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Hi all - new here, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered. Is anyone aware of a good reference that gives an indication or ranking of difficulty for orchestral repertoire - something like the Merton catalog does with chamber music (though just an overall difficulty level - not necessarily broken out by section/instrument)?

Thanks!

I am not aware of a catalouge but I would like to help and compare.

What pieces are you looking at?

Many works are ranked at "http://www.bdlo.de/katalog/komponisten.php" (in german).

To be really useful the threshold to "very difficult = sehr schwer" is a bit too low, i.e. too many works are rated "very difficult"
e.g. of the Beethoven symphonies only No. 1,2 and 5 rate "difficult = schwer"

The site also lists number of performances by its amateur orchestra members. So one can infer that some works may be even more difficult, if they are rarely if ever played by an amateur ensemble.

kalliwoda wrote:Many works are ranked at "http://www.bdlo.de/katalog/komponisten.php" (in german).

To be really useful the threshold to "very difficult = sehr schwer" is a bit too low, i.e. too many works are rated "very difficult"
e.g. of the Beethoven symphonies only No. 1,2 and 5 rate "difficult = schwer"

Hey, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 are all really, really hard! (6 too, but not quite as much)

I agree, but No. 7 and 9 are still more difficult than 3, 8 and 4 (except for the bassoon solo).

Its just from the perspective of someone who helps in the organization of an amateur orchestra, that I wish there would be higher rankings for pieces an average amateur orchestra should better not attempt: Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Strauss Till Eulenspiegel, Stravinsky Sacre du Printemps to give you some titles that are definitely more challenging for everyone involved than Beethoven 3.

My point is: If you peruse the BDLO-rankings, you will find very few works that are not marked "very difficult", and that gives lots of amateur players the great feeling that they have already mastered a few pieces in the most difficult category. But there are many other works of the "same" difficulty ranking they will never be able to play.

allegroamabile wrote:What pieces are you looking at?

Thanks for all of your replies. What I was hoping for was something to this effect: my group can handle (as examples) Mendelssohn's Athalie Overture, Borodin's Central Steppes, Egmont overture, Dream Pantomime from Hansel and Gretel (well, except for that 4-bar passage of excruciatingly high, exposed, upper strings). Therefore as I look to program future concerts, any works with similar rankings we should theoretically be able to perform. It sounds like that reference is still waiting to be written, however. I will check out the bdlo site mentioned (thanks kalliwoda). In the immediate future, I was pondering Hanson's Sym No. 2 (1st movement) and John Ireland's Epic March.