chopin etudes sheet music

[DJC13]

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to who publishes the easiest to read w/ fingerings version of chopin's etudes?  The fingerings are most important to me.  Also, I don't want it to be an arrangement.  I want it to be the original work with added fingerings.

Thank you

[DJC13]

What do you guys think about books by alfred publishing?  It looks like the music is original w/ edited fingerings.

Thanks

[bernhard]

Editions of Chopin works present the following problems:

1.      First editions were published simultaneously in different countries. Many times there are differences between these editions and no way to decide which one is the correct one.
2.      Chopin kept making alterations on the scores of his pupils.
3.      Chopin kept modifying the pieces after he published them
4.      Given the popularity of Chopin’s works, every publishing house has its own edition. Some good, some bad. The attitude of respect for the composer and trying to keep as close to the original text as possible is a recent one. Most editors before the 1930s modified the pieces by adding fingerings, dynamics and even notes.

Having said that, you should try to get an edition which has Chopin’s original fingerings, since they can be an invaluable clue to the sort of movement he expected you to execute when playing his etudes. Unfortunately Chopin’s fingerings are sparse, so if you want a heavily fingered edition with everything worked out for you, you will probably have to rely on an edition whose fingerings will most likely be different from Chopin’s.

The four most popular editions are Augener, Peters, Schirmers and Ricordi, I don’t like any of them very much.

Then there are the Cortot editions which are a must, even though he uses his own fingerings (at the time he published them Chopin’s fingerings were not widely known – but I doubt this would have stopped him from using his own fingerings).

Finally, the four best editions (in my opinion) are the Paderewsky, the Oxford edition (based on Jane Stirling’s manuscripts which were heavily corrected and added by Chopin himself), the Henle Urtext edition and the Vienna Urtext edition. The Vienna tends to be more comprehensive than the Henle since they used a much larger number of annotated scores (by Chopin) from his pupils, so I would say that if you are interested in the original Chopin fingerings, the Vienna edition is a better bet.

(These are the editions I am familiar with - there are others but I do not know about them).

I hope this helps,
Bernhard.

[Chitch]

Omg buy Schirmer! It's the best you can get your hands on...

[fingerknot]

Anyone who knows where to get the Paderewski edition? At https://www.classical.net/music/books/scores/c.html they state that the Dover edition is by I.P., but at amazon they state that it's Mikuli. A bit confusing...

[SteinwayTony]

I can confirm that Chopin's student Mikuli did the Dover edition.  There is probably confusion because it is the Padarewski "edition," but Mikuli edited it.  However, since I bought the Henle, it's been a while since I studied with the Dover.  If I recall correctly it does not have fingering.  (I am referring to the collection "Complete Preludes & Etudes.")

If you're thinking about the Padarewski, I hear that there is a newer, less expensive "North American edition," and my teacher told me to stay away from it.  The critical commentary in the European edition is apparently worth the extra money.

[pskim]

It seems that Dover used to publish Pederewski editions until a few years ago because the original Paderewski publisher bought the right to publish the works again so Dover can't republish them anymore.  Luckily I bought the Dover edition of the Pederewski's Chopin works before they couldn't republish them anymore.

[steinwayguy]

I have Henle for fingerings, Padarewski for the actual music and Cortot for technical advice.

Henle is the easiest to read, it's the one I started on. But Henle is well known to be mediocre in Chopin, so I went to Padarewski. And then I found out about the Cortot editions . . .