Hey everyone
I know this may seem totally random! But, I was wondering which editions everyone used for their music and why. As I am at music college, as part of our performance practice module we have to study editions and which editions show the composers intentions i.e. urtext and which are teaching editions i.e. ABRSM so I was just wondering which type of editions people tended to use. Hope this makes sense!

It varies between composers. I'll chip in a few bits and pieces based on my experiences .

For Bach, I like the Neue Bach-Ausgabe published by Bärenreiter. Not only is the music well type-set (large pages, crisp writing - makes AB editions look smudgy and cluttered in comparison) but as much of the original notation for ornaments etc. is preserved as is reasonably possible. The result is the odd squiggle that one wouldn't find in other editions, but the big advantage is that one isn't tied into playing what a modern editor thought a given ornament should be played as - one can do anything that fits Bach's original intentions. There also aren't any fingerings written on the score, so I sometimes cheat and look at what is suggested in the AB edition - or the 'playing with stabilisers on' edition as I call it .

For Beethoven, I do quite like the AB editions but recognise their short-falls - student editions, as you say. I cross-reference with the Henle edition if I'm learning something properly.

Chopin - Wiener Urtext. If only for the flexible binding that doesn't close itself on the piano . Seriously, though, it has plenty of alternatives given when the sources were conflicting and is a good scholarly edition.

Scriabin - M. P. Belaieff. Scriabin's publisher, so I thought it seemed quite fitting .

Thanks for that!!
I also use ABRSM for Beethoven, as ABRSM have really good comments by Tovey that run alongside of it and I usually reference it alongside Peters and Henle editions.

I will look at the edition of the Bach that you have mentioned.

Thanks for your help

I am a big fan of the Barenreiter urtext editions for similar reasons to YAP - no mucky editing, beautifully set out and printed, very clear to read - they're also beautifully bound, in general, and all the flute editions I have are printed on a nice creamy paper which as well as looking beautiful is also easier to read, or seems to be. As a flautist, big thick books that fall off music stands aren't *usually* a problem as much as for pianists!

Obviously quite a lot of music isn't available in these editions, but no others stand out for me offhand as being particularly good. The Barenreiters also often have some good notes about the pieces which is both interesting and useful, it wouldn't make up for rubbish editions but it's a nice bonus in already excellent ones!

I like the Henle urtext best for the following reasons:

• They are easy to read
• They usually have good fingerings
• They have some useful information on the pieces
• It is easy to see which marks are editorial, and have good explanations of why they are made
• You can erase your pencil markings without erasing the music
• They are very affordable
• They have a nice professional looking blue cover

I like Barenreiter very much too, but they tend to be more expensive so I usually prefer the Henle.

I use the editions I can get hold of! So, a wholemisture, although I dislike the AB piano books - I don't like being told which finger to use, or how they reckon I should play a mordent! The one Barenreiter urtext I have is very nicely laid out, and all in one piece because I discovered I didn't really like the piece I'd bought.

Generally, I go for Henle.

Other advantages of using the Henle include the extensive research and scholarship that goes into their scores (they have received awards for this) and also the score layout that allows easy page turns which is extremely user friendly!

Obviously, certain composers are associated with certain editions and I would consult these.

My Beethoven sonata is a Weiner Urtext (Schott/Universal) because it's the one the music shop had (other than AB which I didn't want). Anyone know how this edition might be different from a Henle (which I usually use)?

I like to use urtext editions where possible, as I don't like editors telling me what to do. I've found the Henle ones to be much more durable than the Wiener ones, which always seem to fall apart (I do carry my music around a lot, as I practise in different places). I also often buy Dover books as they give you an enormous amount of music for your money & are very clear, although they can be hard to keep open on the piano.

My volumes of The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book are a Dover Edition, reprinted from a much older edition which is now out of print. The FVB is also not available from any other publisher. My main gripe would be that they're a reprint of an older edition with 'corrections', and although some of the corrections do fix typographical errors in the original score, some of them destroy Byrd's intentions - Elizabethans were no strangers to false entries, but the editor must have been .

Bah

I qute like the Alfred editions for Chopin, epecially the spiral boud ones as they stay open on the music stand! But for Mozart I use the ABRSM edition, and although I have Edition Peters for Beetoven I don't like them because they're so heavy to carry around...

Henle or Wiener Urtext for Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, and some Brahms and Schubert and Schumann, but the Paderewski editions of Chopin if possible, although I also have a fair few AB editions of things. Rachmaninoff is Boosey & Hawkes, I think...... French editions of Debussy and Poulenc.......

Moomalade, did you have a particular instrument in mind, by the way, or are you just researching any and all?

Tovey's comments I find irritating. Craxton took whole phrases which Beethoven wrote for one hand and put them in the other, he messed with Beethoven's phrasing and preferred to make it look nice on the page rather than making it easier to play: The first few bars of the second movement of the Pathetique are a good exapmle.

Given the choice between Craxtons corruptions or the Beethoven original as rendered in an Urtext edition, I would trust Beethoven to have a better idea of Beethoven's intentions every time.

i use weiner urtext for beethoven editions

I am looking at all instruments with regards to editions which are the best for that particular instrument.

OK I imagine one of the answers for most instruments will be "it depends which music"....