Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 in Full Score (Dover Orchestral Scores) Review

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(More customer reviews)Among the things I look for in a score is the readability of the music itself.The larger the better, though smaller print is acceptable in most classical and earlier pieces and a few Romantic pieces.Not so in Mahler's gigantic symphonies.I feel that the score should be the full size of some of scores of his later symphonies (Dover).There were times where I had to squint or look twice to see the score properly.
That is my only problem with the score.These are two wonderful works and, unlike other composers, Mahler isn't beginning but nearing the peak of his symphonic powers with these "early" works.
This is score is wonderful for music lovers and students alike for it's accessibility and low price.

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Product Description:
Handsome, inexpensive volume reproduces authoritative Austrian editions of the Symphony No. 1 in D Major ("Titan") and Symphony No. 2 in C Minor ("Resurrection"). Beautifully printed unabridged scores reveal vivid orchestration, innovative symphonic structure, rich emotional expression, foreshadowing of 20th-century musical ideas.

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Symphony No. 2 in C Minor: "Resurrection" (Dover Miniature Scores) Review

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(More customer reviews)Dover's entire line of miniature scores is great for anyone who wishes to have a deeper knowledge of great orchestral works without paying $20 or more the full-sized version.I own the 8 of Mahler's 9 symphonies that Dover offers in this series (the 7th Symphony is currently unavailable) and have been very pleased with them.The print is large enough to be easy to read without having to deal with a cumbersome full-sized score.

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Well known for its grand opening movement and glorious choral finale, Mahler's Second Symphony is scored for solo soprano, solo mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra. Reprinted from the authoritative Josef Weinberger edition, this inexpensive high-quality volume features the full score in a conveniently sized edition for study at home, in the classroom or concert hall.

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Great Twentieth-Century Violin Concertos in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)This excellent set of scores, published by Dover, brings Dover's consummate work at a reasonable price. The editors do a marvelous job of staying true to the original text from which their reprints are derived. The print is clear, and the staves are nice and distinct. (The only concern maybe that too much erasing could permanently wipe off the ink on the page.) Instruments are clearly labled and numberings of key pts. in the concerti help a lot. I highly recommend this book to any music enthusiast, and especially to all violinists who are playing, or will play, any of these great violin concerti.

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Three of the most popular modern violin concertos, reproduced from authoritative European and Russian editions: Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47-among the most played and recorded of all violin concertos; Elgar's Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61, a ravishing combination of bravura and sweetness; and Glazunov's Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 82, a masterpiece of lyricism and virtuosity. Instrumentation.

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Complete String Quartets Review

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(More customer reviews)The reader from St Louis should be told that Mozart was still a teenager when he wrote most of his quartets.Try the Hoffmiester and the 3 Prussian Quartets.Better still try the Viola Quintets. Nothing prosaic here!

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Breitkopf & Härtel edition. All 23 string quartets plus alternate slow movement to K156. Study score.

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Eleven Late String Quartets, Opp. 74, 76 and 77, Complete Review

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(More customer reviews)As a musicology student on a budget, I've acquired quite a few Dover scores over the last years. They may be slightly antiquated in many cases, but there's simply no one who can match their prices.

This book, though, represents Dover at their very finest. While the standardized set up for orchestral scores have changed vastly over the years, string quartets have basically remained unchanged since the conception of the form. The only "challenge", from a modern point of view, is reading the violas alto clef, which anyone interested in string quartets should be acquainted with in any case.

The print itself is among the best I've seen from Dover. The edition appears to be an enlarged miniature score, making it very comfortable to follow, and leaves plenty of space for writing notes/analyzes etc. The print itself is very nice, a lot better than my Op. 20 & 33 (Also from Dover), where each print appears to have random flaws that make some few notes almost unreadable. Unlike the 20/33 score, the paper in this score can heavy-handed use of rubbers without erasing any of the print, which of course is a huge plus for people who buy scores like this with the intention of analyzing pieces. (Please notice: This score was bought from a local violin store, where it probably had been sitting for years -at least the price I got it for suggested so-. The printing quality of newer versions MAY be different from this one, although I have no way of telling at the moment)

This print is an old Eulenburg edition, which are known for quality. I have only found one flaw that twarts Haydn's intentions in this edition: I know for a fact that Haydn never put dynamic markings in the variations movement in the Emperor quartet; while I can't say so for certain, it is likely to assume that this should be the case at least for some of the other movements in the book as well. This certainly isn't a big deal, but it does obscure part of Haydn's genius: In this case, he didn't need dynamic markings to bend the player to his will. The points where one should increase or decrease playing strength is embedded in the musical material, and he controls the string quartet to such a degree that different dynamics are never required to get the intended voice into the foreground. I've yet to find any misprints.

This, of course, isn't really a big deal. I suspect that the people who would want this book are people interested in following along with recording or performances, or people who intend to use it for analytical purposes. Naturally, I wouldn't recommend it for performance. The notes are large enough to be viewed at a distance, but it would require way more page turns than required, and these are often put at awkward places. I imagine that it would work well with PhotoScore or similar software though, so you could probably make single-instrument scores out of it with relative ease.

So, unless you want the latest scholarly urtext edition, or want separate parts, this is as good as it gets. At this price, it should be a no-brainer.

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This volume includes 11 string quartets in complete score - Haydn's last and best.Reprinted from the reliable modern Eulenburg edition.

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String Quartets, Opp. 20 and 33, Complete Review

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(More customer reviews)As a musicology student on a budget, I've acquired quite a few Dover scores over the last years. They may be old, but there's simply no one who can match their prices.

Dover's concept seems especially suited to string quartets (and other chamber music). While the standardized set up for orchestral scores have changed vastly over the years, string quartets have basically remained unchanged since the conception of the form. The only "challenge", from a modern point of view, is reading the violas alto clef, which anyone interested in string quartets should be acquainted with in any case.

The edition appears to be an enlarged miniature score, making it very comfortable to follow, and leaves plenty of space for writing notes/analyzes etc. It was originally made by Eulenburg, a company known for quality. The print leaves a bit to be desired, however. Some spots on every dozen or so page, the print is light to non-existing. This isn't REALLY that much of a problem, you can still see what is going in all cases, but I think it's fair to reduce a star for this. I've used this book in a class, and it appears that while such flaws were present in every students edition, they seem to appear at random places. Also, being heavy-handed with a rubber can rub off the print, which obviously is a disadvantage if you are planning to use the scores for analytical purposes. These aren't huge deals, but I think it's fair that they subtract one star, especially since these problems were not present in my version of op. 74, 76 and 77.

I would recommend this edition to the people who would want this book are people interested in following along with recording or performances, or people who intend to use it for analytical purposes. Naturally, I wouldn't recommend it for performance. The notes are large enough to be viewed at a distance, but it would require way more page turns than required, and the somewhat haphazard print quality is naturally a much larger problem for a performer than a spectator. I imagine that, apart from previously mentioned trouble spots, it would work well with PhotoScore or similar software, so you could probably make single-instrument scores out of it with relative ease. Everything taken into consideration it is a great product well worth the money, but I can't give a full score on this one; unfortunately this is for reasons that Dover could correct with ease. You did it right with the Op. 74/76/77 score!

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Product Description:
Full scores of Op. 20, Nos. 1-6, and Op. 33 (the "Russian" quartets), Nos. 1-6, in the reliable Eulenburg edition. 12 masterful quartets by the composer who helped define the form include such favorites as the "Joke" and the "Bird" from Op. 33.

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"Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty": Suites from the Ballets in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)As always, Tchaikovsky's finely crafted melodies flow from the page.The binding and print are easy to read and the paper is designed to last.Watching the notes dance across the page brings to mind the twirling ballerinas and wonderful stories that underlie these two masterpieces.
The Only regret that you'll have regarding this issue is that there is not a complete score out for either of these two monuments of the ballet world.

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Product Description:
More than a century after the debuts of these classic ballets, audiences thrill to their captivating melodies, magnificent orchestration, and romantic atmosphere. This convenient compilation features the full scores of Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, reprinted from authoritative editions. Instrumentation.

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Christmas Oratorio in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)Dover Publications full scores are a boon for music student and others on a budget: Being reprints of old editions free of copyright, they represent the very best value-for-money on the market, even though the newest Urtext scholarship may not be present in them. Most of them are very readable, and indeed holds a high enough quality for anyone.

This publication, however, has a few problems. First of all, the print quality of Dover scores seems to be variable, and this is one of the worse ones. While the note heads themselves are very large and visible, the stems are often halfway removed (in general, the paper quality isn't as good as in most of my other Dover scores, a major point for those of us who like to make notes in our scores). In this music, you can probably predict a note value with reasonable accuracy, but it's still a bit annoying. This edition is a copy of a print from 1856 (just a couple of decades after Mendelssohns famed "rediscovery" of Bach), which not only is very old even for a Dover score, but it also means that quite a few old fashioned idioms are present. First of all, C clefs are used by soprano, alto and tenor, which may pose a problem for some. Another thing entirely is the fact that the edition was printed a century before the period style movement gained any hold, which means that the instrumentation as given in this edition is what would be used in a 19th century performance of the oratorio. Although they have been faithfull when it comes to using archaic oboes (oboe d'amore and oboe d'caccia). The trumpets are, however, assigned to then modern instruments.

The worst part about this score, however, is the fact that while instrumentation varies for each movement, the names of each instrument playing is only mentioned at the beginning of each movement; you'll have to remember for yourself after that. To make matters worse, no bar numbers are added. These kinds of things annoy me quite a bit, as it would have been a very small job for Dover to fix these points, and it would make these scores a lot more practical.

Still, it is a score of an amazing piece of music, it's cheap, and I've yet to find any errors in the music itself. So I would definitely recommend it, but there is at the same time room for improvement.

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Product Description:
First produced in Leipzig in 1734-35, Bach's Christmas Oratorio unfolds in a set of six cantatas unified by a Biblical narrative relating the story of the birth of Christ. This masterpiece of sacred music, for centuries a favorite of concert audiences and church congregations throughout the Christmas season, has been reproduced directly from the authoritative Bach-Gesellschaft edition published by Breitkopf & Härtel of Leipzig.

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