Principles of Orchestration (Dover Books On Music: Analysis)

Rimsky-Korsakov is by most experts' standards, certainly in the top five all time orchestrators. (Berlioz, Ravel, and Stravinsky being three of the other four. I'll let you pick number five yourself.) How did he achieve the effects he did? What processes were going through his brain as he decided on the instrumentation for his own masterpieces? This book has the answers, and that's why I bought it. I've been hearing about it for most of my life and decided to see what the shouting was all about. Well, the shouting was right. This treatise really does have the answers. The strange thing is that even though the instruments themselves have change over the intervening years, sometimes drastically, the basic principles have not changed. And that's what the book is about: Principles. Not specific techniques. Not extravagant approaches or extreme examples. Principles. That's what the title says, and that's what the book is. Exactly what I wanted.

Rimsky-Korsakov lays down principles for orchestration that he feels are important, and these are followed by references to examples drawn from his own pieces. My only complaint is that it is difficult to hear the scores in question. One seems to need to have the whole score to find the part in question and then follow along until the part in question comes. This is tedious. If only someone would have the tenacity and daring to post all or most of the musical examples on youtube or some other website so that we could hear the example in question. On some website I encountered, there were musical examples drawn from the book which were helpful to me when I was studying the work, but they were drawn from an electronic realizations of the music, rather than recordings of real orchestras. While it was helpful, it is after all, somewhat synthetic. I would under take this task myself, but I do not have the means to do so. Part of the problem is that access to Rimsky-Korsakov's works is somewhat limited outside of particular pieces. His operas are certainly underrepresented in the Western repetoire. My local library does not possess all of his works, nor do I feel inclined to try to purchase all of them myself. Perhaps this could be a collaborative work on a forum such as youtube where one example at a time can be posted. It's even possible to have more than one recording of the same excerpt. What is crucial is reference to the book. This would be an invaluable resource for orchestrators and composers for years to come.

I had a wonderful experience reading this book. I learned a lot about orchestration and how I can apply it to my own works. There are many examples that Nikolay provides, which will further develop anyones understanding of the material if they wish to make the most of their time reading this book. Highly recommend.

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!

The book arrived in a good timely shipping, well packaged and as described. A must-have for all you orchestrators out there! Good seller!

This is a great book that tells all you need to know about the world of orchestrating music and how complex it can get but in this book, its put in a way for most people who know things about music will understand its best for the reader to know a little bit of music theory or you may have a bit of trouble. But still a great book no matter what.

Rimsky-Korsakov's classic textbook is an extraordinarily helpful and eloquent explanation of both the basic and advanced principles of orchestration. It's no mystery why it's stood the test of time.

This book seems to be filled with scores mostly rather than with explanations. That was a disappointment to me. Be aware of it before you buy it. I’ll update you once I finished it on how it was.