Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone-Color

by Gardner Read

This resource seeks to demonstrate what specific instrumental combinations have intrigued composers of the past and present and to suggest other groupings that may prove to be of equal validity and tonal interest. The book is designed to be a thesaurus of orchestral combinations, a lexicon of the science and art of fusing timbre and sonority in symphonic scoring. Few standard manuals devote such attention to this fascinating question as it directly relates to the imaginative deployment of the orchestral instruments. It indicates to the curious composer-orchestrator what instrumental combinations are both feasible and tonally viable. This is accomplished by the cataloging of hundreds of couplings-each is considered first as related to each individual choir of the orchestra and then as to the various possibilities between the component orchestral sections. While not every instrumental combination is considered, nearly all of the practical couplings between instruments have been included.

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2003