A case study in why not to use sans-serifs

[Schonbergian]

We will be performing Brahms's Begraebnisgesang in the coming months with organ accompaniment, and I was surprised to find out that only one score with keyboard reduction has been published - a modern edition by Breitkopf. I could scarcely prepare myself for the horror I was about to see when I clicked on "Look Inside".

https://issuu.com/breitkopf/docs/eb_831 ... 5/42199946

Outside of the Chopin National Edition, this is probably the worst abuse of font mixing I have ever seen. Suffice to say that this score will be reserved for the hapless organist, with the rest of us using a properly published score.

[tisimst]

It’s a great sans serif (Frutiger Next, for the interested), just a terrible mix, like you said. If it were only used on the prefacing material, it might be forgivable, but not a great choice in the music context alongside traditional Times for metronome marks and lyrics.

[John Ruggero]

The music engraving is also unappetizing.

[OCTO]

Friends, I get completely different font displayed on two different machines. But I don't see any sans in the music.
What do you see?

[engelbach]

Friends, I get completely different font displayed on two different machines. But I don't see any sans in the music.
What do you see?

Ditto. I see sans serif only at the top of the title page, the page numbers, and the footers. None in the score itself.

Cheers,
Jer

[laurencepayne]

The title and copyright text is irritating, but is there a problem with the actual music?

I had a little bet with myself that their website would feature grey-on-grey text. Yup.

https://www.breitkopf.com/

[Schonbergian]

The title and copyright text is irritating, but is there a problem with the actual music?

- The piano reduction is the same staff size as the vocal lines when it should be significantly larger.
- Slurs have all of the typical ugly features of the unedited SCORE design.
- The bass voices are on two staves for no apparent reason. Both the Breitkopf Complete Works and the Carus vocal score place it on one staff, and there is no musical material that demands two.
- Many unnecessary extender lines that only serve to clutter the page (e.g. measure 56)
- Lyric text needs less contrast and more darkening. It doesn't stand out vs. the rest of the engraving, particularly the heavy look of Vienna.
- The whole notes are not centered in the last measure and look stupid against the centered fermatas.

And so on.

[John Ruggero]

Along with all that, I have never seen instrument and vocal labels aligned on the left side so the longer ones force the shorter ones very far from the left barlines. Common sense seems to be in short supply these days.

Breitkopf Instr. Label Alignment.jpg (63.21 KiB) Viewed 18812 times

[Schonbergian]

How far Breitkopf has fallen from their position less than 100 years ago...

breitkopf.PNG (38.2 KiB) Viewed 18761 times