The Instruments of the Orchestra written and narrated by Jeremy Siepmann.

This must surely be the most comprehensive guide to each and every instrument of the orchestra, and more, that you could ever wish for.

Armed with a boxed set of seven CDs and a hefty 200-plus page booklet, Jeremy Siepmann will lead you along a fascinating journey featuring every imaginable instrument, from bagpipes to the typewriter...yes, you have read that correctly...the typewriter..used by Leroy Anderson in a piece, by the same name, composed especially for this office contraption.

Our guide Mr Siepmann, passes comment on this piece: "It would seem, on purely orchestral evidence, that in Paris typists are rather less musical, or at least less neatly rhythmical."

And this is the tone for much of the extensive commentary provided by this eminent musician, writer and broadcaster.

Despite the length of the task, there is never a dull moment. CD No.1 begins with some aural examples of the violin used in various orchestral pieces, giving the listener little snatches of the instruments at their clearest and best.

And so the guide progresses, giving us condensed snippets of each instrument's characteristics, through the individuals in the percussion section and on to "The Interlopers" as Mr Siepmann calls them.

These include such exotica as cowbells, sleighbells, chains, the balalaika, sitar and purpose-built wind machines as used in the opening of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia antartica.

The beautifully produced booklet also includes a history of the instruments, a profile of the greatest instrument makers, a section on the typecasting of instruments, the art of orchestration and transcription, a guide to further listening, and much, much more.

Every school and music college should invest in a copy of this boxed set. It is not just a dry, dictatorial document, but an entertaining, often humours, and easily digestible means to understanding more about the particular world of orchestral music.

Seek it out as a perfect gift for any music-lover. Naxos 8.558040-46