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Overview
Familiar to conductors, orchestra managers, and music librarians, this compact sourcebook provides information necessary to plan orchestral programs and organize rehearsals: instrumentation, duration, and source of performance materials. The new third edition features 4500 compositions that cover the standard repetoire for American orchestras (a 30% increase over the second edition), better intelligibility in individual entries, and a more useful system of appendixes. One series of appendixes presents categorical lists of various sorts — solo voice, solo instrumentation, duration, and chorus — aiding the user in finding pieces that conform to a desired characteristic. Another appendix lists composers grouped by their nationality, ethnicity, or other category useful in programming (e.g., women composers). Yet another appendix lists significant anniversaries of composers, which is useful for someone who wants to plan an orchestra program to celebrate a composer's birth or death. Finally, the handbook provides addresses and phone numbers for publishers and additional information resources.Author Biography: David Daniels, formerly Professor of Music at Oakland University, is Music Director of the Warren Symphony.
Editorials
Choice
...instrumentation, duration, and source of performance material are so clearly given....Booknews
Provides information for planning orchestral programs and organizing rehearsals, with material on instrumentation, duration, and source of performance materials. This third edition features 35% more entries on works representing the standard repertoire for American orchestras, arranged alphabetically by composer, plus many appendices on areas such as solo voices and instruments, anniversaries of composers, composer groups for thematic programming, and useful organizations. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.American Reference Books Annual
...a useful printed source...Editor's Bookshelf
...an update to what many conductors consider an indispensable tool, this latest edition of Guild member Daniels' book adds even more composers to the previous version...Booklist
High school and college orchestra conductors as well as others entrusted with planning orchestral programs will find this handbook very stimulating.SymphonyNOW
Organized by composer, this catalogue specifies instrumentation, duration, and source performance materials for more than 4,000 orchestral works — an increase of about thirty-five percent over the previous work.Notes
...[a] valuable reference work...a noteworthy effort...should be indispensable to anyone involved with the performance or programming of orchestral music...CHOICE
...instrumentation, duration, and source of performance material are so clearly given...International Musician
Familiar to conductors, orchestra managers, and music librarians, this classic sourcebook of information necessary to plan orchestral programs and organize rehearsals has been greatly expanded and revised. The fourth edition features nearly 6,400 compositions that cover the standard repertoire for American orchestras, clearer entries, and a more useful system of appendixes. Included for the first time are entries from the American Symphony Orchestra League's OLIS repertoire database.Notes: Quarterly Journal Of Music Libr Assoc
...should be indispensable to anyone involved with the performance or programming of orchestral music, including program annotators, orchestra managers, librarians, arts administrators, conductors, musicians, broadcasters, discographers, and choral groups.Fontes Artis Musicae
For those looking to expand a group's repertoire in need of a piece to fit a precise slot on a program, Daniels' handbook can be a godsend. Following the main body of the volume is a series of indices that enable a user to locate works by such criteria as choral forces, solo voices, solo instruments, specific instrumentations, duration, a composer's nationality, suitability for children's concerts, and even composer anniversaries through 2016....Daniels has wisely anticipated the needs of his readers. The index by duration is subdivided by composer nationality and birth date, making it possible, for example, to find a ten-minute work by an eighteenth century French composer very quickly. With its ties to OPAS and OLIS, major professional orchestras will probably opt to use Daniels' work through its electronic options. For more modest ensembles and student groups who want to avoid annual subscription fees, this volume should be an indispensable item, and novice orchestral librarians will especially benefit from Daniel's frequent personal comments on everything from a piece's origins to the reliability of particular editions and even to issues of performance practice. Such idiosyncrasies bring the experience of several veteran orchestral librarians to the next generation and make Daniels' handbook much more than just a useful reference work.— 2008, Vol. 54/4
Reference and Research Book News
This guide to orchestral repertoire is a combination of databases by Daniels, a conductor, and the Orchestra Library Information Service. Organized alphabetically by composer, each entry lists title, instrumentation, editor, publisher, significant notes, and includes overtures, symphonies, masses, concertos, and arrangements. Appendixes list works by chorus, solo voice, solo instrument, instrumentation, duration, works for youth orchestras, anniversaries of composers, and composer groups for thematic programs. The reference contains a title index and list of publishers and sources, and the new edition has more details, such as doublings, equipment, composers' dates, and birth and death places.Notes: Quarterly Journal of Music Library Association
...should be indispensable to anyone involved with the performance or programming of orchestral music, including program annotators, orchestra managers, librarians, arts administrators, conductors, musicians, broadcasters, discographers, and choral groups.Choice
...instrumentation, duration, and source of performance material are so clearly given...American Reference Books Annual (ARBA)
...a useful printed source...Book Details
Published
May 13, 1982
Publisher
Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1982.
Pages
425
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780810814844