English Blog

Beethoven Piano Sonata Editions 2/11/19

February 11, 2019

As I practice Beethoven Sonatas I have been looking at the different editions for my curiosity. Henle is wonderful and just so nice to see the dark blue cover! Recently I am drawn to Hans von Bülow edition. I can tell he was a great teacher. His comments are often very practical, yet very passionate. We know that he was one of very first Beethoven scholar, and of course he understood Beethoven deeply. It is so wonderful to feel his affection to Beethoven’s music in his edition! Also his writing is quite charming to me because of the elegant expression.  My Japanese piano teacher always encouraged me to look at different editions, at least 3 different, when I was very young. I still do. IPad music is getting more and more common in these days, and it is certainly very convenient. I may shift to IPad for my chamber music playing. But personally I can’t study music well with IPad. It is so wonderful to compare different books and see the pages! I know I am a dinosaur! Anyway it gives us a great feeling to read what music giants were thinking.