Orchestral Parts Project

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kcleung
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by kcleung »

Carolus wrote:Are you referring to the Clarinet parts for Beethoven Symphony No.1 on the wiki? Those were uploaded last summer by Romanov76110. I don't see any logos there. The one you sent is smaller and also clean of logos. There were some metatags in Ras1's file I noticed. I'll go ahead and replace with the one you sent. I don't see any reason to worry about the tiff2pdf generated creator tags as they are not present in the original unwashed files (though lots of other stuff is!). Do you? Perhaps we should examine the files uploaded last years by Ras1, Romanov76110 and Generoso for metatags and logos. They would be simple enough to replace, yet those uploaders should retain credit for their uploads.

No, for all files I refer to, I refer to the files being put into the failed folder in ftp://imslp.org, *not* from the ones in the wiki

Also please find my fixed horn part under .... /failed.../corrected/
daphnis
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by daphnis »

I'm joining this project with my contribution of all 10 volumes of the oboe/english horn parts.
Carolus
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by Carolus »

I think all 10 volumes have been processed by kcleung and team - including the Oboe parts. Vols. 1-3 have been inspected and are now uploaded to the FTP server. You can use the pURL feature to upload directly to the wiki from the FTP area. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, it takes a little getting used to - especially to upload the stack of files in score order - but is quite workable once you get the hang of it. I think there are now more than 170 works located in the "accepted" folder. Horndude has been uploading some Mendelssohn and Schubert. There are complete parts there for the symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner, among much else.
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by Starrmark »

For those who are eagerly planning to use scanned orchestral parts of PD works in concert performances -- and thus save themselves the fees from rental houses, such as Lucks and Kalmus -- you might first want to consider some of the practical problems involved. The printing of parts for a large score for symphony orchestra involves a huge amount of printing and binding. It can be very time-consuming. Moreover, professional musicians will not merely turn up their noses at parts printed on letter-sized paper, they may well refuse to play from them (as has happened with some major orchestras on a number of occasions.) Orchestral parts are usually published at a minimum of 9" x 12" -- and in the early 20th Century parts as large as 11" x 13" were common. Large page sizes reduce the number of page turns -- an important concern for all orchestral musicians. Parts must be printed duplex -- thus adding another problem to overcome. With duplex printing, it is very easy for a printer to mismatch pages. Lastly, clarity of the notation is paramount -- and unfortunately, when parts are scanned and reprinted, the clarity of the notation often degenerates. The loss of clarity in a scan can be exacerbated by the loss of clarity in low-resoultion computer printing. Most scans of old music contain much dirt and background marks, thus impeding legibility still further. Ideally, the printing of orchestral parts requires a high-resolution printer that can print tabloid-sized paper (which later can be cut down to a standard part size.) Moreover, the printer should be able to handle heavy-weight paper. Light-weight papers (e.g. 20 lb) are difficult to turn pages quickly. Bindings can also interfere with quick page turns. Combs inevitably damage the sprockets. Spiral bindings are preferable but considerably more expensive. Moreover, light-weight papers can reveal print-thru from the notation printed on the opposite side. If you talk with orchestral musicians, you will see that the poor quality of orchestral materials is usually one of their major concerns. Nothing infuriates orchestral musicians more than parts in which the ends of the staves have been cut off, or the staffsize is too small (or big.) Unlike the old days, many musicians nowadays (especially in top orchestras) will not put up with inferior parts. The state of parts from Lucks and Kalmus used to be execrable. However, in recent decades, because of musicians' complaints, they have begun to clean up their acts. Probably the most egregious offenders are the purveyors of orchestral parts for operas.

MS
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by fred_sienkiewicz »

Hi All,
I just wanted to post a quick rebuttal to MS. Many of the issues he points to are entirely legitimate. However, as a professional performing orchestral trumpeter, I just wanted to put in my two cents because I disagree with the general tenor of his post. I do not see the use of scanned public domain parts as a low-quality solution, nor is 8.5x11 paper unacceptable or problematic.

On the "do-not-do" list, I definitely agree that bleed-through and cut-off staves are unacceptable and clarity is very important. However, I disagree that most parts are significantly shrunk that much to fit into 8.5x11. Most of the large-format "originals" have quite a generous border of blank space. The scans from the Orchestral Musician's CD-Rom Library (which I own have all 10 volumes of) remove this blank space which results in only a small shrinkage. The small size is generally not a problem for myself (not yet being 30 years old) except with some extremely illegible editions by French typsetters in the early 20th century (original Mahler 6, Don Quixote come to mind). Furthermore, PDF technology regularly includes "fit to page" scaling options, which when used, simply remove the problem of clipped staves.

All of the details of printing that are a problem are, in my experience, exactly the things that a good orchestral librarian or print shop should and do know how to handle. Orchestral librarians is particular make practice copies of string parts all the time on 8.5x11 parts and the ones I've worked with are good with a photocopier and know how to create a good tape binding.

For my personal practice and performance use, I regularly use PDFTK (a linux pdf manipulation utility) to assemble books of repertoire for the season from IMSLP and OMCRL parts and email it directly to my printer (not staples/kinko's, mind you. A real/professional printer) and have them print on regular 20lb paper, double-sided, with a coil binding. They do this without batting an eye and the parts are crisp, no bleed-through (laser printed), and the pages easily turnable. I've been doing it for years and never felt wanting for those oversized originals that you can't fit in your case without mangling them.

One very good point that MS had is that there are a large number of original typesettings out there that were just poorly done. Even so-called "edited edition" by Neuwig in recent years, while readable, are rife with errors. I have a fair bit of contempt for bad publishers/editors and sometimes a public domain edition will be quite bad with an "updated" newer edition. In these cases, I agree that musicians certainly appreciate having the best available parts to play from and are happy to complain to editors and publishers about how to do their job better.

When I one day am lucky enough to have earned my place in the ranks of very well-paid musicians in a major symphony orchestra or opera house in America, I will be happy to pooh-pooh the cheapskates who can't bother to buy us a real set of parts that my aging eyes can read (for surely I'll be old before I get there). Until then, however, I personally think the availability and use of these parts bring simplicity and convenience to my life and their quality is certainly sufficient for the work that I do. I daresay I represent a pretty typical set of experiences for the "under 40" crowd of performing musicians in the Boston area.

Fred
Violinist18
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by Violinist18 »

Does anyone have Shostakovich Symphony No. 5?
daphnis
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by daphnis »

This is not the proper thread for such a request. And regardless, the answer is no because of several reasons: 1.) It isn't included in the set of parts, 2.) It's under copyright in at least Canada and the EU.
rileymorgan797
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by rileymorgan797 »

I don't understand... The link given for the specific roles takes me to an inappropriate website...
steltz
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by steltz »

You will have to say what composer and work and role you were trying to get to.
bsteltz
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by rileymorgan797 »

I don't know what is wrong with the link, but I can help with parts. If the score is present, I can upload typeset parts. Or, if I have to, purchasing an orchestra set and making scans of that would be ok. My scanner is of rather low quality, and I'd need to do some retouching.
ras1
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by ras1 »

The link in the first post has been corrupted somehow; rileymorgan797 was using "inappropriate" in a different sense.
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by rileymorgan797 »

Is there a way to remove or replace the link, I am interested in helping out.
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by mernov »

Do you have the English horn part to Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet? It is not included in the complete parts.
Last edited by mernov on Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Carolus
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by Carolus »

It was apparently not included in the OMCDL material. I just double checked. Sorry. You're welcome to post it if you manage to find a copy.
daphnis
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Re: Orchestral Parts Project

Post by daphnis »

If you're looking for the complete ballet part it looks like it's $55 from Kalmus (ouch).
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