Details matter here. For a given musical performance, there are at least 3 copyrights in action:
1. The copyright on the composition. This can also include arrangements - for instance, Gershwin's original piano version of Rhapsody in Blue is now public domain, but the orchestral version everyone knows,
2. The copyright on the sheet music (the actual layout, spacing, editorial notes, things like that.. it's actually an insanely deep subject. I've got an 800 page book on the subject - which is referred to as music engraving, as up until about 40 years ago it was literally done by engraving the plates by hand. Much much harder problem than doing normal book-style text layout, as it's fully 2D, whereas text is basically 1d with occasional special cases. (NB: This copyright is really only relevant to the musicians, conductors, etc, but it does matter.
3. The copyright of the particular recording. This is the really relevant one. A 5 year old recording of a 500 year old work is very much under copyright.
1. The copyright on the composition. This can also include arrangements - for instance, Gershwin's original piano version of Rhapsody in Blue is now public domain, but the orchestral version everyone knows,
2. The copyright on the sheet music (the actual layout, spacing, editorial notes, things like that.. it's actually an insanely deep subject. I've got an 800 page book on the subject - which is referred to as music engraving, as up until about 40 years ago it was literally done by engraving the plates by hand. Much much harder problem than doing normal book-style text layout, as it's fully 2D, whereas text is basically 1d with occasional special cases. (NB: This copyright is really only relevant to the musicians, conductors, etc, but it does matter.
3. The copyright of the particular recording. This is the really relevant one. A 5 year old recording of a 500 year old work is very much under copyright.