Shop For Mozart 19 Sonatas - Complete: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, Vol. 1304)

I was shocked to find largely positive reviews of this product. Since by criticizing it, I am contradicting other reviewers fairly directly, let me just explain my level of qualification: my bachelor's degree is in piano performance, and my master's degree is in piano pedagogy and performance. I am a private piano instructor and college music professor.

I can say without hesitation that there is no worse edition of the Mozart sonatas currently in print. This is true for several reasons:

1. The fingerings added here do more harm than good; my piano professor used to joke that Schirmer's editors were secretly hand surgeons trying to drum up their business by injuring pianists through repetitive motion in cramped positions. When one of my students brings in a Schirmer edition, I usually black out more of the fingerings than I keep.

2. The dynamic markings and articulations added to this edition reflect nineteenth century performance practice, and ignore more than a century of scholarship.

3. I find textual interference to be a bad idea in general, and recommend purchasing an Urtext edition instead. Henle or Wiener Urtext is hard to surpass; additionally, Kalmus/WB publishes a quite inexpensive edition. If, however, you dislike Urtext editions and want more guidance as to how to play the pieces, this is still not the edition for you. Buy the Alfred's edition instead, which at least gives decent advice (why pay for BAD advice from Schirmer?) and distinguishes between what the composer wrote and what the editor added.

4. Wrong notes. Lots of them, all through the sonatas.

5. The numbering system used for this edition is a version of the Koechel Verzeichnis seventy years obsolete.

6. VERY poor print quality. This edition is not even a new engraving; in addition to the overall lightness of print, there are frequent flyspots which contribute to the general illegibility.

The only redeeming quality of this Schirmer edition - and most Schirmer editions, in fact - is its cheapness.Get more detail about Mozart 19 Sonatas - Complete: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, Vol. 1304).