Customer Reviews

Sonatas - Book 1: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)

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

 

 

Beethoven's sonatas are wonderful - this goes without saying. But Schirmer editions, particularly of Beethoven and Mozart, epitomize poor scholarship and sloppy editing. As one of my college piano teachers yelled angrily at me, "Never by Schirmer editions. They are a waste of your money."

Hans von Bulow (the editor of the present volume) is notorious for having constantly interfered with the original musical texts, "improving" upon them in various ways: e.g. inserting markings for dynamics, articulation, etc. where they don't belong. It's incredible to me that this edition is still in use.

For a really authoritative edition of the Beethoven sonatas, I would recommend an Urtext edition by Henle or Vienna. If price is an issue, get the Dover edition of the Beethoven sonatas instead: Ludwig Van Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 1 (Nos. 1-15)
- it's an older edition, but authoritative, having been scrupulously edited by Heinrich Schenker himself.

I bought both of these volumes simply for the sake of completeness--I am neither an avid Beethoven player nor a musicologist--and I have to say that just having these gorgeous books in my library have inspired me to start learning a few! The books are paperback, but the covers are not at all cheap, it is heavy cardstock that stands up to use and abuse. The printing is clear and legible, and seems to be a facsimile of an older edition, but that's characteristic of Schirmer's. Both come with a full Thematic Index (showing the first substantial measure) of all 32 sonatas, allowing you to identify quickly which one is in which book. The best thing is that they are bound to lay flat, and I never have a problem trying to smooth down pages so that they don't flip over when I'm listening to or playing the pieces.

I have only one small complaint. Although the footnotes are copious and incredibly helpful, at times the editor gets a little too excited about writing them. On the first page of one of the later sonatas, there is room for only two staffs, and then the rest of the page is covered in footnotes! It's not even really a complaint, because once the pieces are memorized the book's layout doesn't matter.

Buy these books. You can't beat the price, and the quality is far above any expectation. Dover doesn't stand a chance.

I don't see how I would be able to put anything else than 5 stars for this product. It's extremely helpful and a very interesting edition. Even if you don't agree with anything Von Burlow has to say, he was still the first one to play the whole cycle, and has, therefore, a very valid opinion. However, DO NOT USE THIS AS YOUR FIRST EDITION. Always buy the Urtext first. This edition (just as any other edition; ex Schnabel) should be used as supplement and inspiration only, and not as original score.

Once you have to Urtext of the Beethoven sonatas, I highly recomend to get this product as soon as possible.

What can I say? The standard reference for such classic music with fingerings. I do however object to the fingering for the 3 movement of the Appassionata, but I don't have a very good alternative. The comments by Von Bulow are neat!

My old copy of Beethoven Sonatas Bk.1 (50 years old) is in tatters. I never dreamed that the Schirmer Library edition was still in print, much less that anyone actually had one to sell. When I got it in the mail I was thrilled. Now I can play all those sonatas without worrying about the book self-destructing in my hands.