full scores by different publishers

[pgiampi1]

hi everyone. i want to purchase some scores to study over the summer but i'm a little perplexed on what publishers provide the best scores.
for example, the following publishers have scores of brahms 2 available on jw pepper:

ALFRED PUBLISHING INC (edited by LEIDIG, V)
Breitkopf & Hartel Sales
schott
Universal Edition
EDWIN F. KALMUS

these versions are listed from cheapest to most expensive. they are all under $15, except the kalmus which is $45. my question is are any of these publishers usually better than others? i would love to pay the least amount possible for a score so i can buy several, but i don't want crap. any ideas?
ALSO, i think i know the difference between full scores and study scores...in your experiences, is it drastically more difficult to conduct a piece from the study score? (jw pepper lists all these scores as study scores except alfred and kalmus)

[BVD Press]

Try here:

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486230538.html

I have this et and have found it useful and all four for $20.00 is a good deal!

[Chuck(G)]

CDSheetMusic has the entire orchestral CD music on a single CD for less than $20. While not as convenient as a Dover score, it's exhaustive.

Also check out the Tchaik offering.

http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/Pages/TOCs/ ... msOrch.pdf

[imperialbari]

Brahms’ 2nd is available for free in .pdf scans out on the web.

I have a special relation to that symphony, and had to check out my memory of certain setting matters.

I don’t remember where I found it. The score clearly was in old style German engraving. I don’t remember, whether it was necessary to be fluent in musical German, as German was among my first 3 languages at the age of 2 years.

In general more music, than one would ever imagine, can be found for free on the web. Some knowledge of languages will be helpful. Especially the Slavonic ones, which I sadly do not master.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[pgiampi1]

i don't want to get it free on the web, i'd like to own. i want to see what people have noticed about the differences in different publisher's editions. i will check out the four symphony set...in the mean time, as a general opinion, what publishers provide the best scores at a good value?

[quinterbourne]

Probably the most popular scores are the Breitkopf as well as the Kalmus. I'm not really sure of the differences between the two, but through my librarian duties those two names popped up quite often.

Now, the study scores are quite small, great for... studying. If you have studied the score extensively, using the study score in a rehearsal or performance situation probably wouldn't be that bad. How good is your eyesight? That will be a factor.

I would imagine all the scores under $15 are study scores, while the ones around $45 are full scores. Usually, when you purchase the entire set including the parts, you will get a study score as well as a full score. This way, you can give the study score to the conductor three months before the gig, and the full score a month before the gig. I can't imagine many professional conductors who would willingly conduct a professional group with a study score when a full score is available.

[BVD Press]

i don't want to get it free on the web, i'd like to own. i want to see what people have noticed about the differences in different publisher's editions. i will check out the four symphony set...in the mean time, as a general opinion, what publishers provide the best scores at a good value?

I have alwys found the Dover Score to be the best bang for the buck.

Here is a link to their homepage:

http://store.doverpublications.com/

[Mitch]

Buy the Dover. There's really no difference between the Dover and the B&H. In fact, when you put them side by side, they're identical (I have both). The only downside with the Dover, with all four in one book, is that if you lose one, you lose them all (I've seen that happen after someone's put in HOURS and HOURS of study, marking, etc.).

For study of other composers, it varies, but often the Norton scores can be reliable. For specifics, if you're studying Mahler, get the Universal Edition scores (one size available) - don't waste your money on anything else; they're the most reliable and well worth the $$. If you're going out of the tuba repertoire, for Mozart and Beethoven get the Barenreiter scores.

For Pictures at an Exhibition, I have an Editions Russe score, but I don't think those are available any more, and it was pricey (1997-$185), but well worth it. I had it for use at a conducting workshop out east; the instructor spent AGES going through an errata list, with everybody marking all the printed errors in their scores, trying to scrawl in the corrections - I didn't have to change a thing.

So it depends on your needs, but if you want to get the more accurate scores, it does depend on publisher. Sometimes publishers grab whatever's turned up in the public domain (like Dover); somtimes those editions are okay, sometimes they're riddled with errors. It so happens that the Dover for Brahms symphonies is taken from the Breitkopf.

For other works, Boosey & Hawkes has been doing a decent job of producing study-type, more-affordable full scores of large works, often in collection-type volumes. Always a good reference.

[MaryAnn]

The only downside with the Dover, with all four in one book, is that if you lose one, you lose them all (I've seen that happen after someone's put in HOURS and HOURS of study, marking, etc.).

Isn't it legal to make a single copy of something you own, for your own use? Not to lend out, not to re-sell, just to scribble on. Of course if you lose the scribbled-upon copy, you still lost it. But you wouldn't have lost the entire set.

Also, I think Klaus' info about free scores on the web was legal free scores. He would be unlikely to recommend illegal downloads.

MA

[Mitch]

Isn't it legal to make a single copy of something you own, for your own use? MA

Um...I sure hope so...

I've got a few things that were only available in microscore versions at the time I needed them, so I copied them to a size I could read on the stand without leaning over with a magnifying glass...

[Chuck(G)]

Isn't it legal to make a single copy of something you own, for your own use? Not to lend out, not to re-sell, just to scribble on. Of course if you lose the scribbled-upon copy, you still lost it. But you wouldn't have lost the entire set.

I believe the Dover scores are, by and large, reprints of old scores long in the public domain. Reproducing the scores themselves (as opposed to reproducing the whole book containing them) is probably quite legal.

A similar siutation exists with the CD Sheet Music volumes--you can print all you want from the CDs, but not reproduce the CDs themselves. The music contained on them (as far as from what I've seen) is all material with lapsed copyright.

[BVD Press]

CHuck is very correct for most Dover scores. I called and asked permission to use their score for an arrangement of some Tchaikovsky pieces and they pretty laughed and said it is public domain, why are you asking!

[pgiampi1]

i decided to go with the dover collections of full scores, considering that i don't think i'll actually conduct anyone playing them. this way i can study them and still do some conducting work too.