Post your recent music/piano investment-purchases

[oxy60]

If it was made of fudge, i would eat it.

Thal

Is that head tuned to a certain pitch?

[chopin2015]

Just got me a 2nd hand Ome Columbine.

Thal

 

It's beautiful!

[davidjosepha]

Another edition of Shostakovich's preludes and fugues. Expensive as all hell, and it's only half of them!


Also got Debussy's preludes. I'm not a huge Debussy fan, but I'm going to read through a few of them and see what I think. Also, this is an excellent book physically, wonderful paper, clear print, nice spacing. Book doesn't stay open quite as easily as some editions, but I'm not having too much trouble with this guy.

[thalbergmad]

Me Clifford Essex Paravox plectrum banjo from 1937.

One of only 6 ever made.

Thal

[austinarg]

Me Clifford Essex Paravox plectrum banjo from 1937.

One of only 6 ever made.

Thal

What do you do with so many banjos?

[thalbergmad]

I play most of them, but generally the latest one replaces the others if it is of sufficient quality.

Thal

[outin]

Another edition of Shostakovich's preludes and fugues. Expensive as all hell, and it's only half of them!

Well, I have the other half...I must not spend more money on them before I can at least play one of the preludes

I have spent a small fortune on sheet music lately...It's not like I don't have enough, but now when I have started doing sight reading more again I want to have a new book/composer every day... And I only buy quality (=expensive) these days if there's a choice, because small notes and bad print quality give me a headache. Haven't even received my latest buys and today I ordered 6 more books

[tdawe]

Another edition of Shostakovich's preludes and fugues. Expensive as all hell, and it's only half of them!


Also got Debussy's preludes. I'm not a huge Debussy fan, but I'm going to read through a few of them and see what I think. Also, this is an excellent book physically, wonderful paper, clear print, nice spacing. Book doesn't stay open quite as easily as some editions, but I'm not having too much trouble with this guy.

Very interested to hear your opinion on the Shostakovich score. I have been studying the opus in some depth for several months now and have been extremely disappointed with my Edition Peters overall.

[unholeee]

arghhh so disappointed. saw an ex demo 2012 model kawai rx 6 for sale a few days ago. didn't tell my friend until we looked at some houses today. so went to the store later in the afternoon. the rx6 it sounded absolutely gorgeous.. blew away the c5, c3, and shigaru we had a look at. and at only 23k!! but was bought by a woman that morning. nooooo. my friend had his hand on his heart..i felt the same. the store - offered 55k on the shigaru 2?? but we didnt like that one. and 45k on an unseen rx7. ;[

[davidjosepha]

Very interested to hear your opinion on the Shostakovich score. I have been studying the opus in some depth for several months now and have been extremely disappointed with my Edition Peters overall.

What all are you disappointed in? Inaccuracies? Print quality? Something else? I've only had the Shostakovich score for a little while, but here. The print is clear. The paper feels firm, but it seems like it's kind of laminated (so I'm not sure how well pencil markings will show). The binding feels firm, although I still need a book to hold it open when I play. As for note accuracy, I have not found any issues thus-far with notes, but I've only been using the 24th prelude and fugue, and I'm not familiar enough with the fugue yet to tell if there are errors.

[ranniks]

Well:



I'm glad this instrument (rented btw, can't afford to buy it yet, maybe in a year orso) doesn't have a horrible sound as the ones I've listened to on youtube. The string sounds are good, but the G string is rough and needs to be treated with strength and precision. Or so I think.

So far I can play twinkle twinkle little star. You gotta start somewhere! Just like I started with Marry had a little lamb on the piano 10 months ago.

[outin]

Well:



I'm glad this instrument (rented btw, can't afford to buy it yet, maybe in a year orso) doesn't have a horrible sound as the ones I've listened to on youtube. The string sounds are good, but the G string is rough and needs to be treated with strength and precision. Or so I think.

So far I can play twinkle twinkle little star. You gotta start somewhere! Just like I started with Marry had a little lamb on the piano 10 months ago.

So now you can learn the violin as well, good for you! Will you be taking lessons?

[ranniks]

So now you can learn the violin as well, good for you! Will you be taking lessons?

Thank you outin.

My third lesson is in a few days.

It's expensive, piano and violin lessons, I can hardly afford it, and my brother tells me I should spend it on a driver's license instead of on music (that includes the piano), but I love music too much for that.

My piano teacher plays two other instruments as well, but I think he would react weird if I told him I'm taking violin lessons too. So I'm not gonna tell him.

Besides, it's not different from learning the piano and guitar, which a lot of people do I think. Both are instruments (although I consider the piano on a league of its own).

[outin]

Thank you outin.

My third lesson is in a few days.

It's expensive, piano and violin lessons, I can hardly afford it, and my brother tells me I should spend it on a driver's license instead of on music (that includes the piano), but I love music too much for that.

My piano teacher plays two other instruments as well, but I think he would react weird if I told him I'm taking violin lessons too. So I'm not gonna tell him.

Besides, it's not different from learning the piano and guitar, which a lot of people do I think. Both are instruments (although I consider the piano on a league of its own).

Good luck! Hope you can find enough time for both...They are both difficult instruments in their own way...

Who needs a driving licence anyway??

[austinarg]

Good luck! Hope you can find enough time for both...They are both difficult instruments in their own way...

Who needs a driving licence anyway??

I've been told you can't drive without it, will confirm.

[outin]

I've been told you can't drive without it, will confirm.

Why would one want to? One can always get a driver  




Or take the bus if you spend too much money on music lessons...

[chopin2015]

I got...Liszt consolations, another Ravel solo piano piece...err...it's La parade, Rach etudes tableaux.

 :I

[zezhyrule]

Just bought the second volume of Beethoven piano sonatas from Henle. Also Bach Inventions/Sinfonias.

[g_s_223]

For a long time I have considered Scarlatti a minor genre (harpsichord) composer, rather unwisely it now appears. Having heard an excellent performance of the 'Cat' fugue, I am now essaying it from this excellent edition:

[tdawe]

What all are you disappointed in? Inaccuracies? Print quality? Something else? I've only had the Shostakovich score for a little while, but here. The print is clear. The paper feels firm, but it seems like it's kind of laminated (so I'm not sure how well pencil markings will show). The binding feels firm, although I still need a book to hold it open when I play. As for note accuracy, I have not found any issues thus-far with notes, but I've only been using the 24th prelude and fugue, and I'm not familiar enough with the fugue yet to tell if there are errors.

Concerns over the integrity of the score, but I'm not sure if any edition is able to address them. If you listen to the recordings Shostakovich himself made of the Preludes and Fugues, there are a plethora of discrepancies with the printed score, with the dynamic and tempo markings frequently being very different to those indicated in the score. Some more research revealed a breakdown in communication between Shostakovich and his publishers so that these never got addressed in his life time, and editors have since taken further liberties.

[davidjosepha]

Concerns over the integrity of the score, but I'm not sure if any edition is able to address them. If you listen to the recordings Shostakovich himself made of the Preludes and Fugues, there are a plethora of discrepancies with the printed score, with the dynamic and tempo markings frequently being very different to those indicated in the score. Some more research revealed a breakdown in communication between Shostakovich and his publishers so that these never got addressed in his life time, and editors have since taken further liberties.

Ah. I have not compared the score against recordings of Shostakovich playing. I own both the Sikorski and DSCH versions of the preludes and fugues (only the latter half in Sikorski), and so far I have noticed no discrepancies between the two. Of course, that doesn't mean that there isn't a discrepancy against the actual intentions of Shostakovich, just that those two scores agree. DSCH is also the edition put out by the official Shostakovich people, or whatever you want to call them, so I would assume (though I have no evidence for this) that it is as accurate as any edition available. I'd recommend against purchasing the DSCH unless you have the means to remove the original binding and spiral bind it, as the pages started falling out of my copy (like, literally detaching from the spine as if they were regular pieces of paper stuffed into a book) within the first couple hours of use.

[the_fervid_pig]

Rather battered but very usable, nice to have Debussy's fingering suggestions too. Obviously been through several hands over the years.

[davidjosepha]

Rather battered but very usable, nice to have Debussy's fingering suggestions too. Obviously been through several hands over the years.

Wow, very cool! I see a 1915 copyright on the cover, is that the latest date? Assuming so, almost 100 years old, pretty awesome. Would you mind taking a picture of part of the score so I can see what it looks like?

[the_fervid_pig]

As requested! There's an inscription inside the cover dating it to 1946. I also have the Waltzes edition of similar vintage. There's notes at the top on a few pages giving dates of exams, performances, teacher's names and lesson times. It appears to have been in regular use for most of its existence.

[davidjosepha]

As requested! There's an inscription inside the cover dating it to 1946. I also have the Waltzes edition of similar vintage. There's notes at the top on a few pages giving dates of exams, performances, teacher's names and lesson times. It appears to have been in regular use for most of its existence.

Nice, looks very cool! Are you going to use it to learn one or more of the nocturnes, or did you get it mostly just because it's cool to have such an old/used score? If the rest of the book is any indication, looks like it's very readable!

[the_fervid_pig]

I'm learning the Nocturne 15/3 from it at the moment. Most of my music is like this, old books stay open on the stand better!

[davidjosepha]

Chopin Mazurkas - Polish National Edition. Pricey, but hopefully worth it. Said it would be about 1-2 weeks before it'd leave their warehouse, and I'm getting impatient...



Bartok Mikrokosmos book 1 - Boosey & Hawkes. Got it to help improving my sightreading. It's nice to start at the very beginning, but I bought it about a half hour ago and am already halfway through it, so maybe I should have started at book 2...Either way, glad I got it.

[the_fervid_pig]

Nice! think it'd drive me mad waiting that long for something, be worth it though! Sight reading's something I need to work on, it's dire. The Mikrokosmos seems a nice way of doing it.

[davidjosepha]

Nice! think it'd drive me mad waiting that long for something, be worth it though!

I'm already going insane, actually! Playing some of my other Chopin in "preparation" haha

Sight reading's something I need to work on, it's dire. The Mikrokosmos seems a nice way of doing it.

I've been in the slow process of reading through all the music I own (of course, the collection grows faster than I can play through it...), and that has improved how quickly I can learn notes and such. However, I'm still not great at actually sightreading even a very easy piece from start to finish without stopping, so hopefully starting with pieces I actually *can* sightread from start to finish will help.

[g_s_223]

I like the fingerings in the PWM Chopin edition: they usually seem to work well after a little study, whereas Henle can sometimes be a bit academic and impractical.

[j_menz]

Said it would be about 1-2 weeks before it'd leave their warehouse, and I'm getting impatient...

LOL. I've waited months for some things!

Bartok Mikrokosmos book 1 - Boosey & Hawkes.

Do you (or anyone) know the difference between the pink and the blue editions?

[davidjosepha]

LOL. I've waited months for some things!

Yes, but I have to start learning one of them soon!

Do you (or anyone) know the difference between the pink and the blue editions?

Languages. Blue is in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese. Pink is English, French, German, and Hungarian. You're in a dilemma--Blue is the better color, but pink is in the language of the composer.

[ajspiano]

Bartok Mikrokosmos book 1 - Boosey & Hawkes. Got it to help improving my sightreading. It's nice to start at the very beginning, but I bought it about a half hour ago and am already halfway through it, so maybe I should have started at book 2...Either way, glad I got it.

Depends I guess, if you start at the beginning you identify all flaws as they arise. "Whats her name" (can't bloody remember right now, she wrote a book on sight reading and advises use of mikrokosmos) suggests working from vol 1 through to vol 4.

I love it, if ever I have a student who lacks confidence in their reading beginning this fixes that so quickly. They suddenly realise that they can read music fluently and start to see a definite path to improvement on more complex examples.

[j_menz]

Languages. Blue is in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese. Pink is English, French, German, and Hungarian. You're in a dilemma--Blue is the better color, but pink is in the language of the composer.

Thanks. No dilemma as I speak only English. Having it "in the language of the composer" is of no additional benefit. That said, I already have the pink set, so good to know I don't need both.

[outin]

Depends I guess, if you start at the beginning you identify all flaws as they arise. "Whats her name" (can't bloody remember right now, she wrote a book on sight reading and advises use of mikrokosmos) suggests working from vol 1 through to vol 4.

I love it, if ever I have a student who lacks confidence in their reading beginning this fixes that so quickly. They suddenly realise that they can read music fluently and start to see a definite path to improvement on more complex examples.

I have considered buying them many times for that exact reason, but also wondered whether to get them all from the beginning...I guess I should.

As a sight reading exercise I recently started from a grade one method book and just worked through it. Even if I could do almost the whole book on one sitting, couple of the pieces proved much more difficult. So I have some idea where the problems start. The reason why method books are so nice is that the size of the print is huge and I don't suffer so much with my eye issues. Can you tell me something about the size of the print in Mikrokosmos?

[j_menz]

Can you tell me something about the size of the print in Mikrokosmos?

A good standard, I would say. Not "big print" but nicely spaced, not cramped and clearly printed. That's the pink version, but the blue should be the same.

[ajspiano]

see for yourself.. my copy comes from here..

www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34501.0

[outin]

see for yourself.. my copy comes from here..

www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34501.0

OK, thanks. I remember seeing that before now. If the print quality was better and I wasn't so uncapable of keeping loose sheets organized I could just use that one. But I really find it a lot easier with books. I hate it when I cannot find the sheet I want from the messy pile on top of my piano and I never can. Also they keep falling off the rack unless printed/attached to really heavy paper. Self binded don't fit on the shelf that well. So I end up buying a lot of stuff that I could print freely from the internet...

[davidjosepha]

Can you tell me something about the size of the print in Mikrokosmos?

Picture that printed in a normal height/width piano book. I'd say it's quite readable, as far as piano music goes. Definitely easier to read than most Boosey & Hawkes I have...

[davidjosepha]

Just purchased on Amazon. I almost never buy my sheet music there, but this was only $4, and I have Prime, so free shipping. If you don't already have these, you don't really have an excuse not to get this! Practically free.

I already have this book, but it is also only $3.99 and definitely worth it.

[outin]

Picture that printed in a normal height/width piano book. I'd say it's quite readable, as far as piano music goes. Definitely easier to read than most Boosey & Hawkes I have...

That was my worry. I hate it when I get good music, but with pale notes and thin lines, editorial markings everywhere on the sheet making it look messy, sometimes with glossy paper as well... I wonder why all the ABRSM editions are like that, is it to make learning to play a little harder? Like no pain no gain?? 

I got some new sight reading material today, 11 children's pieces by Casella. Also got op 24 but those I'd need a magnifying glass to read 

Also got Peters urtext editions of selected works by Liadov and Satie. They are nice.

[tdawe]

Ah. I have not compared the score against recordings of Shostakovich playing. I own both the Sikorski and DSCH versions of the preludes and fugues (only the latter half in Sikorski), and so far I have noticed no discrepancies between the two. Of course, that doesn't mean that there isn't a discrepancy against the actual intentions of Shostakovich, just that those two scores agree. DSCH is also the edition put out by the official Shostakovich people, or whatever you want to call them, so I would assume (though I have no evidence for this) that it is as accurate as any edition available. I'd recommend against purchasing the DSCH unless you have the means to remove the original binding and spiral bind it, as the pages started falling out of my copy (like, literally detaching from the spine as if they were regular pieces of paper stuffed into a book) within the first couple hours of use.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated. I guess the true intentions of Shostakovich for his op. 87 are lost to posterity, we can only wonder.

[outin]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated. I guess the true intentions of Shostakovich for his op. 87 are lost to posterity, we can only wonder.

There's a DVD (Classic Archive) of Tatjana Nikolayeva playing this set and in the short documentary there's something about the creation process. It seems he wrote them in a very short time and it took time before they were published at all. At some point he actually gave his only manuscript copy to Nikolayeva for her to play from. I think she mentioned that there were very few corrections. Maybe these manuscripts still exist in some archives in Russia? I would also expect that she plays them as Shostakovich meant because of their working relationship. Might be worth for you to watch the set if you haven't seen them already.

EDIT:

And of course everything is in YT nowdays, whether copyrighted or not...
Documentary:

I found at least one of the performances too...

[tdawe]

There's a DVD (Classic Archive) of Tatjana Nikolayeva playing this set and in the short documentary there's something about the creation process. It seems he wrote them in a very short time and it took time before they were published at all. At some point he actually gave his only manuscript copy to Nikolayeva for her to play from. I think she mentioned that there were very few corrections. Maybe these manuscripts still exist in some archives in Russia? I would also expect that she plays them as Shostakovich meant because of their working relationship. Might be worth for you to watch the set if you haven't seen them already.

EDIT:

And of course everything is in YT nowdays, whether copyrighted or not...
Documentary:

I found at least one of the performances too...

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes, I was aware of the comments made by Tatiana Nikolayeva but there was no compositional collaboration at all between the two. Nor was there much of a relationship at all: she was simply one of the few willing to champion his works at a time when the composer's name was toxic in the Soviet Union. Whilst this is significant, it is nowhere near the intimate personal relationship I have seen claimed often. Nikolayeva's performances frequently differ drastically from the composer's own. For example, the sixth fugue, Shostakovich plays it at least twice as fast as Nikolayeva.

If you are interested there's a great bit of research done by Denis Plutaov available online, in the form of his Ph.D thesis:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=musicstudent

During the preparation of the premiere of the cycle, tensions began to arise
between Shostakovich and Nikolayeva when she refused to play the pieces according to
Shostakovich‘s suggestions. During rehearsals, Shostakovich did not conceal his
dissatisfaction with Nikolayeva's performance, and their conversations usually proceeded
as follows:
SHOSTAKOVICH: Tatyana Petrovna, you are playing my pieces in a wrong way!
NIKOLAYEVA: Come on, Dmitri Dmitrievich, you don‘t understand a thing in
piano playing

[the_fervid_pig]

Was unaware of it's existence until I came across the sheet music for this, Youtubed it and now I can't get it out of my head. Tried it last night, rags are usually too cheerful for my liking but this has a certain appeal.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Helene Verlag editions of all 32 Beethoven sonatas for 42 dollars.

That's freaking robbery there.

[thalbergmad]

Just purchased the complete works for Piano & Orchestra by Sorabji for the CPS.

Thal

[j_menz]

Just purchased the complete works for Piano & Orchestra by Sorabji for the CPS.

Thal

True institutional dedication. I trust it didn't hurt too much.

[thalbergmad]

Making sure I had spelled everything correctly was a bit of a task.

Thal

[patrickd]