rare and out of print sheets

[youjean88]

i have recently discovered for myself composers such as alkan and medtner and i was interested in purchasing the collection of their sheet music that dover used to print.  sadly, i find that they are out of print and can go up to about 400$ each.  how do people and professional musicians get a hold of such music when its so hard to find?  any suggestions?

thanks

[thalbergmad]

Well, if you don't mind downloads, IMSLP has got loads of Alkan and i expect Henselt.org has as well.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Alkan%2C_Charles-Valentin

If i want originals, i usually search on abebooks, but as you say, it can be expensive.

Thal

[youjean88]

yea im looking for a book or something. i love collecting things and just sheet music doenst satisfy.

thanks for the site though

[thalbergmad]

I know how you feel, i love books myself. Downloaded sheet music just does not smell the same or have the same appeal.

I don't know what Country you are in, but i have found a reasonably cheap Dover Edition.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1290888818&searchurl=an%3Dalkan%26bsi%3D90%26bt.x%3D44%26bt.y%3D13%26sortby%3D3

Thal

[youjean88]

oh yea i already saw that and i emailed the seller. he apparently doesnt have the book in stock and says hell ship in 3-4 weeks cuz its a special order.  this means he cant get it because he has to order it straight from dover and they dont sell it anymore. ive already tried this. anyone who is selling this book for under 100$ probably doesnt have it and think they can special order it.

thanks for taking your time though.  siiiiiigh... ive asked dover if there is any possibility of them reprinting these books. i await their response

[ronde_des_sylphes]

That's the Alkan reprint with the foreword by Hamelin, isn't it? I've definitely seen in an a couple of specialist UK music stores within the last two or three years, though I would be hard-pressed to recall where.

[ikedian]

When looking for sheet music of this nature, I typically have great success by asking a conservatory library to order it for me.  Obviously you're going to have to kick back a bit to the guy behind the desk, but if it's worth it to you then you should be able to make it worth it to him <:  It's just a matter of finding the right contact that you can trust.

[richard black]

The Dover reprints of Alkan and Medtner do indeed appear to be out of print (except the Medtner Fairy Tales), but they are still in the retail chain - I've seen them in shops recently.

And speaking of Dover, I believe they may have seen sense over their decision a couple of years ago to adopt crummy 'perfect binding' (perfect my ****) - I've spotted a couple of Dover titles sporting a 'New! lay-flat binding' sticker. Let's hope that's policy rather than a momentary blip.