Customer Reviews

Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 in Full Score (Dover Music Scores)

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

 

 

Listening to Mahler's 3rd symphony is an inexorable experience. Reading the score while listening is ecstatic. It adds a lot to the enjoyment of the music if you have a copy of the score in hand. You can relate another sensory organ to the music, elevating the experience to greater heights.

Before I had the score, all I knew was there were several French horns playing the opening call in the 3rd (M3) but I know now that there are exactly 8 horns playing in unison. Like Aaron Copland said in his book 'What to Listen for in Music', "If there exists a more noble sound than eight horns singing a melody fortissimo in unison, I have never heard it". I think he's referring to M3's opening horn call. Magnificent! And now with the score in hand, I know exactly how the music was put on the score by Mahler, it's notation, expressive remarks, etc.

In some books that I read or even in the liner books that comes with the CDs, there is often reference to the measures in the music. Without the score, you will never know which measure that they are talking about. If you're really a Mahler fan, or for that matter, if you are really into a certain piece of music, buy the score. Believe me, it will add to your enjoyment.

However, some of you may think that it's a waste of time since you do not know how to read music. Yes, knowing how to read music will help a lot buy hey! reading music is not difficult to learn. All you need is to have the passion for music inside you and the passion to explore the music. If you have this, there's nothing that can be in your way.

The Dover series of scores are mostly reliable. Commercially, they are the best there is.

This is a must for those wishing to study and understand Mahler's Immense third symphony. The print is very large and readable. Though I wish there were more translations for the German text, there is enough in the parts themselves to take a guess. Mahler's 4th is a charming piece. I love it for it's sincerity and modesty. Being the shortest and "simplestic" orchestration, it makes a great introductory Mahler symphony.

The score is very durable and is large and easy to read. The price is wonderful -- for the starving music student, particularly!

I highly reccommend this score to professionals and those adventurous listers out there.

Someone mentioned how invaluable it is to own the score because you can refer to it when you read an article, or review, or liner notes that make references to a measure number.

Well, this book is useful only if you number the measures yourself with a pencil (which would take a very long time), since the book actually does NOT supply measure numbers. It supplies a number of figures... (for instance, if i remember correctly, Symphony No. 3's 1st movement has 76 figures). But each figure can be any number of measures, so when you read an article that makes reference to measure 435, you simply won't be able to find it, without actually numbering the measures yourself.

Otherwise, it is a very good book. Dover has managed to bring complete scores of great works to the average budget-conscious consumer, and this is truly an excellent book that covers two amazing symphonies. You are bound to learn a lot about orchestration just from studying these. I am particularly fond of studying the brass sections in the first movement of the 3rd Symphony... Truly phenomenal composition!

When it comes to musical scores, let's face it, there's not much of a difference between one and another. All the notes must be printed or you're not getting what can properly be called a musical score. But when it comes to Orchestral scores, there is a difference. Here we have each and every instrument's part printed (at least when they can be heard playing) so as we can follow the intricacies of, say, the clarinet part.
Mahler is a totally different case altogether - a composer in a class of his own. Many orchestral scores of Mahler's symphonies give the very least notation possible. This score of Symphonies 3 & 4 in the Dover Orchestral Scores series however, is a top class publication. Why?
Well, Mahler is in a class of his own because when it came to giving directions to his orchestra he did not stop at the Classical Italian markings for Tempo and expression, although strictly speaking this is all that is necessary for a composer to communicate his wishes to the players. Mahler went much further and gave quite specific instructions in German to both the orchestral players and the conductor. For example, directions to the Horn players to hold the bell of the instrument up in the air, explain to the listener why the horns sound different in these passages; advice given to Timpanists as to what kind of sticks to use at certain times explain the different effects we hear. Then there are instructions to solo players, for example, not to pay too much attention to the rest of the orchestra, but to play their part in a slightly slower manner thus exaggerating the importance of their solo. Dover Orchestral Scores do us the great service of actually printing all these instructions, just as in the original score i.e. in German. But their thoughtfulness reaches right on to printing a Glossary of the terms used as well as the texts written or used by Mahler in the symphonies.
This makes using Dover's scores a real pleasure and we really can hear if the recording we are listening to actually plays the music the way Mahler would have wanted. I can think of no better way of rating our recordings ourselves and not just taking the conductor's or the Studio's word for it.

This two in one score is terrific for the amateur music fan who likes to curl up in their favorite chair on a stormy Saturday night with their headphones and some hot chocolate and hear everything the composer wanted. The print is large enough to see everything that is going on without being so clumsy that it is unmanageable without a stand or table. The price is right too!