Customer Reviews

The Complete Preludes & Etudes: For Solo Piano

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Chopin Etudes are some of the most difficult and interesting pieces to master, and I find then fascinating. However, Carl Mikuli creates an obstacle in this book. Mikuli, being one of Chopin's dear students, thought that because he was a student of Chopin he knew Chopin enough to change his music. While editing Chopin's works, he would change notes, fingerings, and other important articulation tools to the liking he believed was Chopin's. When comparing Chopin's original transcripts to those that Mikuli edited, there are huge differences that make the music quite different to what Chopin had hoped. I personally recommend Chopin's works edited by Paderevsky (or Paderewsky), for he kept every single aspect of the music Chopin wrote, even specific dynamic marks. The Paderevsky editions give a clear understanding of what Chopin wanted for his pieces.

Speaking of correcting misinformation, this is definitely *not* the Paderewski edition. The Mikuli and Paderewski editions are certainly not the same, although if you look in the commentary in the back of any Paderewski Chopin score, you will find that the Mikuli is one of the many sources that were consulted for the Paderewski.

Dover used to publish a reproduction of the Paderewski edition years ago, and it was wonderful. Unfortunately, they no longer seem to do so.

Fingering is important, especially to pieces like the Chopin Etudes. In many places Mikuli's suggestion is misleading. The main problem is that he often recommends the 4th finger when 3rd finger should be used. 4th finger is our naturally weak finger. Instead of trying to make it strong (which Schumann attempted with tragic results), we shall avoid it when possible. Chopin is also known to have his own unique fingering for these etudes, but Mikuli did not include these on the edition (ironic since he claimed to be a student and adherent of Chopin's teaching). In many places he did not mark the fingering (when advice is needed) at all. In hindsight it is agood thing (rather than giving people the wrong advice). That forced me to figure out my own figuring. In some places I used his bad suggestion, only to change it after hours of practice, which have all been wasted! His pedal instructions are satisfactory in most part. I still gave this book a 3 star because it is relatively cheap and includes both the etudes and the preludes. (but nowadays you can download free sheetmusic like this from the web).

At first I was worried about getting this edition due to some of the other reviews associated with it. However, I got it anyway, because there's really not much other choices out there. Afterward, I looked around the internet and found a tutorial for some of the etudes and the fingerings from this were really right on. It was SUPPOSE to be THAT difficult... no kidding - it's Chopin. Of course I haven't went through all of it, but so far so good.

This is arguably THE edition for Chopin's Preludes, and not much needs to be said about it, except correcting some false information presented by reviewers below, particularly the one that recommended the Paderewski edition over this version, which is edited by Mikuli. This version IS the genuine Paderewski edition! Paderewski did not edit this volume, Mikuli did.

Mikuli did a lot of research on how Chopin taught his music to his students along with many interviews with his close friends and family members. Paderewski's edition is based on Mikuli, and I find both pretty much the same. As far as the fingering goes, this edition has the best fingering. Yes, we do have weaker 4th fingers, but if you are a serious piano student, you know that you have to strengthen those fingers along with your pinkies. If you still don't like to use #4, then change it to #3. And I wish you luck on playing trills especially when you HAVE TO use #4.

This is the best value, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

This is one volume in a series of the complete Chopin piano compositions. It is the best collection, with biographical and musicological essays at the beginning of each volume, a nice, easy to use index, and photocopies of original scores which are fascinating to look at for any Chopin fanatic.