Hi,

I know there's a similar thread about books on composition but I want to know if anybody knows of a good book about orchestration. I've read the website with Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Principles of Orchestration' (well skimmed through - I'll read it carefully when I get the time) but I need a more detailed book that also deals with indivdual intruments and their limits as well as other general techniques.

Any replies would be great!

Walter Piston's seminal volume is the one I turn to when I need advice.

Good to see you posting again Noodelz!

Alfred Blatter's 'Instrumentation and Orchestration' is also a good book, if a bit pricey.

A standard uni text is 'The Study of Orchestration' by Samuel Adler. The later edition comes with cds. There is also an accompanying workbook. All this is pretty expensive though. (Mine were bought for me as a present). I also have Cecil Forsyth's 'Orchestration' which is far less expensive and a handy, concise little volume.

The Piston and the Adler [as cited above] are the two best which I have come across to date.

Piston is still the book I use for detailed reading, but there is an excellent slim volume by Gordon Jacob that is excellent as a reference book. Listening to his orchestration of the Elgar Organ Sonata was almost as valuable as the book itself!

My first choice is the Samuel Adler book.

Other texts that I like are the ones by Gordon Jacob and Kent Kennan.

Yes, Gordon Jacob as an orchestrative genius so anything he has to say is worth reading.

It'll be Blatter on my Uni reading list next year - though it comes in as list price £45.....

There is actually a famous one by Berlioz which is in French but occasionally you can find an English translation of it if you don't read French. It's a very standard one which gives a very solid analysis of the standard orchestral instruments. He also gives a lot of examples taking from the music of his contemporaries.

If I remember right, Kalmus published an English translation of Berlioz's Treatise on Orchestration many years ago. It was the version expanded by Richard Strauss.

In 2002, Cambridge University Press published a more definitive English translation of Berlioz's Treatise. It was done by the renowned Berlioz scholar Hugh Macdonald. His commentary is very interesting.

You can find a free copy of Rimsky-Korsakov's book here, with audio examples. For some reason the lessons are in reverse order, #1 is at the bottom of this list.

It is a start, anyway, and may be enough for someone who is also prepared to study scores which is the real way to learn orchestration.

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=77

Berlioz' book is very interesting, though of course you need Blatter for the many instruments that have been invented since it was written. Something that Blatter lacks, possibly unique to Berlioz, is the section on writing for the natural horn, which includes carefully thought out advice on what crooks to use when two horns play a chromatic passage in unison. For B's expertise in action, see the horn soli passage in the "Queen Mab" Scherzo from "Romeo and Juliet". He was an enthusiast for the chromatic horn, but wrote beautifully for both varieties.

I'll have a look at the above suggestions. I don't want anything too pricey, I don't have the money . But thanks anyway everyone!

I'd recommend the alfred blatter guide - i think it's called instrumentation and orchestration (but i cant remember for sure - i lost the school library's one and got an incredible bill!)
Jon

You're right with the title. Amazon UK has the paperback at £46.99 new, £41.49 s.h.; the hardback is £89.31. I paid nothing like that 10 years ago.

The Cecil Forsyth was less expensive and not a bad intro to everything. I think it was around £14. The other texts tend to be THE[b] ones to get (and to keep!) and consequently the prices are so much higher. Remember though that places like Amazon also sell used copies of these books, so you can sometimes get a deal. Also, compare prices across the Amazon sites.Sometimes ordering from the American Amazon site can work out cheaper even taking into account the postage cost.

Yes, they had the paperback Blatter at c.$48.