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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fantasie und Sonate c-Moll, die Original-handschrift an Mozarts Clavier interaktiv zum Klingen gebracht (Fantasy and Sonata in C Minor, Interactive Recording from the Autograph on Mozart's own Fortepiano) [CD-ROM].

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fantasie und Sonate c-Moll, die Original-handschrift an Mozarts Clavier interaktiv zum Klingen gebracht (Fantasy and Sonata in C Minor, Interactive Recording from the Autograph on Mozart's own Fortepiano) [CD-ROM]. Salzburg: Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, 2006. [Requires: Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, or Mac OS X. 500 Mhz or higher (PC), G4 or higher (Macintosh), 64 MB RAM minimum, screen resolution 1024 x 768 with 32k colors, 4x speed CD-ROM or higher. Pricing: [euro]12.90]

In 2001, the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) announced the start of a new edition of Mozart's complete works: the Digital Mozart Edition (DME). This new edition, prepared in cooperation with the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum (ISM) in Salzburg, will be published in digital format. Since the DME will be one of the first critical editions of music in digital format, it has caused a considerable amount of interest among musicologists and musicians. A digital edition of music poses quite a few challenges to the editors. One of the biggest challenges is to find a flexible yet efficient way of encoding the sources so that the computer can actually understand and work with the music. Another challenge, no less demanding, is the representation of the edition on the computer screen. There exists a variety of possibilities ranging from merely displaying a finished editorial text, to presenting a highly annotated edition that enables users to explore the various underlying sources interactively. Obviously this would require a set of sophisticated tools, including some that already exist, and others that have yet to be developed. The CD-ROM that is reviewed here offers some intriguing approaches to these issues. Although it does not contain an edition of music but rather an interactive facsimile and recording, it can be regarded as a prospect and test case for the digital presentation of Mozart's music as it is envisioned by the Digital Mozart Edition.

This award winning CD-ROM, (1) somewhat modestly labeled an "interactive recording," has much to offer. First, it contains a recording of Mozart's Fantasy and Sonata in C Minor, K. 475 & 457,...

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