Quality of pf online scores?

[Bob]

Just wondering about this.

I've heard you should only get Henle urtext.  Other editions are likely to have mistakes.  I'm wondering about where the pf scores come from, what type of quality they are.

[xvimbi]

I've heard you should only get Henle urtext. 

Did you run into a Henle PR guy?

That would be far too simplistic. Henle is certainly one of the better publishers, but by no means uncontested. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. How do you know if a score is correct? You can either trust the authorities, or find an autograph and try to make sense of it. In many instances, there is no "correct" version. Urtext, in many cases, is edited too, although usually a lot less than fully edited versions. I personally enjoy comparing scores (and finding differences).

Regarding the scores on PF (or any other Internet source), I guess only time will tell about their quality. Only if knowledgable people download the scores and check them will we know.

[nomis]

By PF, do you mean this site? If so, most of the scores are public domain editions, and are usually over at least 50 years old. This means that the majority of the scores are heavily edited, but avoids copyright infringement.

[xvimbi]

By PF, do you mean this site?

Oops, sorry. I should have said 'PS'. I'm not quite used to the new site

[bernhard]

I had a look at the J.S. Bach 2 voice  inventions.

They are the Czerny edition, which is heavily edited and considered “wrong” by most purists.

However, like xvimbi, I like comparing scores and I think much can be learned from it. The printing came up with very good quality. Czerny learned his Bach from Beethoven, so this edition can perhaps give you a glimpse on how Czerny (and by implication) Beethoven may have played it. A pretty wonderful feature was that  the original autographs (in Bach’s handwriting) are also available (only for the two voice inventions, unfortunately). They even make good pictures to hang on the walls!

I wouldn’t recommend relying solely on this edition, but it is certainly an interesting extra edition. (My favourite edition is the ABRSM “Signature Series” edited by Richard Jones).

I have just glanced over other pieces, but many of them do not supply the information about the original edition as in the case of the 2 voice inventions.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Bob]

related thread
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,10849.0.html