Funny you should mention that piece! I have been working on it currently with an orchestra. It is a great piece to study and learn from. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet (not just the suite) has so many twists and turns that I think it should be “required repertoire” for someone in their master’s degree as an orchestral conductor. And, now that Dover has published it, it is affordable for the student conductor.

Brian

I put Don Quixote rather than Don Juan on the list only for one reason: I have conducted Don Q but not Don Juan. I love Don Juan and I think it is definitely a valuable piece for a young (or beginning) conductor to see.

Andrew’s point about the Shostakovich editions and the Boosey and Hawkes editions is well made. The B&H editions offer a fantastic price for some great repertoire that used to be terribly expensive. And, these are great editions!

I think Jacob makes a great point about the Beethoven and Mozart overtures, as well as the earlier Mozart symphonies. A young conductor generally hasn’t developed the skill needed to read a score, much less conduct it, and these pieces are a great gateway to score reading.

Everybody has made some great points. Keep ‘em coming!

Brian St. John

http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page

What a great starting point for the conductor (or composer) for that matter. I have several thoughts on this.

From an economic standpoint, I can’t recommend Dover editions enough…do some of them leave something to be desired in terms of accuracy? Of course, but as a basic reference tool, they can’t be beat, and most of the time you have the added benefit of buying multiple works in one volume.

On that note: it may be worth mentioning that both Ricordi and Boosey have done similar things with some of their older stuff. Ricordi publishes a lovely full size edition of the big Respighi works (Fountains, Pines, and Feste Romane), and I’m sure they do the same with others. Boosey also publishes a lot of Copland the same way, my personal favorite contains the Clarinet Concerto, Danzon Cubano, Quiet City and a couple of others. As I recall, both of these ran about $30, slightly more than you’d pay for Dover, but still a bargain compared to buying them all separately, and compared to what a single work by a living composer (ie Torke or Adams) costs in an even smaller size.

As a young conductor, you might not be doing these pieces right out of the gate, but all of them are excellent resources for great orchestration technique!!!

Also, the new Shosti editions are worth checking out…newly typeset, newly edited with an eye to DSCH’s intentions, they are really good looking AND hard-bound. I’m not sure where you might be able to get your hands on them in the states, but I got my copies of Symph’s 5&6 through a friend in Europe…they ran about 30 euros a piece.

Really great post. I have a few of additions. Some are because I just like the works, some are because they are works that a student conductor who is just starting out might have more success putting together than a full Brahms Symphony, and some are works I had to prepare for graduate conducting program auditions.

Mozart and Beethoven overtures are all great access points to the style of those composers. And often they are more accessible than the full symphonies for a young conductor in front of a group early in their life/career.

Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale has been on numerous auditions for conducting programs. Especially the Royal March.

Barber – Knoxville Summer 1915, adagio for strings, 1st essay, 1st symphony (okay not available in Dover editions)

Mozart – Middle Symphonies 25, 29, 31 (All of Mozart’s symphonies are available in 3 Dover volumes)

Mahler – Songs of a Wayfarer – find lots of parts from his 1st symphony there.

Ravel – Pavane for a dead princess

Wagner – Reinzi, Flying Dutchman Overtures, and Siegfried idyll

Suppe – The three big overtures – Poet and Peasant; Morning, Noon, and Night, Light Cavalry

Like I said, great post and list!