Customer Reviews

Keyboard Music (Dover Music for Piano)

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

 

 

Dover publishing has succeeded in printing a very affordable edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft editions of these major Bach works. The only complaint is that the print is rather small, so there's not much room to write in fingering,of which there are none. So this book, by the nature of the music and the lack of fingering, is not for the beginner.

That's the only complaint that prevented a five-star rating. Recommended, despite the print size!

The Bach-Gesellschaft Edition, the definitive catalogue of the composer's keyboard (not organ) works, is reproduced in its entirety in this inexpensive edition by Dover. This is the best collection you will find of the Bach clavier canon outside of the Neue Bach Ausgabe catalog of his entire musical output. Though I have to admit that the print is rather small and difficult to read in places, I've grown accustomed to reading microscopic Baroque scores and had no unusual difficulty playing from the pages. Dover publishes great books at the lowest prices, from Thrift Editions of poetry, short stories, and novellas, to classical music scores, and this edition is perhaps the best value of the latter. Though not as 'standardized' as Schirmer and Carl Fischer, nor as studious as the Urtext version of Bach offered by that conservatory favorite G. Henle Verlag, Dover's Bach-Gesellschaft delivers enough bang for the buck (Bach) to win over both my wallet and a place in my score library.

P. S. This book is not recommended for beginners.

Like all the Dover editions I've seen--and I own quite a few--this is great value for the money, but for some reason they've printed this one in a slightly smaller format than, say, the Beethoven Sonatas, the Debussy album or the Chopin albums. WHY? The print is just small enough that an oldtimer like me has to squint and strain to see the notes. So, when I'm learning a piece from this book, I take it to the office and photocopy it, enlarging the pages 15% (which is about as big a size as will fit on a standard sheet of paper)--then it's just about right!

This extremely cheap edition of some of Bach's works by no means surprises you with its quality. In some cases, ink is missing from the sides of notes (making them look like crescents rather than noteheads) and the staves are terribly small.
Also, if you're playing piano while reading it, be prepared to crane your neck a good bit as it's nearly impossible make it lie flat.
If you want something with great quality, and not as expensive as a Henle edition, buy it from either Schirmer (at the risk of getting wrong notes thrown in) or Alfred Masterworks (which I also have. It's very good indeed, although slightly pricey)

There's plenty of great music here, but the print is too small in my opinion to be easily visible from a piano bench. And there are no fingerings provided.

For these reasons, I'd calling this a "study edition" rather than a "performing edition."

Bach's English Suites, French Suites, Partitas, Goldberg Variations, Inventions & Sinfonias in one well-produced volume. Priceless music for such a low price. It doesn't get much better than this.

This reprint of the Bach Gesellschaft of the English Suites, French Suites, Partitas, Goldberg Variations, and 2 and 3 part inventions is well worth the price. Though the edition has been superseded in accuracy by the Henle edition, this is a far better value. To become acquainted with these gems, this volume is exceptionally fine. Also handy is the fact that all these works are put together in a small, portable, not-too-heavy volume. That is especially handy for packing as one of those "just in case I get stranded on a desert island (with a piano!)" music books when traveling. So, though the Gesellschaft edition is not always the best, the price and portability are great.

No more comments... this is part of Bach production! Fantastic and in an original format!