Liszt and Chopin editions.

[54545]

I'm currently doing research on Liszt and making my own urtext edition and was wondering which of the following edition is better and why and what the strength and weakness of each:

1. Liszt Stiftung, published by breitkopf and hartel, edited by F. Bussoni

2. New Liszt edition: published by EMB (edito musica budapest)


My other question is that I may be interested in learning chopin's first Ballade but I have 10 different editions at my disposal not to mention excess to about 12 more editions. I was wondering which of the following editions are good and reliable for chopin. I know urtext seems to be the standard these days but I want to really what are the strengths and weaknesses of each edition I have listed so I can consider my options more carefully:

1. Mikuli edition
2. Klindworth edition
3. Paderawski edition
4. Peters edition (edited by Herman Scholtz)
5. French/German/English first editions
6. Henle
7. lemond edition
8. other(s)

[quantum]

For Chopin look at the Ekier Edition (National Edition of Chopin Works).  It is a scholarly edition that has been very recently authored.  My second pick would be with Paderewski.

I found Henle tended to favor German sources, and felt rather in the dark regarding the editorial decisions made. 

[stevebob]

I’m familiar with the majority of Chopin editions on your list.  I can offer a few comments, but ultimately one’s choice of a study score depends on the criteria that are most important to the individual musician.  My own priorities are fingerings that are both plentiful and congenial to me personally and an engraving format that presents the music in a spacious layout; on those bases, I’ve been very satisfied with the editions of Rafael Joseffy published by G. Schirmer (at least for the genres of Chopin that he edited, which unfortunately excludes the etudes, polonaises and sonatas).

Regarding others:

Mikuli was Chopin’s pupil.  Consequently, he’s generally regarded as having unique insight into Chopin’s own principles and methods, and his editions are considered to adhere closely to Chopin’s own practices.

Klindworth is one of the most unorthodox editors, in my opinion.  I would describe his editions as aggressively overedited; he seemed to have a fascination for finding inner voices in the music and making them explicit in the notation, and he sometimes even changes the durations of notes to serve that purpose.  His insights can be illuminating, but I find the result overzealous and indulgent.

The Paderewski editions have the benefit of editorial commentary (concerning matters such execution of devices like trills and appoggiaturas) and extensive notes that inventory, measure by measure, the main discrepancies among the first published editions (and manuscript, where applicable) in details such as note values, articulations and chord voicings; the Henle edition offers such comparisons as well.

The Scholtz edition published by Peters is very cramped in layout, but a new series of scholarly editions is in preparation by that publisher.  The Ballades are already available:

https://www.edition-peters.de/cms/englisch/general/produkt.html?product_id=EP7531

There’s another new and noteworthy edition, too, edited by Jan Ekier and published by PWM; it’s distributed in the U.S. through Theodore Presser:

https://www.presser.com/marketing/keyboard/chopin/ekier.htm

The first editions published in England, France and Germany are a valuable resource to consult.  The University of Chicago has made them available online at Chopin Early Editions, and the Chopin’s First Editions Online website has an interactive display that allows three editions to be scrolled, zoomed and compared simultaneously.

[lohshuhan]

While looking through the Professor Jan Ekier's edition of the Chopin Ballades, i was very shocked to see a very major printing error in it for one entire phrase.. 

If someone could send me the 3 pages before the coda, with bar numbers, i'll be able to identify it.. 

[rachfan]

For Chopin, although it's not an urtext edition in the modern sense of the term, I still like and use the Paderewski Edition.  The editorial committee was not always consistent in making choices, and did sometimes pick and choose among the alternatives.  Nonetheless, it was a scholarly effort and the commentaries were always well researched and remain quite helpful.

For Liszt (and this will definitely surprise you) I like the Schirmer Edition edited by Rafael Joseffy.  He was one of the best editors of all time.  Moreover, he worked hand-in-hand with Liszt throughout that edition which speaks highly for its authenticity.  And when it comes to suggested fingerings, Joseffy was not only ingenious, but is still unrivaled in my opinion.

[54545]

Thanks for the advice. I never would of guessed his edition (Josefy's) was so good. I do have the sonata in B minor that he edited and it is the best I've encountered.

Unfortunatly his edition of the hungarian rhapsody no 2 is not as good as I thought since the first cadenza differs dramatically with the first edition.