I was recently asked to review several editions on Jewish themes. One of the works on the list was Joachim Stutschewsky’s Kaddish. Stutschewsky was a Ukrainian Jewish cellist, composer, arranger, and an important advocate for Jewish music in the 20th century. Kaddish was composed in 1957 in Tel Aviv and published by OR-TAV Music Publications in 1970. The work is a harmonization of the chant sung before the Neilah service on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The same melody was also harmonized by Maurice Ravel in 1914.

The holograph manuscript bears a handwritten cover title and copyright information in the composer’s hand, dated Tel Aviv, 30/9/1957. A copy of the holograph, inscribed to Maurice Eisenberg and dated 1961, is housed in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Collection at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

OR-TAV Music Publications has since issued a newly engraved edition using Finale notation software; the original 1970 engraving is now out of print. The following evaluation addresses the edition currently available from OR-TAV in both print and digital formats. The author gratefully acknowledges the Martha Blakeney Hodges Collection for access to original source materials used for comparison.

m. 3 - piano LH missing courtesy bass clef for the lower voice (erroneously missing in the manuscript, too)
m. 4 - piano missing diminuendo
m. 6 - piano LH missing a p on beat 2  
m. 6 - cello part note 3 must be a C-natural, not a C#.
m. 8 - piano LH needs a double dot on note 1 and a 16th note on note 2 
m. 8 - cello part has a mf in the manuscript (MS)
m. 10 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 

m. 10 in OR-TAV (new edition)

My suggestion

m. 13 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 15 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 15 - first edition cello part has an "a tempo." The MS and first edition score do not have this marking.
m. 18 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 21 - piano LH beat 4 needs a B-flat grace note, not a B-natural 
m. 22 - piano LH missing bass clef on beat 3 
m. 22 - piano LH beat 4 has an unnecessary rest, and it is sloppily placed 
m. 24 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 25 - piano LH beat 3 has a D above the G on the 8th note in the MS 
m. 26 - piano LH has a cresc. hairpin on beats 3-4 in the MS 
m. 27 - staff collision 
m. 27 - cello part does not have a note on beat 5 in the MS
m. 30 - piano RH beat 1 rest is misplaced 
m. 31 - beats 1-2 have a dim. hairpin in the cello and piano parts in the MS 
m. 32 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 34 - cello part only has the top D's in the MS. The first edition has the lower voice, too.
m. 35-37 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
mm. 35-37 - piano part has tenuto marks on beats 3-4 
m. 37 - piano LH sloppy notation on beat 2 
m. 38 - m. 10 - piano LH sloppy notation on beats 1 and 3 
m. 43 - the hairpin must be on the piano LH starting on beat 3. mp dim. missing on beat 2 
m. 48 - first edition cello part has a staccato mark. MS and first edition score do not have this mark.
m. 48 - piano RH sloppy accidental placement on beat 1 
 

m. 48 - piano LH beat 4 B-flat must be tied to the next measure 
m. 49 - piano LH sloppy notation on note 1 
m. 50 - piano part has a p on beat 2 in the MS 
mm. 51-52 - piano LH missing 8th rest on beat 1 
m. 53 - piano RH missing a tied over F from m.52 
m. 53 - piano LH beat 1 note F is a half note in the MS 
m. 54 - piano RH rests are not in the MS 
m. 55 - piano half notes have accent marks in the MS 
m. 55 - piano LH beat 1 missing a courtesy natural on note F 
m. 56 - piano note 1 in both hands has an accent mark. 
m. 56 - piano part beat 2 has a marcato under note 2 in the MS
m. 56 - piano RH beat 3, note 2 of the triplet, the middle voice has a C# instead of a D in the MS 

m. 56 in the manuscript

m. 57 - cello part has a dim. hairpin instead of the cresc. in the MS