Raff. Striking insignia of absolutely original scoring are not conspicuous in Raff's orchestration, but its entire character gives evidence of fertile imagination and sound judgment.
Rubinstein. The instrumentation of the Russian, Rubinstein, is not of distinctive significance.
Goldmark, on the other hand, owes his reputation primarily to his gifts as an orchestrator. He atones for a certain lack of musical inspiration by mastery of material effects and power of vivid portrayal.
Brahms considered glowing orchestral color and sensational dramatic effect of secondary importance. In spite of his otherwise comprehensive and titanic achievements, one cannot point to him as a model for invariably felicitous instrumentation.
Bruch possesses supreme command of modern orchestral resources, but is at his best in the art of accompaniment, which displays perfect taste, genuine expression and an abundance of energetic force.
Rheinberger's orchestral works cannot be regarded in the light of important contributions to musical literature. The instrumentation is thoroughly refined, marvellously smooth, and perfectly rounded in every detail; but the essential elements of individuality and novelty do not enter into the orchestral scheme to any appreciable extent.
[Chapter XI.] The New Movement.
The "New Movement" dates from the innovations simultaneously introduced by Berlioz in France and by Liszt and Wagner in Germany.
Berlioz was practically the first representative of the New Movement, but contrary to the natural course of evolution, he was not only its founder but at once its most radical exponent as well. The laying out of his musical scheme was inseparably connected with a series of events or ideas. As the chief French representative of romantic musical art, he combined dramatic and symphonic effects. His contributions to the development of "program" music and to modern science of orchestration loom up in gigantic proportions. One of the primary objects of his orchestral conceptions was to display tone-color in its own right, an object that was foreign to the more æsthetic ideals of the classicists. The distinctive features of his orchestration are power of musical description; new combinations, new effects, new treatment; insight into the characteristics of the instruments whereby their possibilities both individual and collective are demonstrated; excessive polyphony and complicated rhythm. Berlioz must be accredited with having anticipated many effects subsequently elaborated upon by Wagner, as discovered, for example, by his frequent use of homogeneous tone-color in independent three and four part harmony. Berlioz represents the ultra-realistic school of instrumental music and was the most daring orchestral writer that has ever lived.