24 AUGUST 1912, Page 23

A Practical Guide to the Modern Orchestra. By James Lyon.

(maamilian and Co. is. net.)—It has been the endeavour of the anther of this boOk to provide in "pocket" form the most im- portant facts as to compass and effective use of each of the instruments that make up a modern orchestra. It may be doubted whether he has been entirely successful in gaining his end. The four short pages, for instance, upon such a complex instrument as the horn are probably too much compressed, and assume too much knowledge, to be intelligible to the ignorant, and on the other hand do not enter into details enough to be helpful to those who have already some knowledge of the technique of the instrument. Still, the book provides a certain amount of elementary inforinae tion in a convenient shape.