The primary goal of Contrapunctus Press is to produce accurate and beautiful keyboard scores of music written by J. S. Bach, and to distribute them for free, encouraging access to education for everyone.

These are entirely new scores based on the original manuscripts and first editions using modern typesetting conventions, but free from other editorial changes. Also absent from my scores are performing suggestions or directions, except in the case of scores with fingering.

It is my hope that musicians, scholars, and students will treat my scores as a reference — importantly, as just one reference. Other publishers, other editors, and the source material itself should all be consulted in combination with my scores.

Despite the stated goal of presenting the composer’s original intentions free from an editor’s interference, it is occasionally necessary to make decisions when the composer’s wishes are not entirely clear. This could be because the notation in a manuscript is unclear, or possibly even from a scribe that has made an error. I study every available manuscript and original edition and try to make the best decisions based on evidence, context, and my general knowledge of Bach’s scores.

Of equal importance to making accurate scores is creating a musical text that can be read with speed and ease by both scholars and performers. For music that is quite old, this involves modernising the rules of notation to follow the current traditions.

Stem directions, beam connections, rest placement, voice leading, clef changes, and accidentals are just a few examples of notation that has been modernised. Accidentals especially do not have the same permanence in Bach’s originals as they do today. I follow the traditions of notation that were solidified in the 19th century.

To digitally create beautiful, easily readable scores that emulate hand-engraved music, I have used both LilyPond and Dorico. LilyPond utilises plain text code representing the notes entered into a text editor, while Dorico uses a visual and graphical interface.

Working from original manuscripts and first editions, the notes and basic elements are entered, and the input is then highly modified to achieve the desired visual output. Once the general layout of pages and measures is acceptable, every element is inspected and adjustments are made as needed: spacing between notes and staves, positioning of articulations and ornaments, individual micro-shifting of tie curves, and so on. Every measure is unique and the work requires an adaptable plan that maintains consistency through optical spacing, beam sloping, voice placement and many other considerations.

The final result is intended to be easy to read, accurate, and aesthetically pleasing.

The scores I create are of compositions that I know very well. I feel it is necessary to have studied, performed, taught, and generally lived with a piece for many years before making a new edition. Understanding the music intimately will allow for the best possible editorial and aesthetic choices.

As I am a specialist in the music of J. S. Bach, both as a performer and analyst, most of my scores will be of his music. Other composers who might feature in the future are Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and Scriabin.