Orchestral excerpts?

[djwesp]

What is the best source of orchestral excerpts? Is there a comprehensive book or set of books? Or will you need to buy from multiple places to get every thing you would ever be asked on a audition? The one on cherry classics looks pretty good, but I don't know much about what has been/would be asked. I'm leaning to that one simply because it has all the low brass parts.

Thanks for the help, hope I made sense, it's late and I can't sleep

The Cherry Classics CD-ROM is OUTSTANDING.


It is a heck of a deal for what you get. I've only had a couple things pop up that I couldn't just print out right there for an audition (one of which being Bydlo, before I committed it to memory). You can't really supplement your orchestra folder with it, but it is great for orchestral excerpts, orchestral repetoire classes, general auditions, and reference because you USUALLY have most of the low brass parts.

I used to have a bunch of random music in a giant file cabinet I had gotten from random orchestra auditions and performances. Now it is a much smaller black box; that is how much the Cherry Classics has.

Nothing is going to be completely comprehensive, but it is a great resource to have! Most auditions call for the "standard rep" so to speak.

(another insomniac)

[Wyvern]

If you are looking for a book with excerpts, the "Orchester Probespiel - Tuba" from Edition Peters I find really useful, if not as comprehensive as the Cherry CD.

https://www.edition-peters.de/front_con ... 8&idcat=82

[Tom]

The definitive collection would be Abe Torchinsky's "The Tuba Player's Orchestral Repertoire" series.

It is a collection of something like 15 or 16 volumes of complete tuba parts organized by composer and featuring a preface to each work by Abe Torchinsky himself.

They have been published by a number of publishers over the years, and most recently some of the volumes have been available from Encore Music Publishers.

The collection includes all of the major stuff like:

Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky, Mahler, Wagner, and probably some others that I can't recall at the moment.

The set can be rounded out with the (out of print and hard to find) Torchinsky's "20th Century Orchestral Excerpts" book that contains works like Sensemaya, for example.

There are other tuba excerpt collections out there: Keith Brown's series (more trombone heavy, but includes tuba parts where applicable), Walter Sear's book(s) (available on ebay from time to time), and a few others whose exact names I can't remember at the moment.

[Casey Tucker]

if you can torchinsky's it would be a very good idea to pick those up. but they're out of print so good luck. cherry classics:

pros:
-PDF files so you can save them to a laptop and never be without them
-Customized to the buyer (cover pages have your name and your purchase date. i.e. mine says Customized for Casey Tucker)
-Has every low brass excerpt for a given piece including some bass trumpet
-they email periodic updates.

cons:
-if your disc gets damaged and you don't back it up you have to wait for a replacement.
-they don't contain EVERY piece. so pieces like Pictures or Prokofiev 5 aren't available. copyrights?
-you have to play for replacements but that should be expected.

it's a good buy but if there was something a little more extensive i'd buy it.

-casey

[Wyvern]

The main disadvantage I find with the Cherry, is that having printed out the music I require, I have a lot of loose sheets to easily get out of order. For that reason I prefer the excerpts in book form.

I always use the Torchinsky if I have the volume covering the relevant part, only referring to the Cherry CD to fill the gaps. Unfortunately so many 20th century excerpts are not available to purchase in any form.

Jonathan "who wishes he could get the tuba part for the Miraculous Mandarin"

[gwwilk]

The main disadvantage I find with the Cherry, is that having printed out the music I require, I have a lot of loose sheets to easily get out of order. For that reason I prefer the excerpts in book form.

Here's what I use to solve the loose leaf clutter that results from printing out just about anything from manuals to music: http://tinyurl.com/2lyjev

I bought this machine and a bunch of different comb sizes and colors about a year ago. It's easy to do once you get the hang of it. It isn't the cheapest solution, but it has been a worthwhile investment of time and money for me. It does help if you print two-sided where appropriate.

Just my $.02 (and now back to lurking)

[Tom]

if you can torchinsky's it would be a very good idea to pick those up. but they're out of print so good luck.

This is incorrect. Volumes #1-13 are readily available (search Pender's Music, for example...they own Sheet Music Service of Portland, by the way). Check penders.com to see the contents of each volume.

The ones that are difficult to come by are the Shostakovitch books (and maybe another one or two other that are Russian) because distribution was cut off in the USA by the GATT treaty.

[Casey Tucker]

thanks for clarifying that. all i know is that they're in my school's music library (along w/ the new tuba source book ). how much do the books go for?

-casey

[Tom]

About $15 to $30 per book according to penders.com