There's a great music store at Camelback and Central called Central music. It's not super big, but it has a great selection of music. I think it's been there for a really long time too. The owner's name is Roy and is a friend of my piano teacher, Karen Maison, who lives in Cave Creek. All throughout high school and several years before that, my mom would drive 45 minutes to take me out there each Thursday after school for a half hour lesson, then 45 minutes back again. Anyway, I went to Central music today because I needed to buy a book of Beethoven Sonatas, and I thought I should probably buy the music for a Rachmaninoff cello sonata that I have been obsessed with lately. (I've been thinking about my senior recital in April a lot recently, and I'll probably be doing a movement of the cello sonata and a complete Beethoven sonata. I like no. 23, the "Appassionata" sonata.) So, I walked into the store, and finally found the Beethoven sonatas in the rows and rows of hand-organized music, most of them separated by little manilla folders written on by hand. (By Roy, I'm sure.) There were 4 choices of the same music - the urtext (unedited) edition, plus three others with different editors. I didn't know what the difference was, but I was sure Roy did. So, I took the different editions up to him and asked him, "I know this may be subjective, but what is the difference between these?" He then proceeded to give me a 10 minute explanation about all the different editors, the validity of their fingerings and articulation differences, and even the value of the urtext edition when one already knows a piece. I could tell he liked the one edited by Artur Schnabel, published by Alfred. I agreed with him - he said that Artur Schnabel has always been the expert on Beethoven and upon opening the book, I found that there were many footnotes and markings explaining parts of the music. I thought this extra editing was really valuable, so picked that one to buy.
Anyway, it was great to talk to someone who knows everything! I couldn't believe all the random facts and stuff he was just pulling out of his head. I really admire people who know all there is to know about something - it takes a lot of work!
2 comments:
Janna said...
Someday soon, you'll be the expert people seek for advice on music!
I look forward to hearing you play.
Kathie said...
Central Music is now the place where I shop. It used to be Music Mart inside the Quicks Music Store but they closed out the sheet music department. Quicks used to be owned by the Feltons who were personal friends of my mother's. Mrs. Felton was a walking encyclopedia on music. She knew everything - what was still in print, who publishes what, what voicing was available, where to get anything etc. etc. We always wondered what Phx would do when she retired. Quicks wasn't the same after the family sold the store. Now it's Roy at Central Music. For a city this size, you'd think there would be more than one good music store. Not any more. Glad you found the right Beethoven. The Appassionata is a favorite of mine and also one of the most popular and well known ones. Good luck with that. You will have fun learning it. How about Chopin. Have plans to learn another one of his works?