In the announcement from Boosey & Hawkes about new top appointments, there is some interesting information about who is editing the works of composers whose names are well-known — while the editors toil in obscurity. Going counter to that unfortunate trend, here's explanation by Lisa Hirsch:
Music editors' tasks are analogous to what print editors do, including making sure the manuscripts get from composer to print with a minimum number of errors, checking things like whether page-turns make sense for the first flute, investigating articulation, dynamics, and note-barring for older works where there might be differing sources, etc. It's hard work, really. Carter wrote his scores out by hand and his notation is complicated.
At Boosey & Hawkes, the new head of the editorial department is Margaret F. Heskin, after the retirement of Randa Kirshbaum. David Nadal was promoted to managing editor.
Heskin has been editing the music of John Adams, Béla Bartók, Alberto Ginastera, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Reich, and Christopher Rouse. Nadal serves as editor for Oscar Bettison, Elliott Carter, Anna Clyne, David Del Tredici, Béla Fleck, Steven Mackey, Edgar Meyer, Meredith Monk, Ned Rorem, and Sean Shepherd.