Scope and arrangement
The Paul Turok scores and audio recordings, dating from 1944 to 2011, trace Turok's entire career as a composer. The collection exclusively consists of scores and audio recordings of Turok's works. The scores (which primarily include full scores and parts) cover most of Turok's compositions for orchestra, opera, band, chamber, and solo settings. Audio recordings chiefly date from the 1970s to the 1990s, and feature performances and rehearsals of Turok's works.
The Paul Turok scores and audio recordings are arranged in two series:
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1944-2011
Series I holds all scores in the collection, dating from 1944 to 2011. The majority of Turok's more than 100 published works are represented in this series. Scores for several unpublished works are also present.
Types of scores for each composition are noted in the container list. Printed full scores are included for most compositions, while parts are often included for multi-instrument works. Piano reductions, handwritten drafts, and commercially published editions of scores are occasionally present. Dates of scores do not necessarily indicate the original year of publication, as some copies are revised editions or simply printed at a later date.
The instrumentation for each composition is indicated in the container list, either in the title of the work or in a separate note. Opus numbers are also listed for each composition. When an opus number is not present, it is likely the composition was never commercially published.
Series I holds scores for Turok's wide-ranging works, including those for orchestra, chamber, and band settings, as well as compositions for solo instruments. There are scores and parts for all ten of Turok's Canzone Concertante pieces. His opera adaptation of Richard III is represented by handwritten drafts, a full score, vocal score, and libretto. Variations on an American Song: Aspects of Lincoln and Liberty contains handwritten and annotated versions of the score. The series also features scores for Turok's numerous sonatas for solo or duet instruments.
Other compositions represented in the series include Barbershop Variations, The Calendar, Charters West, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, From Sholom Aleichem, Gypsy Airs, Lanier Songs, Scene: Domestic, Threnody, Tourist Music, and Youngest Brother. Additionally, there are several scores for orchestra and string quartet works that date from the 1940s when Turok was a student at the High School of Music & Art. Some of these scores are written in notebooks, and at least one of them was submitted for a class assignment.
The collection also holds notebooks with handwritten notation for multiple works. These are likely Turok's early drafts. Loose, untitled pages of notation (mostly handwritten) are filed with the notebooks as well.
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1960s-2003
This series, dating from the 1960s to 2003, contains forty-seven audio recordings, mostly performances and rehearsals of Turok's works. Some recordings feature works by other composers alongside Turok's. A 1974 interview with Turok and an episode of WQXR's First Hearing from the 1990s are included as well.
The majority of recordings do not have exact dates. Estimated date ranges are provided in such cases.
Notable recordings in this series include the 1976 premiere of A Sousa Overture performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra; Canzone Concertante No. 5 performed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Wind Ensemble in 1990; and Rhapsody for Band performed by the Lawrence University Symphonic Band in 1995. Other recordings feature Turok compositions such as Clarinet Trio, From Sholom Aleichem, Improvisations, Lyric Variations, Ragtime Caprice, Scene: Domestic, Threnody, and Tourist Music.
The First Hearing episode features Turok discussing composers Bohuslav Martinu and Benjamin Britten. Additionally, there are two recordings that highlight Turok in rehearsal with soloists, providing direction and discussing the piece at hand. His rehearsal with cellist Bonnie Hampton is of particular interest.
Works by other composers often exist on recordings with Turok's works, usually as part of a full performance program. Several recordings contain only pieces by other composers. These include Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Jacques Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, and Tim Thompson's A Song of Earth. It is unclear if Turok was involved in these recordings that do not feature his work, or if he gathered them for reference.