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what editions of beethoven's sonatas does everyone recommend, and why?

(not just out of curiosity, but i need to replace my dover edition. my teacher recommends henle, peters, or arrau. i would like to know what sets these apart before i use my credit card).

The Sheet Music Archives http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/ has the old Peters version edited by Kohler and Ruthardt. The fingerings tend to be dated (lots of changing of fingers on repeated notes and other conceptual throw-backs to the days when pianos didn't have double escapement actions). Claudio Arrau's edition for Peters reflects modern concert artist wisdom and his ideas are clearly differentiated from the original text.

The Schenker edition reprinted by Dover is actually considered very good; however, I find the engraving to be cluttered and dated. Henle, of course, has the best engraving. I'm not sure about how good their fingerings are in the case of the Beethoven sonatas (I've seen this edition alot, but haven't actually played from it).

So, I guess I would recommend the Arrau Peters edition.

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: MacDuff ]

i ended up with the henle, mostly because the peter's arrau was very cluttered and i don't know how much all the extra editorial stuff will really help in the end.