Accessible Orchestral Repertoire is a reference volume for conductors who lead non-professional symphonic orchestras, offering practical and insightful commentary on music appropriate for intermediate and advanced youth, community, and collegiate orchestras. Modeled on and complimentary to Daniels’ Orchestral Music, it is a repertoire and programming resource for youth, academic, and community orchestras. The works included in this book are a combination of well-known warhorses and lesser known gems—clear favorites for young or amateur players and as well as more challenging pieces. Functioning like an annotated bibliography, entries on individual works include information about the composer, instrumentation, movement length, and publisher. Each entry also features notes regarding the particular pedagogical, stylistic, logistical, and technical strengths and challenges of the specific work. Accessible Orchestral Repertoire will help every conductor in the process of selecting repertoire that will both feature and enrich any individual non-professional ensemble for which thoughtful and strategic programming is required.

Accessible Orchestral Repertoire is a repertoire and programming resource for any conductor who leads a non-professional symphonic orchestra. Modeled on and complimentary to Daniels' Orchestral Music, the book will help every conductor selecting repertoire that will feature and enrich individual non-professional ensembles.

"This guide consists of annotated listings of more than twelve hundred works for chorus and orchestra by 250 composers of the Western Hemisphere. The listings are intended for conductors of professional, community, church, and educational organizations, including those at the high school and collegiate levels, with the purpose of aiding the conductors in the selection of works for programming and in ascertaining important information about the works. ... Five appendices further aid the conductor by listing works in categories of choral scoring, orchestral scoring, duration, textual subject, and publisher contact information."--p.xi

Offers advice on listening to classical music, and discusses major orchestral works

An invaluable guide for lovers of classical music designed to enhance their enjoyment of the core orchestral repertoire from 1700 to 1950 Robert Philip, scholar, broadcaster, and musician, has compiled an essential handbook for lovers of classical music, designed to enhance their listening experience to the full. Covering four hundred works by sixty-eight composers from Corelli to Shostakovich, this engaging companion explores and unpacks the most frequently performed works, including symphonies, concertos, overtures, suites, and ballet scores. It offers intriguing details about each piece while avoiding technical terminology that might frustrate the non-specialist reader. Philip identifies key features in each work, as well as subtleties and surprises that await the attentive listener, and he includes enough background and biographical information to illuminate the composer’s intentions. Organized alphabetically from Bach to Webern, this compendium will be indispensable for classical music enthusiasts, whether in the concert hall or enjoying recordings at home.

This authoritative guide gives the non-musician the fundamentals of orchestral music. It begins with a general introduction to the symphony and various musical styles and then describes, chronologically, over seven hundred pieces--from Vivaldi to twentieth-century composers. Mordden also includes a glossary of musical terms and other useful aids for the music lover.

Describes mistakes, misprints, and composer's errors in different editions of orchestral literature.

Choral-Orchestral Repertoire: A Conductor’s Guide, Omnibus Edition offers an expansive compilation of choral-orchestral works from 1600 to the present. Synthesizing Jonathan D. Green’s earlier six volumes on this repertoire, this edition updates and adds to the over 750 oratorios, cantatas, choral symphonies, masses, secular works for large and small ensembles, and numerous settings of liturgical and biblical texts for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental combinations. Each entry includes a brief biographical sketch of the composer, approximate duration, text sources, performing forces, available editions, and locations of manuscript materials, as well as descriptive commentary, a discography, and a bibliography. Unique to this edition are practitioner’s evaluations of the performance issues presented in each score. These include the range, tessitura, and nature of each solo role and a determination of the difficulty of the choral and orchestral portions of each composition. There is also a description of the specific challenges, staffing, and rehearsal expectations related to the performance of each work. Choral-Orchestral Repertoire is an essential resource for conductors and students of conducting as they search for repertoire appropriate to their needs and the abilities of their ensembles.

Veteran music critic David Hurwitz provides an accessible, comprehensive, and fresh survey of Beethoven’s symphonies, overtures, concertos, theatrical music, his single ballet and other music for the dance, and several short pieces worth getting to know. Beethoven’s orchestral works include some of the most iconic and popular pieces of classical music ever written. This book offers chapters on Beethoven’s handling of the symphony orchestra and his contributions to its evolution, as well as his approach to musical form in creating large, multi-movement works. The musical descriptions provide helpful strategies for listening that invite both beginners and experienced enthusiasts to treat even the best known pieces as something fresh, new and relevant. In addition, Hurwitz provides extensive lists of recommended recordings of all of the music surveyed, highlighting the wide range of issues in Beethoven interpretation and performance, as well as the history of his music. He encourages readers to listen actively and critically, as they build their own Beethoven discographies according to their personal tastes and preferences. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks of Beethoven works selected by Hurwitz.

"Choral Repertoire is the definitive and comprehensive one-volume presentation of the most significant composers and compositions of choral music from the Western Hemisphere throughout recorded history. The book is designed for multiple uses-as a programming guide for practicing conductors, instructional resource for students and teachers of choral music, historic and stylistic reference for choral singers, and source of information about composers and compositions for choral enthusiasts-and as such, the book intends to further and make accessible important information relevant to the vast scope of choral music. Organized by era (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Modern), Choral Repertoire covers general characteristics of each historical era, trends and styles unique to various countries, biographical sketches of more than six hundred composers, and performance annotations of more than five thousand individual works. Of the composers, there is substantive coverage of women and composers of color, and of the repertoire, there is inclusion of lesser-known works as well as those works that are considered standard"--