Who's a good Chopin editor?

[Bob]

I've already got this.... I think.
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/complete-preludes-and-etudes-for-solo-piano-sheet-music/3490403?utm_medium=cpc&adpos=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Yi75rOv6QIVBkqGCh2BnAa0EAQYASABEgKyGPD_BwE&d=sem_sidecar&d=sem_sidecar&d=sem_ggl_{campaign_id}_&popup=false&popup=false&utm_source=google&ac=1&country_code=USA&sc_intid=3490403&scid=scplp3490403

The cover looks almost the same.  But I've got "The Paderewski Edition"

edited by
Ignacy Jan Paderweski
Ludwik Bronarski
Jozef Turcynski


I'm not sure who recommended that to me, but either way I got it, it's from the same person's recommendation.  I guess I'd go with that person recommendation though.


Is this a decent Chopin editor?  Who else is there for editor or performance editions?

[samwitdangol]

My teacher told me that Jan Ekier is the best Chopin editor. He edited for the National Polish Edition, but you find him in other editions sometimes as well. The International Chopin Piano Competition recommends using the National Polish Edition, so it is probably the edition that best serves the Chopin's intentions. Henle is also good.

[quantum]

Dover apparently used more than one published source for Chopin over time they have been printing.  So you might have the Dover reproduction of the Paderewski.

As samwitdangol stated above, the National Polish Edition (Ekier) is recommended.  Paderewski is also recommended.  The Ekier is newer, thus is reflective of more recent scholarship. 

[daniloperusina]

No answer to your question, but Chopin is problematic.
The basic problem is that Chopin himself "edited" his own music several times. Typically, there might exist a manuscript, then he sent it to a publisher in London, then changed it slightly and sent it to Berlin, then changed it slightly again and sent it to Paris. Then his own pupils might have come to him with an edition and played for him from it, and he wrote in som changes in the score. Any editor of Chopin´s music thus have to take all this into consideration and figure out what an edition true to Chopin´s intentions actually should look like. Since the man himself changed his mind all the time, what´s a poor editor to do? The best is of course to include as much of this as possible in an edition, and let the performer him/herself decide.

[quantum]

One could also take the position that a given manuscript is what Chopin thought at a particular point in time.  There is no right or wrong version, just thinking about the same piece differently.  Pick a version, and play it.  Or pick multiple versions and contrast them. 

Chopin liked to improvise.  It might be a good idea to keep the spirit of that idea alive, rather than searching for that definitive version of a piece. 

[v1ct0r]

My teacher has over 40 years of experience and is a master of phrasing and fine detail and amazing background in interpretation and theory and harmony. He recommends the paderewski for the great pedal markings up to date, and the decent phrase markings and very helpful fingerings. Do not get Henle because Chopin did not write many markings in his music so you’ll get a blank slate plus my teacher knows the head of Henle and he admitted he frequently let’s his friends who need money edit pieces who have little to no experience interpreting, researching, or analyzing works of music. Plus Paderewski puts notes of changes they make in the back and combine the three best versions of chopins works: German and French which Chopin oversaw, and the Mikuli edition (Mikuli was Chopin last student where he I putted notes and other markings in his music sort of a last touch.

[v1ct0r]

Henle is the worst because Chopin did not write many markings in his music so you’d just be paying for an empty slate with outdated pedal markings. It depends on what work of Chopin you are referring to. There is not one good editor for all his works it depends. Schirmer Joseffy is best for the waltzes, the mazurkas the schirmer Mikuli, the ballades Kalmus, the polonaises Paderewski, nocturnes joseffy schirmer, etudes Paderewski, impromptus Paderewski, u see not just one editor 

[samwitdangol]

Henle is the worst because Chopin did not write many markings in his music so you’d just be paying for an empty slate with outdated pedal markings.

I disagree.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

By only including the markings that Chopin wrote, Henle is accurately displaying Chopin's intentions.
I am using Henle for Chopin's nocturnes and I have barely encountered any outdated pedal markings. Every piano is different; a certain pedaling may work on one piano, but will not work on another. It is up to the pianist to decide whether a pedal marking is antiquated or not.