Best Edition on The Beethoven Sonatas

[pianoman1800]

I have the Henle urtext edition of the Beethoven sonatas. I also want to have an edited edition. Which one should I take? I am considering Schnabel, ABRSM or the Arrau edition, which are all edited. I am open to your thoughts and suggestions.

[quantum]

I've got the Arrau.  It is closer to an urtext then an edited edition.  Fingerings are useful though. 

[michaeljames]

I have the Henle urtext edition of the Beethoven sonatas. I also want to have an edited edition. Which one should I take? I am considering Schnabel, ABRSM or the Arrau edition, which are all edited. I am open to your thoughts and suggestions.

I have the Henle editions, too...in two volumes.  I also, however, have several of the Sonatas in sheet music from Schirmer.  I cannot believe how completely different Schirmer is from the Henle.  So much more "interpretive editing."  I don't know whether it's good or bad.

Same goes for my Chopin collection.  I have several different publishers' editions of all of his works.  The Schirmer, again, has so many changes from Henle, Kalmus and the Polish edition (cannot think of the name of the publisher, but they're edited by Paderewski.)  I never know which is correct.  I do like Josephy's editing (Schirmer) and get some ideas from him, but I don't incorporate every change he proposes.

Haydn Sonata in D (cannot think of the Hob. no) is the same way.  The Henle bears very little resemblance to the Schirmer sheet music. 

I wish there was not so much confusion among the different publishers. It makes it difficult to stay true to the composer's intentions.

[symphonicdance]

I have Peters (ed. by Arrau), ABRSM, Schirmer (ed. by Bulow), "some" Henle (individual pieces), and, from performance perspective (esp. pedal), Budapest (ed. by Weiner), which I prefer most.

[starlady]

I like Tovey.  He talks about how to play the darn things.  --s.

[keyboardkat]

I would love to be able to find a copy of the Liszt edition.   I understand that, for example, he discovered an ingenious redivision of the hands in the fugue of the Hammerklavier, making those jumps much easier to play, and you can't hear the difference.   

[j_menz]

I would love to be able to find a copy of the Liszt edition.   I understand that, for example, he discovered an ingenious redivision of the hands in the fugue of the Hammerklavier, making those jumps much easier to play, and you can't hear the difference.   

They were republished by Zen-on.  Here's volume 2 at Amazon UK, where you can probably find the rest.

[pianoman1800]

They were republished by Zen-on.  Here's volume 2 at Amazon UK, where you can probably find the rest.

A thousand thanks to you, j_menz! I did not even consider the Liszt Edition becquerel I never thought there where any more publications on his edition, but I was obviously wrong!

[apmapmapm]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I was unaware of an Arrau edition and seeing as his interpretations are wonderful, I'd love to obtain these - one user said they were close to Urtext editions!
I have the Schnabel edition which I think is excellent - it offers fingerings and suggestions for difficult matters of interpretation. I never spent too much time on the classical repertoire so these matters are of special interest to me.
I also have the ABRSM (Edition Barry Cooper) edition which is great if you're looking for the complete set, as it includes the first 3 sonatas which were published in 1783 as a set. I'd like to note that the edition is wonderful for historical information - meticulously researched.
Each volume - there are 3 - includes a small supplement in the back (Commentaries) which discuss each sonata in a bit more detail as well as addressing some interpretation matters. A CD Guide is also included for each volume.



What these volumes do NOT include are fingerings, and I know many wish to have expert fingerings on the scores to facilitate the learning process but that is not the case here. Overall, it is a great URTEXT edition as it relies heavily on original sources.

[pianoman1800]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I was unaware of an Arrau edition and seeing as his interpretations are wonderful, I'd love to obtain these - one user said they were close to Urtext editions!
I have the Schnabel edition which I think is excellent - it offers fingerings and suggestions for difficult matters of interpretation. I never spent too much time on the classical repertoire so these matters are of special interest to me.
I also have the ABRSM (Edition Barry Cooper) edition which is great if you're looking for the complete set, as it includes the first 3 sonatas which were published in 1783 as a set. I'd like to note that the edition is wonderful for historical information - meticulously researched.
Each volume - there are 3 - includes a small supplement in the back (Commentaries) which discuss each sonata in a bit more detail as well as addressing some interpretation matters. A CD Guide is also included for each volume.



What these volumes do NOT include are fingerings, and I know many wish to have expert fingerings on the scores to facilitate the learning process but that is not the case here. Overall, it is a great URTEXT edition as it relies heavily on original sources.

Thank you for your post-do you know if the individually published ABRSM edition with Barry Cooper has fingerings?

[apmapmapm]

No fingerings whatsoever. It presents the music as it is.

[pianoman1800]

Thank you. Do anyone know about the Liszt edition

[apmapmapm]

I've seen the Liszt edition and it is just a re-print. I am not aware of fingerings or if there are any mistakes in it, although I believe - after reading the 3-volume Walker bio -that there was more negative things about it than positive ones, but I'd have to find those pages to confirm anything.

[pianoman1800]

And to all of you guys, what do you think about the Budapest Edition and the Wiener Urtext Edition?

[54545]

Thank you. Do anyone know about the Liszt edition

If anyone is interested, I found a link to some of the beethoven sonatas Liszt edited, among other works. I will warn that his editions does contain some errors but is still interesting from an academic perspective.

The link is below:

https://imslp.org/wiki/S%C3%A4mmtliche_Compositionen_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van)

[pianoman1800]

Ok, the Liszt edition might not be the best. There does not seem the are fingerings, does it?

[54545]

Any fingering provided by the Liszt edition was given by Beethoven. Liszt adhered to the original intentions of the music as best he could. He did make minor corrections to the text if he thought they were engraver errors. Otherwise he tries to make the edition like a urtext.

[pianoman1800]

Ok. Maybe I shall choose between Peters (Arrau), Budapest or Wiener urtext. What do you guys think? Realt don't want a bad edition!

[54545]

Peters is usually good, but I use a very old edition that is available on this website and sadly it is not as accurate. The only other edition I have that is very good is Vienna universal edition that Dover publishes. You can also get it for free at imslp.org  It is edited by Schenker and has important footnotes that don't clog up the score.

Henle is also ok but can be expensive. If you want cheap and accurate, Vienna universal is probably the best budget edition available.