online PDFs replacing traditional music

[Rach3]

First of all, to the recent surfeit of posters asking for common public-domain music like Chopin and Liszt, please start with these three links, you will find most of what you're looking for:

https://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/

https://www.abrahamespinosa.com/partituras2.htm

https://www.gamingforce.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48704 (yes you have to register)


Given that, does anyone here actually learn major repertoire (Beethoven, Chopin) from public-domain scores (as opposed to print Urtext)? Is this troublesome? I'm wondering because I always assumed there's a major musical advantage to using carefully annotated (and pricey) Urtext, and getting a very clear view of the composers' intentions - or is it not as critical as I think? Please propose your opinions.

-Rach3

[Goldberg]

I much prefer using a book, but if I'm in need of a quick solution, or especially if it's just a showpiece that I usually end up changing around anyway and don't require much textual accuracy (La Campanella, for instance, which incidentally I also own in the Dover edition of the etudes), I'll go for the internet version---and usually it's not like there's a huge problem with those anyway. The other time I like using those is, of course, when you absolutely can't find the pieces anywhere else like, say, Czerny's Fantasie on Il Puritani. It's not like I've exactly been looking specifically for that piece, but I downloaded it out of curiosity on the Italian website and it's been great to look through, if not necessarily play.

But if I can find it in a good book, and have the money to buy it, I usually do. In fact, a lot of the time I even end up buying things I have on the computer, mainly because practicing from the book is more convenient (if you want to play through several pages you just turn them instead of spreading them out, and I hate having the loose papers falling from the piano...I guess it's good incentive to memorise as soon as possible though). That being said, the last two pieces I've learned all the way through have both been in computer print-out: HR6 and the Liszt-Busoni Campanella.