xylorimba

Like the xylophone and marimba, the xylorimba consists of a series of wooden bars laid out like a piano keyboard "with a compass sufficiently large to embrace the low-sounding bars of the marimba and the highest-sounding bars of the xylophone." The lower notes of the xylorimba are described as sounding closer to a xylophone than a marimba, on account of its bars being both thicker and narrower, and due to the different size and shape of its resonators; the size and shape of the bars differs to emphasize different overtones. The xylorimba experienced its greatest popularity in the 1920s and 30s, particularly within vaudeville theatre

(4, 4.5, and 5-octave instruments): • Alban Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra (1914–15, revised 1929) • Erik Bergman: Hathor Suite for soprano, baritone, mixed chorus and ensemble (cor anglais, flute, harp and percussion) (1971) • William Bolcom: Dream Music No. 2 for four players (1982) • Pierre Boulez: Le Marteau sans maître for alto and six instruments (1953–55, revised 1957) • Pierre Boulez: Pli selon pli for soprano and orchestra (1957–62) • Roberto Gerhard: Symphony 3 (1961; world premiere) • HK Gruber: Piano Concerto (2016; world premiere) • Helmut Lachenmann: Mouvement (- vor der Erstarrung)) for three ad hoc players and 14 players (1982/84) • Helmut Lachenmann: Souvenir for 41 instruments (1959) • Helmut Lachenmann: Accanto for solo clarinet and orchestra (1975–76) • Olivier Messiaen: Couleurs de la Cité Céleste for piano and chamber orchestra (1963) • Olivier Messiaen: La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ for mixed choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra (1965–69) • Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux étoiles... for piano solo, horn, xylorimba, glockenspiel and orchestra (1971–74) • Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise opera (1975–83) • Olivier Messiaen: Éclairs sur l'au-delà… for large orchestra (1988–92) • Krzysztof Penderecki: Strophen for soprano, voce recitante, and 10 instruments (1959) • Carlos Stella: quartet: pastiches, parodies and variations on two themes by stravinsky and berio for piccolo clarinet, trombone, xylorimba and vibraphone (1995) • Igor Stravinsky: The Flood: A musical play TV opera (1962) • Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen for three orchestras (1955–57) (in the list of instruments for Orchestra III, but the score itself calls for a marimbaphone, as in Orchestra I) • Iannis Xenakis: Pléïades for percussion sextet (1978) • The The: Introduction to the song "Uncertain Smile" (1982)