Starting in 2015, I have always had a fascination for the world of string orchestra. Being a violin player myself, I have grown up listening to string music my whole life. Soon my playlists had hundreds (with one having 1000+) of pieces. I felt that these playlists were limited by their medium. By having them on Spotify or YouTube, I could not listen to more obscure or unknown pieces without switching off and finding wherever they are elsewhere online. To remedy this problem, I moved to google sheets, now cataloging each piece and info about it in one convenient place, and thus the Prince String Lists were born.
Another contributing factor to my publication of these lists was the lack of enthusiasm I found online for this type of music. Other than IMSLP (which often has little to no information on many pieces), there are not many string orchestra dedicated repertoire lists. The good ones that do exist (such as Gen Gaku) are either automated and difficult to use effectively or are lists by commercial parties hoping to profit. Even on sites where there are a great number of string orchestra resources, it can be hard to glean meaningful information without spending significant contributions of time. To remedy this, the Prince String Lists aim to have easy access to recordings or difficulty levels of pieces along with a myriad of other information (although regrettably there is little to no information on publishers/scores as some pieces are published through multiple venues; any concerns about where to find scores on the personal list can be sent to me. Due to the sizeable nature of the full list, scores there will likely be more difficult to locate).
Difficulty Ratings
Difficulty ratings are often solely based on my opinion (sometimes I evaluate the piece, or I take the given piece difficulty from a composer), and they can vary from “real” ratings greatly. The purpose of difficulty ratings are not to scare off potential orchestras but rather to provide an easy and relative difficulty scale for filtering repertoire or getting a general sense of a piece’s difficulty. I use the relatively “traditional” rating system of .5-6, however the .5-6 scale is entirely relative to itself. This is because there are no official difficulty rating organizations and most pieces that are rated by their composers or organizations are also entirely relative to their own ratings and are thus not easily transferable between composers/organizations (ex: “The Fire Within” being rated a 6, with “Pursued” being rated a 4 yet being similarly difficult). The issue of unstandardized difficulty ratings has been a long-time frustration of mine, and by rating them myself with my own standards, I feel I have accurately placed these pieces within reason and with respect to each other. To do this, I have listened to every work on the personal list at least 3 times and every work (with a recording) on the full list at least once. That being said, these difficulty ratings can be slightly inconsistent, especially as pieces increase with difficulty (both in musicianship and technique). It is also important to note that I am a violinist and while I try to base my ratings based off the full piece, I likely misgrade the difficulty level of some lower string's parts in a few pieces, especially when a score is not freely available. That being said these difficulty ratings should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.
Difficulty ratings are cumulative and are assessments of the whole piece, this means that some movements may be easier than the entire piece’s rating as a whole or vice versa (same goes for individual parts).
Difficulty ratings for solo instruments with orchestra are rated for the orchestra’s difficulty, the difficulty of the soloist’s part is not taken into consideration.
I am open to changing difficulty ratings based on input as I have not played the majority of these pieces, however I will prioritize drastic changes over .5 or small grade differences as those can be highly opinionated.
At the end of the day, techniques or works that are hard for one orchestra, might not be as difficult for another. I do not utilize a model or single qualification for difficulty ratings; they are all treated holistically (if not taken from the composer), and they are all relative to each other.
Grade .5 -1: Beginning orchestra for true beginners, often utilized in first-third year orchestras where most if not all of the players are new.
Grade 2: Beginning orchestra for beginners, often utilized in elementary, middle, and early learning orchestras, this is where new, more advanced techniques are developed.
Grade 3: This is for intermediate orchestras representing both distinguished middle school and high school programs. The music in grade 3 often serves as an introduction to the 3rd position for violins, and more difficult rhythms, tempi, key signatures and notes.
Grade 4: This is for intermediate orchestras representing both distinguished middle school and high school programs as well as appropriate repertoire for many community orchestras. This area is usually where the break between educational string orchestra music and “professional” string orchestra music happens, with many pieces at this point experimenting with 3rd and 5th positions for violins, difficult passages for many instruments, and additional techniques such as artificial harmonics.
Grade 5: This is for advanced orchestras representing the very talented middle school and advanced high school programs as well as being appropriate for many community and professional orchestras, music in this category can be very challenging including a variety of difficult techniques, rhythms, and positions for all instruments.
Grade 5.5: It is often hard to give pieces especially at the higher difficulty single difficulty ratings due to the fact that for different players and orchestras the pieces can have entirely different reasons to be difficult. 5-5.5, 5.5, and 5.5-6 are all common listed difficulties for the repertoire list as the area from 5+ starts getting much more difficult to rate (especially without scores). These ratings each represent distinct steps up from each other, although they can be within similar difficulty of each other and the range is provided to account for that fact. Grade 5.5 is typically where national-calibre high school orchestras, collegiate orchestras, and professional orchestras all gather repertoire from.
Grade 6: Grade 6 is reserved almost exclusively for collegiate and professional orchestras. Grade 6 repertoire is very difficult and challenging even to the best of orchestras.
Grade 6+: Grade 6+ contains the most difficult pieces within string orchestra repertoire, while there could likely be more grades above this, the 6+ designation encapsulates the fact that the piece will be difficult for any orchestra that plays it, even professional ones. Currently only 5 pieces on the personal list hold this difficulty.
Listed are each relevant grade and 1-2 examples of a (mostly) known piece to help gauge difficulty:
6+:
Sven-Turr - Flamma
Adams - Shaker Loops
6-6+:
Strauss - Metamorphosen for 23 Strings
Takemitsu - Requiem
6:
Shostakovich arr. Drew - Chamber Symphony
Giannini - Concerto Grosso
5.5-6:
Montgomery - Strum
Schoenberg - Suite for Strings
5.5:
Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings
Barber - Adagio for Strings
5-5.5:
Parry - An English Suite
Copland - Hoedown (arr. String Orchestra)
5:
Bloch - Concerto Grosso No. 1 (First Movement)
Hindemith - 5 pieces for String Orchestra
4.5:
Chin - In the Dreams of Zhou
Dello Joio - 3 Dances
4:
Meyer - Century One Tusonic
Silva - Adventure on Bainbridge Island
3:
Del Borgo - Arlington Sketches
Collins - Tangled Veils
2:
Spata - Archaic Voices
1:
Meyer - Dragonhunter
Who are these lists intended for?
These lists are intended to help chamber/string orchestras from duos to large divisi orchestras of all skill levels; however, the focus is on intermediate to advanced string orchestra music.
What types of music are in these lists?
These lists are "String Focused" where “String Focused” works are defined as one in which there is not two or more non-soloist instruments of the same type (exclusive of string instruments).
Example: "Spielzeug Straßenbahn" by Jennifer Jolley is a piece for string orchestra (technically chamber strings), solo violin, solo flute, and solo harpsichord. Since the piece does not have two or more non-soloist instruments of the same type, it is considered to be "String Focused" (one solo violin, one solo flute, one solo harpsichord, and strings).
Example: "Brazilian Fantasy" by Ney Rousaro is a piece for string orchestra, and two marimbas. Since the piece has two marimbas that are soloists with an accompanying string orchestra (and thus not two or more non-soloist instruments of the same type), this piece is considered "String Focused".
Example: "Sound and Fury" by Anna Clyne is a piece for 2.2.2.2-2.2.0.0-perc(1)-strings, since its instrumentation has 2 of each woodwind along with 2 horns and 2 trumpets. There are two or more non-soloist instruments of many types, thus it is not a "String Focused" piece.
What do blank sections on the lists mean?
Blank sections indicate that the desired piece of information is not found or completely unknown (likely not just because I didn't put something there). If there is no recording for a piece, I will attempt to put some form of confirmation of the piece's existence within the notes section. If you have any information on a section left blank, please reach out.
Any other questions?
📩 Contact me at: mtptrax@gmail.com