Chopin: Complete Works

[alzado]

I just purchased an edition of Chopin's waltzes complete.  Includes 17 different waltzes. 

I noticed that this is just Vol. 9 of a 27-volume set of Chopin's complete works.  This set has been on the market for quite a while -- I see it is copyright 1950.  Edited by I.J. Paderewski and published in Warsaw. 

The price seemed very moderate to me, and the printing quality is excellent.  I am very fussy about buying sheet music that is printed reasonably large and is pretty easy to read.  This edition really is clear and easy to read.  Also, there's a pretty good commentary on the waltzes at the back of the edition.

Has anyone else had experience with this set of books?   Did you like them?

I have quite a few of the waltzes scattered through various Chopin collections, but have never obtained a complete book of the waltzes before.

[thalbergmad]

I have some of those editions, but not all of them.

My only minor criticism is that a few of mine started to fall to pieces after only a couple of years. They were not very well bound.

In life you get what you pay for.

[alzado]

The "Waltzes" book I described has approx. 120 pages.  This reaches the size where they are very difficult to keep open on the music rack.

Many years ago, we used to be able to take very fat books of piano music and have them done in so-called "perfect bind."  Then they lay flat very readily.

Given these Warsaw editions of Chopin falling apart on you, it is too bad that it's so much harder to have the "perfect-bind" operation done.  Hard, mind you, only in the sense that the small print shops that used to do it are getting impossible to find any more.

It is worth a few $$$  to have large books of piano music made so much more easily handled.

Thanks for your reply --

[faulty_damper]

I thought there were more than 17 waltzes written by Chopin...

[quantum]

I have purchased most of the Paderewski volumes and like them a lot.   You really don't need all 27 volumes, because part of those comprise of orchestral scores and individual parts. 

It's a shame that book binding quality is dropping.  I am starting to see more and more glue bound books instead of those sturdy signature bound volumes that last a very long time.  I have some really old music books from the turn of the century and they are still holding together pretty good, while these new glue bound books start to fall apart the moment you try to lay them flat.