Customer Reviews

Principles of Orchestration (Dover Books on Music)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I own some of the great books of orchestration, say, those by Pistons, Adler and Forsyth, but this book certainly is the best of the best. This is not a book about instrumentation (general information as range, articulations, characteristics, notation), rather it concentrates aspects such as resonance, register, doublings, combination of instrumental colors, as well as information about the chorus. These are the points that need to be considered in the course of orchestration. A well-organized book, with many orchestral excerpts drawn from Korsakov's own works. It is very useful for any orchestrators to understand the principles the author said.

I suppose it would be redundant for me to praise the work of Rimsky-Korsakov like so many have before, and besides it seems above me to judge such an authoritative book. I do wish, however, that Rimsky-Korsakov would have used examples that were not only from his own works.

The format of this book is difficult since all of the musical examples are located in the back--rebinding it into two volumes would be advisable.

Anyone who studies this book should be familiar with the works of Rimsky-Korsakov, as all of the examples come from his orchestral works. It is also advisable to have at least rudimentary skills in sight-reading scores and/or to have recordings readily available so you can listen to the examples he cites.

You will benefit most from this book if you are able to devote a significant amount of time to listening to the examples given for each concept and composing practice sketches based on the principles Rimsky-Korsakov outlines.

The writing is rather dense and requires time to understand; therefore I would not recommend it to someone for whom composition or arranging is simply a hobby.

One of the few Orchestration books that not only discusses the technique of the art, but also the emotional and psychological effect of instrumentation. The translation of the original text is well done. I always keep this book close by.

OK. This is an important book and offers a great deal of interesting information for the right audience. However, there are MUCH better modern books for the working musician trying to learn orchestration or a source to reference for a detail (Kent Keenan, Alfred Blatter, and Samuel Adler come quickly to mind). In order to use this book you will need to know a great deal of the music of Rimsky-Korsakov (the written samples are provided in the back, but you still need to know how it SOUNDS, right?), the differences between 19th century orchestras and the instruments used today, the mechanics of transposition, and a great comfort in reading music.

This is really more about how to create orchestral sound and effects. It assumes that you already have a solid grounding in all the basics of music, notation, and transposition. The text of the book is only about 150 pages and the rest consists of the musical examples.

So, if you have already had your basic orchestration courses, go ahead and read this as a way to understand the thinking of a very talented composer for the orchestra. You will, of course, have to break with his thinking to write your own music. However, Stravinsky did pretty well after studying with this master, right?

Rimsky-Korsakov worked upon this work for over 30 years.The examples are from his own works.He originally planned to include examples from Glinka,Tschaikovsky, Borodin,and Glazounov.He did not to avoid notational and stylistic peculiarities.This is not primarily a notational work.It deals more with subjects such as resonance,timbre,register,and instrumental combinations and their various effects.He died before the work was published and many of the examples were chosen from his works by the editor Max Steinberg.The Principles,however,listed prior to example,remain untouched...and still do barring instrumental developments.These Principles could have just as easily been exemplified by the above four or many others.This book is a classic on "Principles Of Orchestration" and most certainly not obsessed with "Examples Of Orchestration".The laws are laid out in the former case.To any serious composer that is as it ought be!

After reading this book, i rather enjoyed it.. Its really nice to have basic instruction with examples taken from Korsakov's own works.. Good book, though a bit old in the style of orchestration. A good one to learn the Old Style of this composer

I use this book as a reference. It is concise and to the point. It has helpful charts, diagrams and examples. While it is old, it provides a good foundation for instrument blend and technique.

I'm giving this four stars instead of three for sentiment's sake. It is probably invaluable for a Rimsky-Korsakov scholar, but...well, let me put it this way: I've owned the book for nearly a decade, and I never, ever use it. For sound practical advice I can do no better than recommend Walter Piston's ORCHESTRATION and Cecil Forsyth's ORCHESTRATION.

Also recommended: THE LYDIAN-CHROMATIC CONCEPT OF TONAL ORGANIZATION by George Russell.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov might have written some cheesy tone poems, meandering symphonies and mostly forgotten operas (at least outside Russia), but he also could play an orchestra like your Uncle Billy could play a wazoo. Along with Mahler, Wagner, Debussy and Ravel, he is one of the finest orchestrators who ever lived. When his ideas work fully, he has no equal in producing in thrilling, balanced sound. He also taught Stravinsky a thing or two as well, so he wasn't a bad teacher either. This book will show you that as well. Rimsky's ideas might be old-fashioned and perhaps using his own music as examples, is a little arrogant, but when you're good enough, how can you argue?

I purchased and read this book because of many recommendations from very different people, so clearly this is considered to be something of a cornerstone work in the world of orchestration books. The remarkable thing about this book is that it really does not go very in-depth about much at all. The purpose of this book is to inspire the reader and to generate a specific class of thinking which can achieve some very powerful results when effectively put into practice while composing. Some of the best things this book has to offer are ideas and concepts--like knowing exactly what type and size of orchestra should be playing a work from the moment composing begins rather than composing 4-part harmonies and then arranging them for the orchestra. This book is littered with similar words of wisdom.

The greatest drawback to this book is in my opinion not, as others have mentioned before, the exclusive use of Nikolai's own works, but rather the fact that the art of orchestration is explained too broadly. This is not a good first book for a beginning orchestrator--it's an incredibly fantastic second or third supplementary read about orchestration that should not be overlooked by anybody. One example that stuck out to me was that Rimsky-Korsakov began writing about orchestrating for the harp, and completely omitted clarification about the harp's pedals and how they function and how they may be a limiting factor when orchestrating. He even mentioned that he would assume the reader is aware of the function of a harp's pedals. Similarly there was little to no mention about the tuning mechanism of the timpani, and I'm sure there are other examples that are just not coming to mind right at this moment. All in all when it comes to details and practical methods for a beginner, Kennan's book is still my favorite.

My personal favorite part of this book is the last section about orchestrating for solo singers, or for a chorus, or for duets, trios, etc. It seems as though some orchestration books forget that many composers write for singers, and the composer must take into account the voice that will be performing the work as well. This book is different in that regard.

All in all this is a great book to read when a student or self-taught orchestrator already has some knowledge about the orchestra, its limitations, and its quirks. This would also be a good read for someone who would like to rekindle a bit of excitement when orchestrating just because it does not approach orchestration like a math problem. I would definitely recommend it!