opportunities, especially with orchestral pieces, but you hand over total control to them, so you need to be ready to accept this. Self-publishing may give you more immediate revenue, a total control of your catalogue, and a direct contact with your performers. If I were a full-time composer, I would certainly choose the second route, while if I had a teaching position in a university, or an active performing career, I would go with a publisher, simply because I would not have the time to manage the engraving, printing, and distribution process. It also goes with age, of course. Young composers are basically obliged to go autonomous unless they win a big prize in a competition and certain specific doors open in the proper order! So, there is a lot at play here, and no hardcoded rules, just experience, patience, and a lot of luck involved!
Publishing news
As I had anticipated a few episodes ago (once again, thank you for your patience), a great performance of several of our publications on Piatti’s music received their first documented world premiere of the modern era. The soloist was Yan Pan and here is a list of the pieces they played with links to purchase the scores and, finally, direct links to the videos!
- La Corsa (The Race) for cello and piano (pianist for all pieces: Wenqi Li) — video;
- Capriccio sopra un tema della Niobe di Pacini, Op. 22 for cello solo — video;
- A Farewell for voice, cello, and piano (voice: Liga Yi) — video;
- In Vacanza for cello quartet — physical copy direct link — 2nd to 4th cellos: Dandi Wang, Yuqi Zeng, Peiyao Guo. — video;
- Pioggia d’Aprile for cello and piano — video;
- Elegia sulla morte di Antonio Rubinstein for two cellos (second cello: Yuki Zeng) — video;
- Prelude from Suite I in G major by J. S. Bach with piano accompaniment by Piatti — video;
- Prelude, Sarabande, Gigue from Suite IV in Eb major by J. S. Bach with piano accompaniment by Piatti — video;
- Canto sopra uno studio di Duport for voice, cello, and piano — video.
- Capriccio No. 7 from Twelve Caprices Op. 25, with piano accompaniment — video.
Please give them a look and show your appreciation to the performers who did an outstanding job practicing and performing these challenging pieces. I was also particularly impressed by the Italian pronunciation of Ms. Yi.
I am currently hard at work preparing the six editions of the Dotzauer Abend, and I will definitely release them digitally as they are ready before they all go to print in September.
Furthermore, I am gradually trying to open new markets so that our scores become available in more countries. It takes time and patience, though, and a recent experiment with an Italian shop ended up quite poorly, simply because most people seem to no longer be physically going to a shop. I would rather not surrender just yet, though, because there are signs of a wider digital nausea spreading. Who knows, maybe paper will keep the crown?
Closing thoughts
As you have certainly heard, the recent cello edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition got an Italian winner. While I believe he truly deserved to win and that he is both an incredible cellist and an outstanding artist, I would like to reflect on a few side aspects. In the days immediately following his victory, my media pages got flooded by posts of my compatriots lauding this event as a “victory for Italy”, or as an “Italian pride”, or even as a “deserved prize” (as if it had come from a divinity of your choosing). Let’s break this down:
- As Italian as he is, he lives and studies in Germany; his playing style uses solid, German-style (Dotzauer, Grützmacher, etc.) technique; and in his CV he doesn’t mention the teacher with whom he graduated in Rome—I had to find an outdated version of his CV to discover who he was.
- On the Italian pride, well, the best Italian cellists have all left the country (at least professionally): I could name some but I will keep their identity private, I am sure you will be able to understand who I am talking about on your own. Mind, though: they didn’t leave because they wanted to, but because no serious investment in their profession was present in their country of origin. Until the Italian government doesn’t take a radical turn on culture, though, there will be very little to call “Italian pride”. Unfortunately, it just seems that those people who posted online wanted to bask in Ettore’s reflected glory for a minute or two before going back to their forgetfulness.
- There is no such thing as a “deserved prize”: you earn it with hard work and by making a series of correct choices along your path—such as, but not limited to, choosing the professor that can best prepare you for an international competition. A bit of luck is always at play, but you cannot count on it. You need to be in the right place at the right moment and be at your best possible level in that precise instant, knowing that it may not be enough.
Some people commented on how things had changed in Italy in the past thirty years, on how we had Classical music on TV every other day—and now we get nothing of it. Curiously, though, when I replied to those “revolution-thirsty” comments with a:
Very well! Let’s stop crying on what was and no longer is. Let’s do something about it. Let’s change things.
No one answered, not even liked my reply. It is thus, then: everyone is good at shouting their frustrations where it is the cheapest and safest to do (even better if from behind a screen). When it is time to take up arms—more or less figuratively speaking—and fight for a better future, though, that is too hard, right? I see. Then you will forgive me if I will no longer believe those “Wolf! Wolf!” cries going forward!
A final thought: have you seen the quality of the notation of the compulsory piece that the twelve finalists had to learn? I mean, is this really the best they could do? Do you want me to believe that the competition had no budget to finance a professional engraving of the piece? Perhaps they did, and the solution is much simpler: the composer may have not completed the piece until the very last days before the finalists had to receive it. Believe me, I have been through those kinds of commissions and had to work days and night to complete what the composer could not, all the while being the only one to blame if something got wrong.
Bottom Line
Thank you for reading this up to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please, share with me what you think. I read everything and try my best to reply as swiftly as I can.
You can join my mailing list to get weekly gifts and promotions; browse my editions and contact me directly for printed titles. My YouTube channel, finally, contains video renditions of most editions.
See you next month for the next ASE update. Please let me know what you are doing and where your musical adventures are bringing you.
Yours,
Michele
