Ballades: Chopin National Edition Volume I (Series A. Works Published During Chopins Lifetime)

I love the markings in this. Very enlightening commentary and fingerings. The best edition I have seen so far- even better than Paderewski or Henli.

I really like this edition. Lots of good fingering options as well as explanation of variations found within the different sources of the text.However, even though it doesn't apply to this volume specifically, I think it was a stupid idea for this publisher to create separate volumes for the posthumously published pieces. I assume this decision is part of attempting to be as faithful to Chopin's intentions as possible, but is especially annoying for the Mazurkas, Waltzes, etc. If you're going to publish the unpublished pieces anyway, why not put them in the same volume.

Published by the National Chopin Institute in Poland.... used by the International Chopin Piano competition, Outstanding commentary and performance notes.

Owning this impeccably bound, printed and edited book makes me feel slightly better about the horrendous treatment I render daily upon the music found within, much to the consternation of my neighbors.

This was my first National Edition purchase. I’ve bought several Henle publications for Chopin and am very pleased with their print and quality, but I always felt ambivalent about which of the editions are best for Chopin. I wanted to try a National Edition after weeks of browsing reviews. They’re the official version designated by the Chopin Institute for competition, reportedly reflect the highest level of academic research and fidelity to the source, yada yada.The print quality in National Edition is great. Notes aren’t squished or low res. Page breaks are thoughtfully placed at less awkward spots, more or less. Fingering suggestions are pretty good when they’re included.The paper, however, isn’t quite as nice/thick as Henle, so it can be a little harder to flip the page in a pinch. The binding also doesn’t stay open as well as Henle does, but it does stay open, at least for the book of ballades which is certainly shorter than, say, the nocturnes. Paper color is closer to white, whereas Henle’s is a warmer color. See photo for reference. The National Edition Ballades book is the lighter colored paper appearing at the top of the photo; Henle’s Nocturnes book is the warmer toned paper appearing in the bottom half of the photo. Both books flipped to random pages of entirely different pieces, so this is not a comparison of different editions of the same piece, but it gives you a good idea of the print and paper, and to a lesser extent the fingering (the latter really varies by piece and it’s hard to compare Henle and National without looking at the same piece).Fingering suggestions aren’t always provided. For comparison, Cortot (free online pdf) offers much more fingering suggestions for ballade no. 1, whereas National only does it for cadenzas and other technically tricky passages. I’m an intermediate player returning to the piano after several years, and am not currently working with a piano teacher, so I for one need more fingering suggestions. I think Henle may have a smidge more than National in that regard, but not by much.Given the number of different editions, I really wish I could inspect them in person before buying. Returns are always a hassle for me so I don’t tend to order multiple versions at once. I also wish the Cortot edition of the ballades (and other Chopin works) was more readily available, as that seems to be really helpful for learning these pieces. But you can’t really go wrong with the National Edition for Chopin, or Henle for any composer.

This is the best edition !

Great edition, I recommend it

Good condition, but came without the performance commentary insert that it should have come with (as stated in the first page of the book). Kind of a bummer

good

Ottima edizione, rilegatura molto buona che permette al libro di rimanere sempre aperto, sia nelle prime che nelle ultime pagine. Ben fatti anche i suggerimenti di diteggiatura (spesso ne vengono forniti molteplici) e l'apparato critico, fornito in un libretto a parte scollegato dal libro principale. La carta non è bianca ma color seppia, quasi uguale a quella utilizzata da Henle Verlag per le sue edizioni (sebbene la carta Henle appaia leggermente più robusta in quanto leggermente più spessa e con una texture un pochino diversa).È l'edizione che viene consigliata per lo studio dal concorso Chopin e basterebbe questo per acquistarla, avendola utilizzata per mesi non posso che essere d'accordo e consigliarla a mia volta. Concludo dicendo che oltre alla diteggiatura del curatore, se esistente è presente anche quella originale di Chopin, indicata con i numeri in grassetto, e ci sono anche le versioni alternative di vari passaggi che si trovano in diverse edizioni/ manoscritti delle ballate.

print quality is nice and clear. The Performance Commentary booklet is very helpful as well.

Chopin is Goated. Must have in your repertoire collection

Excellent edition of Chopin’s Ballades delivered in very good order. Highly recommended.