Klarinet Archive - Posting 000353.txt from 1995/09

From: Karl Krelove <KClarinet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Orchestral excerpts
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 13:27:50 -0400

Mark Greeley wrote:
>>Also ordering the actual parts to the following works would be a good
investment:
>>Ravel: Daphis and Chloe Suite No. 2

Mark, where did you buy the Ravel part? I've played it and have photocopies
I've made of the parts for my own practicing (there will probably be Federal
agents at my door tomorrow), but originals would be much easier to read and
turn pages.

To the several students who asked about orchestral excerpt books, apart from
the Bonade collection already mentioned in another post, there is a whole
series published by International Music Company which include collections
edited by McGinnis (the older books), Drucker(a more recent set), Hinze
(Wagner excerpts), Bartholomey (Strauss excerpts), and probably others (those
are the ones I have). There is also a collection of excerpts from French
pieces edited by Cailliet and published by Durand (including among many
others the Daphnis Suite #2).

The only caveat is that I haven't bought excerpt books in 25 years and some
or all of these may well be out of print (especially, I suspect, the Cailliet
book). They are excellent in terms of the range of their content and there is
very little duplication of repertoire among them. They all contain misprints,
the individual phrasings of the players who edited them, and occasionally
outright distortions, but they are a reasonable way (and relatively cheap) to
get a sampling of the parts you're most likely to see in the orchestra
repertoire. They are good for general practicing. I agree with some of the
other responses to this thread, though, that if you're preparing for an
auditiion, there is no substitute for the full part. Too many things look
different enough to be unnerving, even if the actual notes and rhythms in the
excerpt book were accurate. And not everything that's hard to play in a given
piece makes it into the books - usually only the parts that are exposed.
Tutti passages are perfectly fair game for many audition committees.