best chopin edition?

[eleena]

Hello everyone!

I would like to buy some Chopin sheet music, but I'm not sure which edition to choose.
I have heard that Paderewski edition is good because that comes from Poland so it's the most original... But Henle urtext editions are the best also.
What do you think?

eleena

[bearzinthehood]

Hello everyone!

I would like to buy some Chopin sheet music, but I'm not sure which edition to choose.
I have heard that Paderewski edition is good because that comes from Poland so it's the most original... But Henle urtext editions are the best also.
What do you think?

eleena

I have both, and both have their merits.  I like the Paderevski fingerings better, but sometimes Henle is more accurate.

[Kassaa]

I heard Paderewski is more free in his editing. I prefer Henle for clarity and it doesn't fall apart after a few uses.

[contrapunctus]

Henle is great because it provides multiple editions of pieces in the appendix (if there are any known) so you can choose which one you like the most.

Such as, the original manuscript and then Fontana's editions, which often disagree greatly.
 

[faulty_damper]

Henle would also be more up to date and include all pieces for a certain genre.  For example, Paderewski Chopin nocturnes are missing some Op.post. nocturnes including the C-sharp minor.

From a readabilty POV, I prefer the Paderewski to Henle - Henle's noteheads are huge black dots that are difficult to read (and this is all their editions).  But Henle is printed on yellowish paper which is easy on the eyes and the newly printed Paderewski is on white paper which is not entirely opaque, either.

Price of Paderewski is very inexpensive compared to Henle which is 3 or 4 times as much.

Durabilty of the Paderewski may be better than Henle, which falls apart after extensive use.  Henle's cover's paper wears very easily and the binding gets the most wear.

Alternative editions of Chopin's works can be found.  Peter's Editions are in the process of publishing Urtext editions of his works.  They currently have the Preludes published. The cover is laminated, the paper is yellowish, but the print is small. 

[mikey6]

There's an edition out recently (well in the past year) that's urstext, but I don't remember the name - it's green and white striped I think ..green or orange.  It's relativley inexpensive compared to Henle and I think they're doing most or all of the Chopin works (as well as others).  Otherwise if you can get it, Konemann was always a good option.

[henrah]

What is urtext?

[mikey6]

Urtext are 'clean' copies pretty much.  As in, it's what the composer has written - no editing.  Henle, Konemann, the new Peters are Urtext except they occassionally have fingering.

[quantum]

I prefer Paderewski, and own most of the set. 

There is also the Jan Ekier National Edition.  There is a substantial amount of scholarly research into the edition.  It's quite pricy though, but worth it if you want high quality.