 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-03 18:37
One of the orchestras that I play in, Delaware Valley Philharmonic, is planning to include in its next concert several of the songs from West Side Story, sung by soloists from the Westminster Choir College accompanied by the orchestra. We've planned to rent the orchestrations used in the Broadway productions. As the orchestra's librarian I've been trying to find the source for the orchestrations. I've been told by MTI, which handles the performing rights for productions of the complete show, that it doesn't rent materials for individual selections, that those are (the person who answered my query said *are*, not might be) available through Boosey & Hawkes. All I can find on the B&H website are selections for sale of a few of the songs with piano accompaniment, the usual medleys for band and the parts for the Symphonic Dances from WSS, as well as a couple of vocal scores of the complete show and a full score of Bernstein's final revision of the orchestrations made for the DGG recording with Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, etc...
I have emailed Boosey's information address and have so far not gotten any reply or acknowledgement, although I'm still hoping for something directly from them.
I'm hoping someone here (or on Klarinet, where I will also post this) has had experience with this and can confirm that the materials are definitely available or are not available, and if they are, where and how they can be gotten.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Karl
Post Edited (2011-02-03 18:44)
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Author: davyd
Date: 2011-02-03 21:19
B&H's site lists two Concert Suites from WSS as being rentable.
On the Boosey website, look under Rental & Licensing, select your area (USA), select Catalogue Search, select the Rental Catalogue tab, and enter West Side Story as the Title.
Concert suite No. 1 is for soloists and orchestra; No. 2 adds chorus. The orchestrations specified looks like they might be close to the Broadway original, with its insanely complex woodwind doublings. Is that what you're looking for?
I'm the librarian for a community orchestra in Northern Virginia. My conductor informs me that of the major rental houses he deals with, B&H is the hardest to work with.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-03 22:40
Well, one or the other of those may have to do, but it isn't what the conductor and vocal coach are looking for. They want to do Maria as it's done on Broadway, or Officer Krupke, or Cool, etc.
I'll check those concert suites out to see what's in them as a possible fall-back.
Thanks,
Karl
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2011-02-04 12:24
The Bernstein estate will not allow either concert performances or more than four selections at a time from WSS.
You're beef is with Amberson, not Boosey and Hawkes.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-04 12:55
That's good information to have. But I think the orchestra would be content with 4 selections - it's only a portion of the whole planned program. So far I haven't gotten even that far. Do you know if, eventually, I will be able to get to someone who can rent 4 of the songs to us in their original forms (orchestration and key are the main concerns)? And, if you know, will that someone be at Boosey or somewhere else?
Last November we did a similar set with Rodgers & Hammerstein selections. They, too, have a limit of, I think, 5 songs from any single show. But because the R&H Organiziation holds all the R&H legacy rights themselves, it was handled in-house by their own Concert Selections division.
Thanks again for the information. It partially explains the difficulty.
Karl
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2011-02-04 13:15
Boosey is the place to go.
Interestingly, if you want to produce the entire work you have to go through MTI.
You could also just place the order through the website, typing in the relevant information rather than letting the site fill it in for you. I'm sure they will respond if your desired materials are not available.
Be prepared to pay big $$$. Last time we did a Bernstein show, the rentals were over $10K.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-04 13:52
Thanks again. I talked to an agent in the rental department this morning. It seems that the two suites are the only way to get anything close to what we want. Each has 4 songs (I assume per your previous reference to Amberson's conditions). They will only license one suite at a time for a given performance. The agent tells me the materials in the suites have been re-orchestrated for symphony orchestra from the original pit instrumentation but are otherwise intact (I'm not sure how she knows, but for a small fee we can get "perusal" scores of each to see for ourselves).
$10,000 is a little breathtaking for a show - even R&H, which I've generally found higher-priced than the other rights agencies (MTI, Tams, French) doesn't get that for anything I've ever rented.
Oh, well, time for a deep breath and then a long email to the music director.
Karl
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Author: davyd
Date: 2011-02-06 03:59
The medley for orchestra by Mason is identical in structure and content to the medly for band by Duthoit - one verse of each of several songs. I suppose singers could join in, but the piece probably isn't meant to be used that way.
I wonder why the arbitrary limit of 4 songs that the estate imposes?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-06 08:52
Rodgers & Hammerstein has the same kind of limit (5 from any one show). I think they want to prevent "concert versions" of the shows, which might denature the original character and intent of the material (to be performed as a full stage production). One day all of this material will come into the public domain and will become more easily available.
Karl
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2011-02-06 13:28
Not in our lifetime (for most of us).
The earliest any Bernstein will enter the public domain is 2060.
Post Edited (2011-02-06 13:31)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-02-06 15:02
Not that it makes a practical difference to any of us, but does Stephen Sondheim (the still-living WSS lyricist) figure at all into the length of the copyright coverage?
Rodgers (d. 1979) and Hammerstein (d. 1960) are both gone, Rodgers the more recently, so I guess we only have to wait until 2049 for those materials?
I probably can't hold my breath that long.
Karl
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2011-02-06 15:15
Yes, he does.
At least Bolero will be PD in 2025!
Personally, I'm waiting for the Ravel version of Pictures at an Exhibition to come out of copyright. I'm proofing and correcting yet *another* set at the moment...
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