The biggest scandal in music publishing

[John Ruggero]

I'd be interested in your reaction, Ben. I think that playing them oneself over some period of time is the key to a true appreciation of these pieces, because they are a player's music. The act of playing them is a big part of the experience as with the music of Chopin, a composer that Scarlatti is often linked with.

The Gilbert has them arranged by Kirkpatrick number, which is not chronological, so very early ones and later ones sometimes rub shoulders. The first 30 comprise the set that Scarlatti published and while all top-drawer in quality contains some of the most difficult technically. The range of difficulty varies haphazardly throughout the volumes from quite easy to very difficult. There are easier ones that are early and less interesting, but also some that are highly interesting. All the very difficult ones are superb. The very last ones (vol. 11 in GIlbert) are the finest from all points of view and remind one of the last works of the other great composers.

In my opinion, they constitute a complete course in keyboard playing, and with Chopin's, the best etudes ever written.

[joecat]

First post - this thread came up searching for information on the Fadini edition. Hope y'all are still active.

John, it’s a pity very few people outside the harpsichord world (and even inside the harpsichord world) do know the Fadini Edition (Ricordi publ.).
Emilia Fadini was an Italian scholar and harpsichordist who dedicated her life to Scarlatti and to concerts and teaching (most of the nouvelle vague of italian harpsichordists come from Fadini).
The complete edition initial plan was in 10 volumes but a handful of new sonatas have come to the light in the last few years so the general editor added a 11th volume still to be published. The volume 10 has just been published a few months ago.
The first 8 volumes were edited by Emilia Fadini alone, the 9th by Fadini with Marco Moiraghi, the 10th by Marco Moiraghi alone. Emilia Fadini passed away a couple months ago.
...

Are the 10 currently available Fadini volumes complete then as far as the 555 original sonatas? Last I looked volume 10 was not yet published but I was happy to see it's now available. It looks like those volumes are actually quite a bit higher priced than the Gilbert but it's an investment I'm willing to make. I have two of the Gilbert editions and would generally be happy, but I'm really put off by the notation (maybe it's a flaw in my reading but I have difficulty with all the staff crossing). I'm less concerned about a few errors since it won't compare to the errors in my playing!

Outside of the Gilbert, I generally like the Gyorgy Balla edition of 200 sonatas (EMB) in four volumes - I'm no expert on the correctness of the editions, but they are urtext and well-printed and bound. I think it's still a very good selection and player could do worse if they "only" wanted to learn 200 - I may never even read all 555 but I'd like to have them all available. The Henle editions are always well-done IMHO, but of course they are curated and limited to the "100 greatest hits". I ignore most fingerings and scribble my own, but the EMB edition has fingering suggestions also.

In my opinion, they constitute a complete course in keyboard playing, and with Chopin's, the best etudes ever written.

My Beethoven is always better when I'm playing Scarlatti. Still only a solid 4/10, however.

BTW John - we know each other - you used to tune and service my Charles Walter upright in Apex.
I'm still in the Triangle most of the time (second home is in Oregon), but in an apartment at the moment so playing a very decent Kawaii ES-8 digital. I've definitely sent a few customers to you over the years

[joecat]

Just "looked inside" Volume 10 of the Fadini edition (Sheetmusicplus) and it's the same modern (?) notation as the Gilbert - guess I need to get used to it.

Also, K1 is #517; it was mentioned previously that the Kirkpatrick editions are not in fact in chronological order, which I though was something he corrected from the Longo editions. I'm assuming the Fadini may be the only edition that is definitive in the order then. But I may have answered my previous question about completeness, since I'm guessing volume 10 is from #517 to #555, which is awesome.

[John Ruggero]

Hi joecat. Welcome to the forum. The John Ruggero who tuned and serviced your piano is my namesake and nephew, who is a percussionist and piano technician. Unless it was his father and my brother Richard, who owns Ruggero Piano. I stay strictly on the keyboard side of the fall board, knowing well my limitations in piano technology.