Interpreting Concert Scores

Question

(Perhaps somewhat unusually) I understand how a transposed score works, but I don't understand the details of how "concert score" works – it's not as simple as: show every note at sounding pitch.

I am trying to read a concert score [Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64 – Prokofiev], and I'm finding it more difficult that reading a transposed score.

In particular:

• piccolo seems* to be at written pitch rather than sounding pitch
• cor anglais (english horn) is shown in alto clef
• bass clarinet is shown in bass clef
• tenor saxophone is shown in bass clef
• bassoons are shown in bass clef, when tenor clef would be more appropriate
• contrabassoon seems* to be at written pitch
• french horns are changing between bass and treble clefs
• trombones are shown in alto clef
• contrabass (double bass) seems* to be at written pitch

[*] While the piccolo, contrabassoon, and double bass parts seem to be at written pitch, maybe I'm misinterpreting these parts (the notes shown aren't exactly out of range, but it seems unlikely they are at sounding pitch).

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What exactly are the rules/conventions for writing a concert score?
- Which instruments aren't shown at concert pitch?
- Which clefs (that normally wouldn't be used) are used?

Who is a concert score written for?

Answer 1

Even in a Concert Pitch score, the instruments that are written an octave away from their sounding pitch continue to be so. The octave transposition of piccolo, double bass etc. don't count as 'transposing'.

In this particular score, Romeo & Juliet, you're also seeing some peculiarly Russian conventions. Russian composers were strangely fond of alto clef, using it for Cor Anglais and for both 1st and 2nd Trombones. (Beethoven used alto, tenor and bass clefs for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Trombone, but wrote high 1st Trombone parts, intended for the smaller Alto Trombone. Prokofiev, Shostakovitch etc. wrote for two tenor trombones, but favoured alto clef for both. Here's more on the topic: http://www.jayfriedman.net/to-alt-or-not-to-alt/)

For some reason, movie scores are always written in concert pitch. Modern concert music may be. In any case, the instrumental parts will be transposed to suit the actual instrument. An Alto Saxophone player will get a part 'in Eb', he won't be expected to sight-transpose! (Don't be confused when you see'Trumpet in C'. This is an actual instrument, built a tone higher than the more common 'Trumpet in Bb', which is favoured by some modern writers for its slightly brighter tone. It's not a transposition thing.)

'Who is a concert score written for?' In any case, transposed or not, it's for someone who wants to study and/or conduct the music.

Re Prokofiev in particular:

"It was while working with Tcherepnin on a Berlioz score that Prokofiev came to the idea of writing his own full orchestral scores "in C" -- that is, a transposed score in which the parts for all instruments are written down as they actually sound to the conductor (or, as they would be played on the piano). Why not simplify, he asked in his characteristic rage for clarity? He eliminated the tenor clef and used only three clefs -- soprano, bass and alto -- believing this system was more logical, simple and efficient. The transposing instruments in the orchestra (clarinets, trumpets, English horns, French horns, saxophones) would play from transposed parts while the conductor worked from a score in C. Prokofiev used this system throughout his career (so have other composers, including Samuel Barber), but it never caught on universally the way he thought it might.

Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography by Harlow Robinson (page 84)

Answer 2

Instruments such as piccolo, contrabassoon, and contrabass, which sound in a different octave from the written octave, are generally not considered to be transposing instruments, because the music is written in the same key as it is played in.

Alto clef is a different clef, not a transposition. Traditionally, trombones would be in an alto-tenor-bass trio, with each in the corresponding clef, but by Prokoffiev's time that tradition may well have fallen by the wayside. Trombonists should be able to read all three clefs, however.

Concert scores, like all scores, are written for those who are conducting or studying a piece of music.

Answer 3

The most important pecularity of full scores I'm aware of are more frequent clef changes (contrary to what you observe in bassoon), with the intention to reduce ledger lines. Too many ledger lines can easily break the space restrictions of the page layout.

Some other space-saving strategies are:

• Leave out instruments, which don't play in the respective bars (except in the first page, where all instruments are shown).
• Very seldom different instruments playing the same notes are merged, but this is only done in passages, where very few systems remain anyway.