Six Enhanced Multimedia Compact Discs to Accompany The Study of Orchestration, Third Edition CD-ROM – August 21, 2002

For anyone that has purchased or used the Third Edition textbook, this is an indispensable addition to the library. yes, the book covers important factual information, but I think the demonstrations and sound examples really help make the content come alive.That said, there are a few things to note:1. The PC client isn't bad, but it's built for an older generation of computer/OS combination. In other words, it's showing it's age pretty bad.2. Despite the "high-defintion videos" written on the discs, the videos are all 360p. They're not bad for a mobile device, but don't scale well to the displays that most people are used to using today. That said, they're still quite useful. They have the added benefit of being something that you can upload to a file share.To maximize my investment and usability, I ripped all of the audio files to MP3 and renamed them to match their usage in the text. It was a chore, but I only have to do that once. I also pulled all the video from the discs and placed them in subdirectories with their orchestral grouping. Finally, I took the directory with the PC client and packaged it as a Zip file that I could download to whatever computer I am working on. The idea here was to use the capabilities (playable note ranges for various on the staff) that are part of the client software which have no video or audio dependencies. I've placed all these assets on my cloud-based drive for easy access. It was a flexible, efficient, and very usable solution for me.All in all, I felt it was worth the investment of time and money, as it's enhanced my use of the text and accompanying workbook.

The book and CD set make a formidable combination and a great study guide, but I have had difficulties playing the CDs. The only direct way to list and select the 532 audio tracks on a PC is to open Microsoft Media Player and insert the appropriate disc. Going via disc 6 is enough to start hating the climactic finish to the Great Gate of Kiev from sheer repetition!My difficulty is in playing the movies, which appear to be .DXR files. Can any fellow-sufferer help me here? They simply won't run for me. All that runs is the Musorgsky/Ravel under Quick-Time.

If you have purchased Sam Adler's book, this CD set will definately be a great asset to materialize the learning material

The discs contain a voluminous number of impressive musical examples. It would take quite awhile for me to go through the entire collection. As of right now, I have listened to just one CD of several CDs in the collection, and have found the quality of the recordings to be excellent and the relevance of the recordings to the study of orchestration to be spot on. The comprehensive collection of excerpts are the best I have come across in decades of learning about and teaching orchestration. The collection arrived on time and in pristine condition. I would highly recommend it.

Edited on 5/9/09 - my initial review (below) was pretty bad, perhaps unfairly so. With WW Norton's helpdesk I was able to figure out how to make the CDs work. Right now I'd give it 3 or 4 stars (but apparently that cannot be amended).Two tips for anyone reading this review:1. Make sure to install the software contained on CD6.2. The audio samples are *not* visible on a windows computer - the way this works is pop in the CD in any CD player or computer DVD drive that can play CDs, and play them back. (that is not in the manual - would have been nice to mention that somewhere).The book and the CD samples that go with it, are top notch for anyone seriously interested in orchestration - very detailed and thorough. One small nitpick on the classical guitar: the strings are not plucked with all fingers of the right hand (for right handed players) - only thumb (p or pulgar) through ring finger (a or anular) - the little pinkie is not normally used by classical guitarists, but occasionally by flamenco players for percussive effects or strums across all strings.Initial review:"Whoever developed the user interface should be killed - it forces you to listen to the opening tune which after a couple of times gets really annoying, it keeps asking for different CDs (insert disk 1, insert disk 6, insert disk 1, etc) for anything you want to do, and the audio samples are nowhere to be found ('cannot find composer'). (...)"

As others have mentioned, there were some difficulties with running the software. In my case I was able to play the music and put it on my computer without any problems. The videos were an issue at first and even though I have gotten them to work now they still have glitches. It's just that the software was meant to run on an OS 15 years ago, which is understandable. I'm running this on Windows 10 and it does work. Even if you can't get the videos to work, the hundreds upon hundreds of musical examples are well worth the current asking price. They really make the book come alive.

The system requirement indicate that the setup program will work with Mac System 8.1 or later. Unfortunately it will not work with OS X. You have to have a machine that will run in "Classic." Without the setup program installed, you will not be able to watch the videos which have an .dxr extension. Audio examples will play, but not worth the full price.

The CDs are a nice complement to the book, and give another perspective on the material, they truly do.However.... why in the world do they have to be so expensive?

Conforme a la description Excellent ouvrage

Wonderful! Wish I had more time to use it. SO much amazing information here.

仕事柄、管弦楽法の書籍はほとんど持っていますが、最高です。３冊セットで意味をなすものなので、やや高価ですが、やむを得ない価格です。

Thanks

Après avoir acheté le superbe livre, il faut acheter les disques pour pouvoir étudier convenablement le livre et l'orchestration.L'ensemble est fantastique et permet un large tour d'horizon des instruments et de leur "assemblage".Le gros point négatif: son prix...exorbitant à mon goût!!!!!!!!!!!!!