Complete Sonatas and Fantasies for Solo Piano (Dover Classical Piano Music)

This is a nice, reasonably priced edition of Mozart's sonatas. It also includes his Fantasies also. My biggest problem is that there are no fingerings present. Yes, the lack of excessive fingerings can sometimes be good, but there are absolutely none given in this edition. There are also some editorial changes, none of which are glaringly severe, but slightly annoying. Mozarts sonatas are a must for any classical pianist and a great teaching tool for the intermediate pianist wishing to advance to more challenging works. The Dover edition is fine, but you might want to examine other editions before settling on this one.

The editing in this edition is not perfect; but in some cases there is some useful written-out appogiaturas (the ornaments that are usually indicated by symbols in the music.) If you are not familiar with how an inverted mordant should be played or the conventions of trills, the editing will do you until you listen to enough Mozart recordings of the great pianists and learn the Baroque and Classical conventions of ornamentation. This is one of those books that you could take with you and the piano to a desert island and have enough music to learn and enjoy for years.

Pianists beware: the sonatas/fantasies in this book are reprints of the old Breitkopf & Härtel edition, which is not a very "faithful" or "authentic" printing of Mozart's works. Certain markings, like long phrase slurs and use of the word legato, are very un-Mozartean: they are clearly the work of the editor. Other edits, like appogiaturas written as regular notation, and certain post-trill ornaments, may also cause concern among Mozart purists. Despite these alterations, this edition -- like all other Dover piano books -- is excellent for playing. Once you open out the pages and press them into place, they won't drift back. The notation is printed clearly; the only sonata with readability issues is the 9th in D major. The inclusion of two "new" Sonatas (which did not appear in older editions) is an interesting surprise, but not necessarily a good or bad one.If you really can't stand to see Wolfgang's work altered by editors, then avoid this book and buy an Urtext edition instead. If, on the other hand, you simply want to play some melodious, intermediate piano music, then go ahead and buy this book -- it's the cheapest one out there. However, you would be well advised to check out an urtext version just to see where the editing changes are.