ALICE IN ORCHESTRA LAND, by Ernest La Prade

In the life of an imaginative child " Wonders never cease "- every new adventure, every new experience leads into a "wonderland "-and what land could be more wonderful than the land of the orchestra?

Some of us who are older children, and who know this strange land well, will ever remain under the spell of the unceasing wonder of this "orchestraland," and we shall always feel a desire to lead by the hand our younger friends into this magic country of ever-changing beauty and excitement.

It was Schubert's " Symphony in C '' that did it (and it is rather long!) Alice (" third or fourth cousin, perhaps," of Mr Carrol's "Alice") was at a concert, listening to the music, thinking of the Dodo and the Duchess, gazing into the shining depths of the bell of the Bass Tuba, when she fell asleep - fell right into a big brass tunnel which led her on and on into the land of . . . but you must read the book!

The Author, a distinguished American orchestral player, has a knack of imparting knowledge which amounts to genius. Through the telling of a fairy story the reader is introduced to each instrument of the orchestra. Firstly the members of the string quartet - Messrs Stradivarius, Stainer, Gagliano and Vuillaume - are presented. We already, en passant, have learnt the names of four most important makers of stringed instruments and with continued fanciful guile (" I use the word in its complimentary sense ! ") we are taught the tone quality and compass of each instrument ; the meaning of harmonic, tremolo, martellato, spiccato, legato ; the method and importance of tuning, in fact all that really matters to the listener.

The wood-wind are then dealt with and each in turn shows its paces. Nothing seems to be forgotten, even the "nearly obsolete" are mentioned. " Besides, there are the Bass Flute, the Oboe d' Amore, the Basset Horn and the Double-Bass Clarinet, but we see little of them ; they lead a secluded life and seldom appear in public."

Each instrument of the Brass and Percussion department is given detailed attention and little " pearls " of musical history are dropped into the stream without causing the slightest splash.

The knotty problem of the " transposing " instruments is stated in such a way that even " he who runs may read."

An excellent "Appendix" gives (without the help of " Alice ") a clear account of the components of the orchestra, its history, and the life of those who wrote best for it.

I congratulate the author, and I envy him the pleasure he must have experienced whilst writing this delightful book.

Malcolm Sargent

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