World of Pageantry

For those of us that are also orchestra winds, what are your favorite pieces to listen to?

Don't know about you guys, but Ravel's Bolero keeps going round and round my head.

Anything Shostakovich

yeah, I got Festive Overture, some random Mahler symphony, some Gershwin and Williams stuff, Romeo and Juliet (Tchikovsky) and...I think that's it for now.

swuster wrote:For those of us that are also orchestra winds, what are your favorite pieces to listen to?

Don't know about you guys, but Ravel's Bolero keeps going round and round my head.

I could go on and on for hours on this subject. I have several hundred orchestra CDs, and pride myself on tracking down unknown works that I think are "hidden gems"... I tend to prefer romantic, post-romantic, and 20th century compositional styles, so the vast majority of my CDs are of pieces composed in the past 150 years or so. I'm not so big on Bach, Haydn, or Beethoven. Recently I discovered the First Symphony of Russian composer (and Shostakovich contemporary) Gavriil Popov. It's pretty good, if a little cacophonous.

There's just too many great works to list here. However, since I regularly make mix-CDs for friends (trying to introduce them to more classical), here's some of my all-time favorite works that I've included on recent mix-CDs.

Introduction to Fourth Ballet Suite (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Symphony #1 (Witold Lutoslawski)
Roses from the South (Johann Strauss)
Hary Janos Suite (Zoltan Kodály)
Capriccio Bohémien (Sergei Rachmaninoff)
Heroes Symphony (Phillip Glass)
Symphony #0 (yes, zero) (Anton Bruckner)
Concerto for Orchestra (Jennifer Higdon)
Prince Csongor and the Kobolds (Leo Weiner)
Symphony #1 (Arnold Bax)
Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme (Anton Dvorák)
Marche Slave (Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
Suite from The Red Poppy (Reinhold Gliere)
Symphony #6 (Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
The Beautiful Galatea (Franz von Suppe)
Suite Provencale (Darius Milhaud)
Symphony #1 (Samuel Barber)
Symphonic Dances (Sergei Rachmaninoff)
Petrouchka (Igor Stravinsky)
Le Chasseur Maudit (Cesar Franck)
Dances from Gayaneh (Aram Khachaturian)
Song of India from Sadko (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (Aaron Copland)
Pines of Rome (Ottorino Respighi)
La Maries de la Tour Eiffel (Les Six*)
Symphony #10 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
War Dance from Belkis, Queen of Sheba (Ottorino Respighi)
Overture to The School for Scandal (Samuel Barber)
Symphony for Solo Piano (Charles-Valentin Alkan)
Romanian Folk Dances (Bela Bartok)
Symphony #1 (Sergei Rachmaninoff)
Slavonic Dances (Anton Dvorak)
Symphony #5 (Arnold Bax)
Suite from Aladdin (Carl Nielsen)
Symphony #11 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Sensemaya (Silvestre Revueltas)
The Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky)
Finale to Sinfonia Antartica (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Bacchus et Ariane (Albert Roussel)
Medea's Dance of Vengeance (Samuel Barber)
Suite from Moscow Cheryomushki (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Suite from Estancia (Alberto Ginastera)
The Fountains of Rome (Ottorino Respighi)
Suite from Spartacus (Aram Khachaturian)
Festival Coronation March (Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
Thalaba the Destroyer (Granville Bantock)

* (Les Six was a famous group of six French composers early in the 20th Century. Five of them contributed music to the ballet "The Marriage at the Eiffel Tower": Georges Auric, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Germaine Tailleferre, and Arthur Honegger)

I highly recommend any and every piece on the above list, and would be more than willing to make up a mix-CD for anyone who requested it.

Let me check some of the "most played" on my iPod

Some of my favorties:

Harp Concerto - Ginastera
Histore Du Tango for Flute and Guitar and Tango Suite - Piazzolla
String Quartet in G - Debussy
Church Windows - Respighi
Symphonic Metamorphosis - Hindemith
Creation of the World - Milhaud
Symphony #5 - Prokofiev
All Rise - Wynton Marsalis

Gabe Cobas

Spring-Heeled Jack wrote:
[I highly recommend any and every piece on the above list, and would be more than willing to make up a mix-CD for anyone who requested it.

. . . and break the copyright law?

Please encourage them to PURCHASE the CDs. There are many wonderful recordings on budget classical labels just for the purpose of introducing people to this wonderful music.

Chaporch wrote:

Spring-Heeled Jack wrote:
[I highly recommend any and every piece on the above list, and would be more than willing to make up a mix-CD for anyone who requested it.

. . . and break the copyright law?

Please encourage them to PURCHASE the CDs. There are many wonderful recordings on budget classical labels just for the purpose of introducing people to this wonderful music.

I highly encourage people to build their own classical collection... but where do you start? I've accumulated my CDs over the course of 15 years and probably in excess of $5,000 (and that's including all the $2 and $3 CDs I've picked up from BMG). If I can provide a sampler platter and help guide them to particular composers or styles, I feel fine doing that.

However, I will suggest this: these are the Top 10 pieces from that list that I think you should seek out and buy...
Symphony #1 (Rachmaninoff)
Symphony #10 (Shostakovich)
Symphony #0 (Bruckner)
Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme (Dvorák)
Heroes Symphony (Glass)
Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (Copland)
Petrouchka (Stravinsky)
Symphony for Solo Piano (Alkan)
Suite from Moscow Cheryomushki (Shostakovich)
Thalaba the Destroyer (Bantock)

Spring-Heeled Jack wrote:
Thalaba the Destroyer (Bantock)

I love that piece! It has to be one of the all time great titles.

Some pieces that I like are:

Symphony No. 2 (London)-Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis-Vaiughan Williams
Job a Masque for Dancing-Vaughan Williams
Feste Romane-Respighi
Egmont Overture-Beethoven
Sinfonietta-Janacek
Concierto de Aranjuez-Rodrigo
Symphony No. 3 (Organ)-Saint-Saens
Adagio Celeste-Rautavaara*
Symphony No. 2-Borodin
Nocturnes-Debussy
Tambeau de Couperin-Ravel
Minuet Antique-Ravel
Carmina Burana-Orff
Mass-Bernstein
Aladdin Suite-Nielsen
Circus Overture-Schuman


*I heard the Adagio Celeste played by the San Francisco Symphony in it's American premier. It's a lovely piece for strings. A recording was released by Ondine last month.

Adams: Short Ride on a Fast Machine
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Piano, and Celesta
Beethoven: Any odd numbered symphony (especially 5, 7, and 9), Egmont Overture, Leonore Overture No. 3
Creston: Marimba Concertino
Debussy: Any composition
Dukas: The Sorceror's Apprentice
Ewazen: Marimba Concerto
Faure: Suite from Pelleas et Melisande
Holst: The Planets (in particular, the first 4)
Hovhaness: Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints
Kabalevsky: Colas Breugnon Overture
Mahler: Symphony #4, Symphony #5, Symphony #6
Part: Any composition
Penderecki: Cello Concerto, Partita for Orchestra
Rachmaninoff: The first 3 piano concertos
Rimsy-Korsakov: Scheherezade, Cappricio Espagnol
Saint-Saens: Bacchanale from Sampson and Dalilah
Shostakovich: Symphony #5, Symphony #7
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, The Firebird Suite (any version)
Vaughan Williams: Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Variations on Greensleeves

PGOK wrote:

Spring-Heeled Jack wrote: Thalaba the Destroyer (Bantock)

I love that piece! It has to be one of the all time great titles.

Bantock was just a master at coming up with colorful titles (thanks largely due to his facination with celtic and eastern mythology):
Thalaba the Destroyer
Fifine at the Fair
Cuchullan's Lament
Curse of Kehama
Five Ghazals of Hafiz

More HERE

PGOK wrote:Aladdin Suite-Nielsen

Yes yes yes. I can't believe I left that off my list. "Oriental Festival March", "The Market at Ispahan", "Negro Dance"... Wonderful suite.

Some of Copland's early sruff is awsome...

My recent discoveries...

"Illusion" from "Action Passion Illusion" by Erkki-Sven Tüür
"My cheeks, so white, so rosy" from "Three Russian Songs" by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Finale to "Symphony #1" by Gavriil Popov

Debussy: First Arabesque, Clair de Lune (so difficult, but so rewarding), Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun
Bach: Most Sonatas, Suites, and Partitas (I really like organization)
Holst: The Planets (like malleTragic, the first 4 rank very high on my list. especially depending on my mood), Suites for Military Band
Chopin: Black Key Etude, Revolutionary Etude
Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 3
Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto in G, Op. 25
Shostakovich: Symphony #1 & #5, Festive Overture
Beethoven: Pastoral Symphony (#6), Pathetique Sonata
Stravinsky: The Firebird, Petrushka
Faure: Dolly Suite
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnole
Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals, Samson et Delilah (the whole opera is fantastic), Symphony #3
Copland: 4 Dances from Rodeo
Bernstein: Candide, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Divertimento for Orchestra
Gershwin: An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess
Borodin: Polovetsian Dances
Dvorak: New World Symphony, Carnival Overture

and my favorite. ever.
Respighi: Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, and Roman Festivals. (Pines is my favorite though.)

Shostakovich 10 (scherzo: von Karajan recording)
Kalinikov 1 (slow mvmt.)
Ravel Piano Concerto (slow mvmt.; Micheangeli's version)
Rimsky's Sheherezade (Reiner)
Vaughn Williams 7 (Boult)
Mahler 6 (Sinopoli)
Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod (Toscanini/NBC)
Shostakovich 5 (finale: Bernstein/NYPO live)
Sibelius' Legends (Salonen)
Carmina Burana (Tilson Thomas/Cleveland)
Dvorak's Husitska Overture (Kertesz)
Feste Romane (Dutoit/Montreal)
Griffes' The White Peacock; Clouds (Hanson)
Holst's Hammersmith (orchestral version: Boult)

...& anything Leopold Stokowski conducted was usually guaranteed to be a barn-burner.

Man! I could go an ad-infinitum.

Apache_1979 wrote:Shostakovich 5 (finale: Bernstein/NYPO live)

I prefer Rostropovich's version of the 5th with the National S.O. Bernstein's version is obliviously optimistic in the finale.