This massive volume represents over ten years' research into all first editions of Chopin's music held in some 60 libraries and five private collections across the world. The authors started with a notion that some 2,000 scores would be included, but have in fact found more than double that number. It is fitting that publication has happened in the year which marks the bicentenary of the composer's birth, but this volume is not for the interested amateur, rather it is a work of precise and thorough scholarship for the dedicated researcher into Chopin's oeuvre.
The authors' premise appears to be a considerable difference in the way Chopin's music was produced in different countries, in terms of pagination, printing methods, etc, and also some differences evolving in the history of the publication of many of the works. They set Chopin's publications in the context of the various publishing and copyright situations in the different countries of Europe, the UK and the USA in the nineteenth century. This leads into the annotation proper which has a thorough introduction, clear lists of numerous abbreviations, and an explanation of the list's classification structure. This is in four main parts: works with opus number published during the composer's lifetime; works with opus number published after his death; works without opus number published during his lifetime; works without opus number published posthumously. The first two are listed in ascending opus number order, the third and fourth parts alphabetically by composition title, e.g. mazurka, waltz. The bulk is the first section, then the second. The third is much smaller and the final part discusses only a handful of works.
There are also over 200 plates depicting covers of first editions. These are also available online (Chopin First Editions Online (www.cfeo.org.uk)) in a resource which appears to include the full scores digitally. This must add enormously to the book's worth for scholars in bringing the music directly to them, and the authors are to be commended for using electronic media to enhance their writing and make their research so widely accessible.
This will be a book for music research libraries in academic institutions, but unlikely, in terms of both content and cost, to be of interest to those buying for general reference collections.
