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In the end, an orchestrator is not writing for instruments as much as for instrumentalists. Every instrument in the modern orchestra has its own history and culture, which is preserved in teaching; gaining a sense of what it is to be a violinist, clarinetist or trombonist is essential in learning to write effectively for the orchestra, and I know of no other book that gives as much insight into this as Forsyth. Not only are the history and evolution of each important instrument fully discussed; the technique and even the players' likes and dislikes vis-a-vis what they must play are gone into fully. One of the special joys of
Forsyth, however, and in this I find nothing else remotely like it, is his
witty side. The end of the double-bass article (p. 461) not only makes the
reader chuckle, it gives a very good general insight in how not to
write for the bass. Forsyth's articles on obsolete instruments, particularly
that on the serpent (p. 286), are replete with quotable zingers. The musical
examples (many of them derived, by the way, from those in the
Berlioz-Strauss offering of some years earlier) are apposite and (unlike the
Berlioz-Strauss) mercifully short and to the point.
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