lilypond-web: Reviews
Reviews
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Published articles
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• April 2011
Linux Magazine (http://www.linux-magazine.com) publishes an article
titled Projects on the Move
(http://www.linux-magazine.com/w3/issue/126/088-090_projects.pdf).
It is an introductory article on MuseScore, LilyPond and Chordii.
Author Carla Schroder states “LilyPond is driven from the command
line, but don’t let the lack of a GUI scare you away; LilyPond is
user-friendly and easy to learn”, and provides a hands-on example.
• May 2010
Peter Kirn, on the Create Digital Music website, publishes a
LilyPond review
(http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/05/14/lilypond-free-beautiful-music-notation-engraving-for-anyone/).
He takes a balanced view on usage, praises LilyPond’s high-quality
notation and suggests to try it out.
• September 2009
The German LinuxUser magazine wrote an article about LilyPond
(http://www.linux-community.de/Internal/Artikel/Print-Artikel/LinuxUser/2009/10/Digitaler-Notenschluessel).
• August 2009
Ann Drinan, on the Polyphonic.org
(http://www.polyphonic.org/article.php?id=188) website, presents
comments by two orchestra librarians who talk about using software
to maintain their libraries.
• June 2009
In an article (http://news.lilynet.net/Free-Music-Now) published in
the French _National Conservatory Parent Association_’s yearly
magazine, French composer and LilyPond contributor Valentin
Villenave explains how Free licenses, and specifically
LilyPond-engraved scores, are instrumental in making written music
accessible to all.
• February 2008
In articles on his personal site
(http://www.musicbyandrew.ca/finale-lilypond-1.html), Andrew
Hawryluk compares Finale and LilyPond in general terms, and
evaluates engraving capabilities of both pieces of software in
detail. The second article is an instructive analysis of engraving
issues in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Prelude No. 6, including
comparisons with a hand-engraved reference edition.
• June 2006
DistroWatch (http://distrowatch.com) awards LilyPond and writes
(http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20060605) “Ladies and
Gentleman, we are pleased to announce that, based on readers’
requests, the DistroWatch May 2006 donation has been awarded to
LilyPond (€190.00) and Lua (US$250.00).”
• December 2005
Linux Journal (http://linuxjournal.com) publishes an article titled
Make Stunning Schenker Graphs with GNU LilyPond
(http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8364). It is an in-depth but
hands-on feature article with crisp LilyPond graphics. Author Kris
Shaffer remarks “GNU LilyPond generates beautiful graphics that
make commercial alternatives seem second-rate.”
• August 20, 2005
The Belgian newspaper De Standaard investigates what drives Free
Software authors in an article titled Delen van KENNIS zonder
WINSTBEJAG
(http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=G42H5GD6)
(Non-profit sharing of knowlegde) in its ‘DS2 bijlage’. LilyPond
is used as an example and the article is interspersed with quotes
from an email interview with Jan Nieuwenhuizen. This marks
LilyPond’s first appearance in mainstream printed press.
• June 2005
A French article on the LilyPond 2.6 release appeared on
linuxfr.org (http://linuxfr.org/2005/06/27/19210.html).
• October 2004
The editors of Computer!Totaal, a Dutch computer magazine, describe
LilyPond (http://lilypond.org/website/pdf/computer-totaal.jpeg) in
the October 2004 issue as: “Wonderful free (open source) software
[...] The sheet music produced by LilyPond is exceptionally pretty
[...] a very powerful system that can do almost anything.”
• July, August 2004
Dave Phillips wrote an introductory article for Linux Journal
(http://linuxjournal.com): At the sounding edge: LilyPond, parts
one (http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7657) and two
(http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7719).
• March 2004
Chris Cannam interviewed
(http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/cannam/linux-musician/lilypond.html)
Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen on linuxmusician.com
(original site defunct). This interview was also reviewed in a
slashdot story
(http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/13/2054227&tid=).
• February 2004
Jazz singer Gail Selkirk writes about Diving into LilyPond
(http://www.songbirdofswing.com/editorial_page/lilypond/). “...
you can make lead sheets or full orchestral parts, and the results
can be stunning.” Computer Music Special
(http://www.computermusic.co.uk/), issue CMS06.
User testimonials
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[jpg]
Carter Brey (http://nyphil.org/meet/orchestra/index.cfm?page=profile&personNum=7), Principal Cellist, New York Philharmonic
...........................................................................................................................
“... I’ve written a couple of encore pieces for solo cello which I’ve
printed with LilyPond and which I’m going to submit to Schirmer for
publication. I’ll bet their engraved version wouldn’t look half as
sharp as mine!”
[jpg]
Orm Finnendahl (http://icem-www.folkwang-hochschule.de/~finnendahl/), professor of Composition, Musikhochschule Freiburg
........................................................................................................................
“Although I don’t know [LilyPond] very well yet, I’m **very* impressed.
I used the program to input a motet of Josquin Desprez in mensural
notation and there’s no doubt that lilypond outscores all other notation
programs easily concerning speed, ease of use and look!”
[jpg]
Darius Blasband, composer (Brussels, Belgium)
.............................................
“[..after the first orchestra rehearsal] I got numerous compliments
about the quality of the scores. Even more importantly, while LilyPond
provides numerous hacks to improve the way its scores look, what the
orchestra got from me is basically the raw, untouched output.”
Kieren MacMillan, composer (Toronto, Canada)
............................................
“thanks and kudos to the development team for their incredible work.
I’ve never seen anything approaching the output that I get from LilyPond
– I’m totally confident that my music publishing needs will be fulfilled
beyond my expectations using this great application. [...] basically
untweaked LilyPond output [...] looks better than most recent
‘professional’ publications I’ve compared it to (q.v., just about any
Warner Bros. score, and even many of the most recent by ‘the old
houses’). [...]” “Beat that, Finale/Sibelius/Igor/whatever!!!”
Chris Cannam, lead programmer of the RoseGarden (http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/) project
.........................................................................................
“LilyPond is obviously the zillion-ton gorilla [of great music
typesetting].”
Chris Snyder, Adoro Music Publishing (http://www.adoromusicpub.com/)
....................................................................
“The way that music is entered for LilyPond causes me to think in a more
musical way – there have been times when I’ve been stumped as to how to
tell Lily to engrave something, only to realize that even if I did get
it exactly as the composer wanted, the music would be confusing to read.
LilyPond makes it much easier for me to work in my dual editor+engraver
role.”
“I’ve been using LilyPond exclusively for my fledgling music
publishing business. Virtually without exception, every composer has
been blown away by the quality of the engraving when presented with the
proofs of their music about to be published. I deserve some of the
credit for this – I spend a lot of time tweaking output, especially ties
(mainly in chords) – but LilyPond gives me an excellent starting point,
a very intuitive interface, and the ability to modify absolutely
anything if I want to take the time. I’m convinced that no commercial
product can come close.”
David Bobroff, Bass Trombone, Iceland Symphony Orchestra
........................................................
“I think LilyPond is great [...] The more I learn about LilyPond the
more I like it!”
Vaylor Trucks, Electric guitar player (Yes, related to (http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=userpage&file=content&page_id=12))
........................................................................................................................................................
“I am super impressed with LilyPond [...]”
“THIS IS THE BEST PROGRAM EVER!!!”
“Thank you all SO MUCH for your hard work and dedication!”
Nicolas Sceaux (http://nicolas.sceaux.free.fr/), Mutopia (http://www.mutopiaproject.org/) contributor
.....................................................................................................
“I had a kind of hate-passion relationship with it. Passion because the
first score I saw was so amazing! The description of LilyPond lies
about its beautifulness, it is too modest! [...] as LilyPond is getting
always better, and as I look closer how things are done in scheme, I
have less and less frustrations. Anyway, what I mean is: thank you for
providing LilyPond, it is really good.”
Werner Lemberg (http://www.troff.org/whoswho.html#werner), Conductor at the Theatre in Koblenz, Germany and distinguished GNU Hacker
....................................................................................................................................
“Anyway, LilyPond does an amazingly good job!”
Paul Davis, developer of JACK (http://jackaudio.org/) and Ardour (http://www.ardour.org/)
.........................................................................................
“I think [LilyPond is] an incredible program, and it produces wonderful,
wonderful output. when i read an interview about it last year, i was
raving to several friends of mine about its potential.”
Dr. Mika Kuuskankare (http://webusers.siba.fi/~mkuuskan/), researcher at the Sibelius Academy Finland (http://siba.fi), composer and author of Expressive Notation Package (ENP)
................................................................................................................................................................................
“I have the deepest respect towards LilyPond and towards its creators
and maintainers as I know from personal experience how difficult this
kind of software can be.”
David Cameron (http://camerondh.blogspot.com), Musician, professional typesetter and long time SCORE user
.........................................................................................................
“My heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributes to this project. I was
a power SCORE user for big typesetting houses way back in the ’90s, but
I feel LilyPond finally makes it possible for me to get exactly what I
want on the page, especially when it isn’t "standard" practice.”
If you are aware of any other news articles or testimonals which
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