"For its time the most comprehensive treatment of the subject." — New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In what is probably the best general book on the subject, a noted English composer describes 57 orchestral instruments, tracing their origins, development, and status at the beginning of World War I.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Orchestration by Forsythe,
This review is from: Orchestration (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
In Los Angeles, among the top composers (Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith to list 2) on the A list, this is THE book. Forsythe covers the subject with characteristic dry British wit, but his referencing is impeccable, including covering specialty instruments (like the Serpent, Wagnerian tubas, and many more) that are simply not covered in the other titles. His explanations are indepth, accurate, and still very usable. If you can only afford one book, get this one.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
eminently usable,
By A Customer
This review is from: Orchestration (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
The introduction to Cecil Forsyth's "Orchestration" is by William Bolcolm, a prominent American composer very much of our time. (His opera "A View from the Bridge" premiered November 1999 and was favorably reviewed in "Newsweek", "Time Magazine", and "The New York Times.") As William Bolcolm points out, very little of this book is out of date--a few tiny, insignificant bits; it remains "eminently usable". It also remains head and shoulders above the scores of tedious, dull, and perfunctory orchestration manuals subsequently published. One of its many virtues is its immersion in what Mr. Bolcolm calls "technical culture": It imparts to you a sense of what it's like to play the various orchestral instruments. Future fetishists (those wishing to obliterate the past and present in sacrificial rite to a future they can know as little as you and I) take note: what is best is what endures.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent,
By Richard L. Green (Studio City, California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Orchestration (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)
An excellent and authoritative text. There have been some changes in the capabilities of the instruments that are not reflected in the text, and of course it is missing all of the more modern and electronic instruments (this has the same unabridged text as the 1935 edition), but it's still very useful and well-written.One (small) lack: after reading the section on the harp, I still greatly prefer the standard on that subject, "Harp Scoring" by Stanley Chaloupka, for discussion of composing or orchestrating for the harp. I feel this book should be in the library of anyone serious about orchestration or composing for an orchestra.
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