IMSLP Forums

I'm surprised to find that some of Gieseking's scores (including the [i]Quintet [/i]for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, and the [i]Sonatine [/i]for flute and piano), which are not public domain, can be downloaded from the IMSLP while others (e.g., the [i]Variations on a Theme by Grieg [/i]and the [i]Strauss Transcriptions[/i]), which are similarly non-public domain, cannot. There is undoubtedly a very simple reason behind this apparent incongruence, but I'd be grateful if someone could explain it to me.
Florio

The situation, which has been discussed numerous times on this forum, is those files non-PD in the US are currently blocked. When they become available again is up in the air.

Thanks Daphnis, yes I realise that. What I cannot understand is why some of the scores are public domain in the US while others are not.
Surely Gieseking's date of death remains 1956. Moreover all of the scores contributed to the IMSLP (several of them by yourself) were first published after 1922. As regards the Sonatine for flute and piano, the edition uploaded is in any case an American reprint dating from 1990, which must surely be copyright. I'm happy to have found it on the IMSLP, but am curious as to why the Variations on a Theme of Grieg are not public domain as well. Forgive my ignorance if I fail to have grasped the basic concept underlying the distinction

The 1923 cut-off date for public domain-ness isn't absolute. In the case of the Sonatine you mentioned, it was published in '37 but was either failed to be renewed or published with an incorrect copyright notice, either of which placed in the public domain. And as for the reprint date, reprinting a score grants or implies no copyright extensions or terms; by 1990 it was already in the public domain. The short story is if it was published before 1923 it's public domain, and if was published thereafter, some investigation is in order to determine which of several conditions failed to have been met.