Starting a music Library

[nmitchell076]

Hello, I'm a Freshman Piano Performance major at Furman University.  Since I came to college I have been purchasing $30 of music every month, and as Christmas is coming up, I have an opportunity to begin my own personal music library.  And wanted to ask you guys about what collections/pieces I should be looking out for, here's my thoughts on the "basic" library that I want to shoot for before expanding into selective works.

"WTC" and "Inv. and Sinf." by Bach
Complete Sonatas of Mozart,  Beethoven, and Hayden
Chopin's Preludes, etudes, and waltzes
Liszt "Hungarian Rhapsodies"
Debussy's Preludes
Rachmaninoff Preludes and Etudes Tabl.
Brahms's collections of piano pieces (such as Op. 117)


First, am I missing anything?  I'm kind of lacking in early romantic stuff and Modern music.  So maybe throw in some Schubert and Mendelssohn, Bartok and.... idk, Ginastera maybe?  What are your thoughts on this.


Second, I know shoot for Urtext on Beethoven and those who came before (and some of the early-to-middle romantics) but what sort of editions should I look for when it comes to people like Rachmaninoff, Bartok, and the like?  If they are out there, I would prefer publications that have a reliable "complete works of..." series, so that I could eventually grab all of that composer's work in the same edition (just for aesthetic purposes of making the library look somewhat professional-looking).

Thank you guys for any and all help you can give!

[richard black]

what sort of editions should I look for when it comes to people like Rachmaninoff, Bartok, and the like?

You won't have a choice in most cases. Composers still in copyright are almost invariably published by a single publisher per work. Practically all of Rachmaninov's works are with Boosey and Hawkes, most of Bartok's with UE. You may find the odd popular piece elsewhere, but not much. Of course, wthin a publisher's catalogue, works may appear more than once, in compilations as well as singly. Thicker volumes are usually better value.

[communist]

You can get the complete piano works of Rachmaninoff on Sheet Music Plus (two publishers have them).

[nmitchell076]

mhm, I see that, thats where the "which is better" thing comes in.  If I'm gonna fork over money for it (especially on a college budget) I want to make sure its reliable or good quality

[quantum]

Go visit a university library.  Look at music that starts with M2, or M3 as the call number.  These are for the most part collected editions of a composer - a persons complete works.  A lot of them are urtext schollarly editions.  Should give you some idea of what to look at for any particular composer.

Keep in mind a lot of the stuff you listed is public domain. You can download it free if you just need to take a peek at the score. 

[birba]

My libarary is an accumulation of stuff over the years, as I needed it.  Never really bought anything I wasn't going to study.  Except maybe the standard Mozart and Beethoven sonatas.  Although, in my later years, I bought quite a bit of contemporary stuff I never learned.

[kevinr]

For a basic list I'd certainly add Schubert's Sonatas, Impromptus and Moments Musicaux.

Also Bach English and French Suites and Partitas.

Chopin Nocturnes, Mazurkas, Preludes, Waltzes, Ballades, Scherzos.

After that though the list is never ending and I'd tend to just buy stuff as you come across it and want to work on it. Then your library will gradually evolve. 

[thalbergmad]

Chopin Nocturnes, Mazurkas, Preludes, Waltzes, Ballades, Scherzos.

Indeed, but i would suggest avoiding the Paderewski Editions as they fall to pieces in 5 minutes and are printed on toilet paper.

Thal

[quantum]

Indeed, but i would suggest avoiding the Paderewski Editions as they fall to pieces in 5 minutes and are printed on toilet paper.

Thal

Not in my experience.  But they have changed things over the years. 

In Canada, we can get either the international print or the one intended for North American distribution.  For the most part they are the same.  International costs three times as much as the North American because of some colour autograph reproductions and some other oddities.

[ara9100]

My music library accumulated over time as i needed it, but you have no mention pf piano concertos, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Bach. The romantic piano concertos are quite al lot more difficult, but still worthwile. Good editions of Mozart are Martinsen, for Beethoven try to find Goldenwizer, And there are many good Bach editions, Buzoni, Goldenwizer...., for Chopin try Oborin. You might also want the Czerny, Liszt,  ligetti, Schumann etudes. You might also want some cycles,They are fun to play.

Ara

[slobone]

I like Henle editions, especially of Bach, even though they may be a little more expensive. But they're well laid out on the page, and the fingering suggestions can be (not always) very helpful.

Which is probably the big issue with "urtext" editions. There may be a few differences of scholarly opinion here and there, but that isn't really important to most of us. So I would go with the one that seems easiest to read and has good fingering. And cost, of course.

But honestly, if your budget is $30 a month, your list seems a little ambitious. Good editions of, say, the Chopin preludes are probably in the $20 range just by themselves.

[ara9100]

20$ for Chopin preludes?!?

In Armenia You can get the whole Chopin Collection for just 50$ and they are really good editions.

[quantum]

20$ for Chopin preludes?!?

In Armenia You can get the whole Chopin Collection for just 50$ and they are really good editions.

What edition is this?

[ara9100]

Oborin, Klindword Paderewski.

But I prefer the oborin, and most of the teachers at the Music collage tell us to get his editions.

[slobone]

I was wrong, you can get the Chopin preludes in the G Schirmer edition on Amazon for $ 7 bucks, and even the Henley for $13 or so. But I still say with a budget of $30 a month for sheet music, you need to be selective.