One of the responses to my earlier post about the MusOpen symphony recording project mentioned a project I had overlooked: the Open Goldberg project has created new public domain scores for the Bach's "Goldberg Variations" using the MuseScore free software musical notation software and is commissioning a studio recording of piano soloist Kimiko Ishizaka performing the pieces, also for public domain release (with CC0).
This is another fantastic confluence of free software, free culture, and crowd-funding, as the project raised over $23,000 to fund the commission. According to the projects' site, the score produced will be peer-reviewed, making them on par with commercially produced scores.
This will be the first release of these 270-year-old works to be fully in the public domain (composition, arrangement, printing, and performance). The recording itself, which has followed a number of public performances in 2011, will be made this January -- in fact, just a couple of days from now as I write this.
Photo: Kimiko Ishizaka at the Piano / PR Photo