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I'm interested in getting Book 2 of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Is the Henle worth the price over the Schirmer edition?

*Y*E*S*

I wonder which is 'the' Schirmer edition nowadays (given that you could once choose from WTC editions by Bischoff, Czerny and Hughes). The Search feature at their website is so ridiculous that it's not even possible to tell.

At Sheet Music Plus, it appears that the Czerny is still in print. And it's also public domain at IMSLP/Petrucci! Considering that Schirmer abandoned quality bindings with sewn-in pages in favor of cheaply glued guaranteed-to-fall-apart bindings decades ago, I wonder why anybody would buy it.

Don't get Schirmer's Czerny edition.

-Daniel

Ok, thanks for the replies. It's Henle for me.

YES!

Schirmer should burn. If you can, get Barenreiter.

Their editions of Rachmaninoff's 2nd and 3rd concertos are a steal compared to others though!

Yeah they're not so bad, but still - I've seen some pretty stupid stuff with Beethoven, and even more stupid stuff with (I'll never forget that) Schumann's a minor violin sonata - different NOTES and everything! I mean, really.. and for Beethoven 31/3, I remember seeing they'd group the notes differently, so that you actually will end up playing it wrong if you attempted their way, and wrong dynamics everywhere - most of which you couldn't even distinguish from the real ones (as opposed to their edited ones). I hate them! Except for Scarlatti - I remember there was one good editor haha..

Btw I use International and Dover for Rachmaninoff and never had a problem. When I was learning Rach 1 from Schirmer, I did notice a wrong cleff. When I was sight reading it, I ended up with hands crossed and sounding borderline atonal, and I was like, "this can't be right"

Yes, for Henle. However, because I can never remember which squiggle nor which curlicue nor which twitch is which when it comes to Baroque ornamentation, I've augmented my WTC with Willard Palmer's edition where all ornaments are written out above/below the staff. However, beware: this edition from Alfred Masterworks is heavily edited, but the editing is clearly distinguished from the original by being in grey type. As a second reference, but not to replace an Urtext, Palmer can be very informative.

Regards,

I see they are on sale right now at Sheet Music Plus. What makes them good for the WTC?

I was going to ask where, but I guess if I actually learn it then I'll notice, haha.

Schirmer is just plain hard to read, half the time. The other half, you're scratching your head trying for the life of you to figure out what the heck the composer actually meant...



To my understanding, their Bach scholarship is pretty on the top of the heap right now. Other than that, Barenreiters are always very easy to read with gorgeous fonts and whatnot; well spaced lines and notes on beautiful (slightly yellow, like Henle but more homey, if that makes sense) paper. I consider them just about equal with Henle these days, plus they have sensuously colored covers, different for each composer! If it's on sale where you are, go for it. No question, in my mind anyway.

Peters.

Unfortunately, Willard Palmer edited only Volume 1 of the WTC for Alfred.

[/quote BruceD]Yes, for Henle. However, because I can never remember which squiggle nor which curlicue nor which twitch is which when it comes to Baroque ornamentation, I've augmented my WTC with Willard Palmer's edition where all ornaments are written out above/below the staff. However, beware: this edition from Alfred Masterworks is heavily edited, but the editing is clearly distinguished from the original by being in grey type. As a second reference, but not to replace an Urtext, Palmer can be very informative. [/quote]


I do the same. Ditto for the Inventions and Sinfonias.

(I find the Czerny edition to be a fascinating curiosity.... kind of like visiting a strange, alien and confounding
land.......or planet.......)

I ordered the Henle WTC Part 2. Thanks for this interesting discussion. I have the Henle Inventions and Sinfonien.

Yes!
Last week my teacher was so pleased with my P&F that she (as a reward ) pulled a book from the music cabinet and said "Have a look at this!". We poured over it in fascinated horror. It would have been less shocking if she had produced a bottle of whisky and poured me a shot!

I have Music Budapest Urtext which are fine for me (and the paper is lovely creamy colour). I haven't seen the Henle.

Bärenreiter

My mistake. Vol II is edited by Judith Schneider (studied with Igor Kipnis and Waldemar Döling; master classes with Gustav Leonhardt); fingering by Maria Sofianska.

Regards,

Music Budapest is indeed worth a thought. I think I mentioned it in the Teachers Forum some time ago. Still Urtext, and pretty cheap. I like the creamy colour too. The only thing I don't like is that I need something to keep the book open...