Brahms's exhortation to his friend Joseph Joachim to “go ahead and make some decent cuts in the violin part and the score!” was followed with diligence and creative spirit by Joachim. For over 100 years now there has been nothing new to interpret in the Urtext of Brahms's own piano reduction; today, our interest focuses more strongly on the transmission history of the concerto, which is closely connected with Joachim, especially the important role he played in giving the solo part its definitive form. Thomas Zehetmair has produced a compendium of all the sources to the solo part and provided commentaries on them. In brief, he has provided everything that a violinist needs for a historically informed interpretation. The new edition contains:
1. the solo part based on the first edition of 1879 with the additions by Joachim that Brahms approved of.
2. the solo part prepared by Thomas Zehetmair, without Joachim's additions of 1879 but with further additions of Joachim from the following edition of 1905. These include interpretation suggestions and metronome markings.
3. cadenzas by Joseph Joachim and Thomas Zehetmair.