What are your favorite orchestrated pieces?
 

I'm looking for new orchestral-type songs. All I listen to are Apocalyptica, Beethoven, and John Williams. Any song ideas that would open my eyes a little more? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This sucks, come on...

Come onnnnnnnnnnnn.

Listen to the score for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, or nearly anything else by Ennio Morricone to start with. It's pretty easy to get into, and that's how I got started with Orchestral music.

I will have to check that out. I like many orchestrated pieces though. I have been working on some myself.

Listen to cue 3 at
showcaseyourmusic/georgecasino

Leave a comment letting me know what you think or leave a rank.

How about the soundtrack from Gladiator. Though not all orchestral over the course of the album it does have its moments such as The Battle. A very exciting orchestral piece. Very Germanic.

I'm partial to Graeme Revell. He composes fantastic (IMO) movie scores. The musical score for "The Crow" is one of his best.

I believe I can give a little insight on this thread:

If you want really amazing orchestrated music, the 1st thing you have to ask yourself is from what period of music do you prefer:

Baroque: Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, etc.
Classical: Mozart, Hayden, Piccinni, etc.
Romantic: Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Verdi, etc.
20th Century: Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Debussy, etc.

The best thing to do is to listen to samples of each of the above composers, then target in on which period you like the most. As for me, my favourite pieces include:

Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3
Mahler's 5th Symphony
Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues

Of the above, Beethoven is from The Romantic Period while Rachmanioff, Mahler, and Stostakovich are all from late Romantic/20th Century period

Hope this is a starting point: Once you enter the rhelm of Classical Music, there's seriously so much variation and pieces available that it takes more than a lifetime to truly enjoy...

I most definitely like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. The scores from the last X-Men was pretty good too.

The thing that San Fransisco orchestra did with Metallica is sweet!

Their orchestra leader guy knows all about metal. It was sweet!

Conductor+composer

Yeah, that guy. He knows metal, and I saw how we worked stuff with Metallica to do it, and it's just awesome.

Michael Caymen or something his name is... that's what James Hetfield says at the end of the album at least.

Still sweet. Taking the boring orchestra stuff and giving it a metal makeover. Perfection.

:eek:

You need to listen to some orchestral stuff.

I think that The Scorpions - Moment of Glory was more successful in blending two different genres, though the music isn't as good, the orchestral side is much better.

I've been forced to listen to Back and Mozart by my Dad in a car... every day... for 4 weeks through the winter... it made me feel ill and gave me headaches.

I can't stick orchestra stuff... give me rock any day.

Bach*

Back? Sorry I can't let this one go. I'm sure your dad feels the same about all that shitty grunge you like as well. Diss on a genre all you like provided you know a little about it. Until then: go educate yourself.

Possibly the most helpful post ever. My problem has always been finding the 'best' rendition of a given piece. My dad was a purist. e.g. i'd sooner download the London or Berlin Symphony's version than the same piece by the Toronto Orchestra. Is there any substance in this or am I just unnecessarily limiting my options?

As far as orchestrated pieces, there's so much to choose from, so I'll just scratch the surface:

Joseph Hayden - Messiah
W.A. Mozart - Symphony No. 15 in G major, K. 124
Johan Strauss I - Radetzky-Marsch op. 228
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor "Chorale"
Hugo Wolf - Italian Serenade
(This piece is more of a small orchestra piece rather than a whole symphonic orchestra, but still rather good!)

If you take Beethoven's 5th symphony and listen to the first few notes 'Da da da daaaaaa' and listen to ten recordings of it you'll most likely hear ten different versions of it. It is very common to like a piece of music and listen to a new recording of it and not be keen on it. This is where the conductor mostly comes in. He interprets a lot of things such as tempo, flow, volume, and blends different parts of the orchestra as he sees fit.

As for limiting your options? I wouldn't say that exactly but if you hear a piece and it doesnt do much for you, maybe try listening to one or two different versions of it before you make you mind up.

When I saw this topic I immediately came to say JOHN WILLIAMS JOHN WILLIAMS but then I saw you already listen to him :) Howard Shore - he does the Lord of the Rings score and is similar to Wiliams in many respects.

Lux Aeterna has been my favorite for a while now. It still strikes me every time I hear it.

Bolero by Maurice Ravel is of course a timeless classic, which I had been looking for for a while before I remembered the name. That's my problem with classical music. There's tons of great music that I grew up with, but I don't know name or composer of most of them.

My favorite classical piece of all time is definitely II Air by Bach, though my favorites are always changing depending on the mood...

For good classical-musicish soundtracks, I recommend the Neon Genesis Evangelion OSTs and also the Spirited Away OST (animated film by Miyazaki).

Oh my god.
Go listen to Prelude to Afternoon of the Faun by Debussy. It is such an amazing and beautiful piece.
GO LISTEN NOW!

Another piece is Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Le Bolero de Ravel is one of my favourite piece, but my favourite is Bizet's Carmen Suite !
And Rachmaninov concerto n°3 for piano. :D

Have you tried listening to any Haydn-they mostly have nicknames and quite a few are uptempo.He's brilliant(or should I say was). He even wrote his own funeral music.
Or if you fancy something a bit more modern you could try Rondo Veneziano. Their most famous tune is called Venice In Peril.They perform in Venetian costumes and masks from the 1700's.Their collection is almost never ending.
Then there's always Glazunov-he was Russian. The list goes on and on!:cool:

My favorite orchestral piece is Beethoven's 7th symphony. You should also look into Mahler's and Sibelius's symphonies as well. Sibelius's first symphony is a really interesting piece and is one of my favorites.

As for interpretations you can't really go wrong with Karajan, Bernstein, Furtwangler, or Toscanini. I'm not really particular about my conductors. I'm more critical of the interpretation by the pianist (but that's probably just because I play the piano).

Beethoven and Mozart. And if you want to listen to something very unqiue and different, try Ravel's Bolero.

Cri-cri, el grillito cantor :)

Pavel Chesnokov's "Salvation is Created" gets me every time.

Has noone said 4'33 yet? :D

I'm relatively new to the genre but at the moment I'd have to say Mozart's Symphony No. 25, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor.

you can listen to Immediate Music or Xray Dog. they are mostly what you hear in movie trailers. its really nice and fast paced.

Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Here's what i think is some great orchestral music:

1.Addinsell - Warsaw Concerto
2. Bach - Brandenburg Concertos; Keyboard Concerto in A; Magnificat; Mass in B minor; Ouverture 1-4; St. Mathew Passion; Violin Concertos;
3. Barber - Adagio for Strings; Essays for Orchestra;
4. Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra; Hungarian Sketches; Music for Strings, Percussian, and Celeste;
5. Beethoven - Missa Solemnis; Piano Concerto No. 5; Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 6 "Pastorale"; Symphony No. 7; Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9 "Chorale";
6. Berg - Violin Concerto;
7. Berlioz - Harold en Italie; Symphony Fantastique;
8. Bingen - Canticles of Ecstasy; Symphoniae;
9. Bizet - Carmen;
10. Brahms - Academic Festival Overture; Piano Concerto No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; The German Requiem;
11. Britten - Occasional Overture; Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge; War Requiem; Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra;
12. Bruckner - Symphony No. 4;
13. Busoni - Doktor Faustus
14. Cage - Double Music; Constructions;
15. Copland - Appalacian Spring; Billy the Kid; Rodeo;
16. Corelli - Concerto Grosso's;
17. Couperin - The Nations;
18. C.P.E. Bach - Hamburg Concertos;
19. Debussy - Images for Orchestra; Le Mer; Nocturnes; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn; Printemps;
20. Durufle - Requiem;
21. Dvorak - Carnival; Symphonic Variations; Symphony No. 7; Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9 "From the New World";
22. Elgar - Enigma Variations; Violin Concerto in B minor;
23. Falla - El amor brujo; El sombrero de tres picos; La vida breve; Psyche;
24. Faure - Requiem;
25. Foss - Orpheus and Euridice; Renaissance Concerto for Flute and Orchestra; Salomon Rossi Suite;
26. Gabrielli - Canzon duodecimi toni a 10;
27. Gershwin - An American in Paris; Rhapsody in Blue;
28. Glass - Dracula; Einstein on the Beach;
29. Golijoz - Aina Damor;
30. Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs";
31. Grainger - Lincolnshire Posy;
32. Greenberg - Symphony No. 5;
33. Grieg - Lyric Suites; Peer Gynt Suites; Piano Concerto in A minor; Sigurd Jorsalfer;
34. Handel - Messiah; Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks;
35. Haydn - Divertimento for Cello and Orchestra; Missa in augustis; Symphony No. 55; Symphony No. 92 "Oxford"; Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"; Symphony No. 100 "Military"; Symphony No. 101 "The Clock"; Symphony No. 103 "Drumroll"; Symphony No. 104 "London"; Te deum;
36. Hindimith - Morgenmusik for Brass;
37. Holst - Suites for Military Band; The Planets;
38. Ives - Robert Browning Overture; Symphony No. 1; Three Places in New England;
39. Jerusalem - Dixit Dominus; Mass in D; Resposorio Segundo de S. S. Jose;
40. Khatchaturian - ***an;
41. Leoncavallo - Pagliacci;
42. Lutoslawski - Cello Concerto; Paroles tissees; Songs for Female Voice and Orchestra; Trois Poemes d'Henri Michaux;
43. Lyadov - The Enchanted Lake
44. Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde; Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 8 "Symphony of a Thousand";
45. Mascagni - Cavaleria Rusticana;
46. Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream; Ruy Blas: Overture; Symphony No. 3 "Italian"; Symphony No. 4 "Scottish"; Violin Concerto in E minor;
47. Monteverdi - Vespers of the Blessed Virgin;
48. Mozart - Clarinet Concerto; The Magic Flute; Don Giovanni; A Little Night Music; Flute Concerto No. 2; Horn Concerto No. 2; Horn Concerto No. 3; Horn Concerto No. 4; The Marriage of Figaro; Oboe Concerto; Piano Concerto No. 9; Piano Concerto No. 19; Piano Concerto No. 20; Piano Concerto No. 21; Piano Concerto No. 23; PIano Concerto No. 24; Piano Concerto No. 25; Piano Concerto No. 26 "Coronation"; Piano Concerto No. 27; Requiem; Salzburg Symphonies; Symphony No. 29; Symphony No. 30; Symphony No. 38 "Prague"; Symphony No. 40; Violin Concerto No. 3; Violin Concerto No. 4;
49. Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition;
50. Offenbach - La Fille du Tambour-Major; Orpheus in the Underworld;
51. Orff - Carmina Burana;
52. Pachelbel - Canon and Gigue in D;
53. Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky; Cinderella; Dreams; Lietenent Kije; Peter and the Wolf; Piano Concerto No. 1; Pushkin; Romeo and Juliette; Scythian Suite; Symphony No. 1 "Classical"; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 7; The Love for Three Oranges; Violin Concerto No. 1;
54. Puccini - Tosca;
55. Purcell - Ode to Cecilia's Day; Te Deum & Jubilate; Verse Anthems;
56. R. Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra; An Alpine Symphony; Arabella; Don Juan; Ein Heldenleben; Till Eulenspiegel;
57. Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2; Piano Concerto No. 3; Prince Rostislav, Symphonic Poem; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini;
58. Rameau - Deus Noster Refugium; In Convertendo; Concertos; Quam Dilecta;
59. Ravel - Albrada del Gacioso; Bolero; Introduction and Allegro; La Valse; Mother Goose Suite; Pavane for the Dead Princess; Rapsodie Espagnole; Valses Nobles et Sentimentales;
60. Respighi - Feste Romane; Fontane di Roma; Pini di Roma;
61. Rihm - Music for Violin and Orchestra;
62. Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio espagnole; Christmas Eve; May Night; Mllada; Scheherazade; The Golden ****erel; The Invisible City of Kitezh; The Snow Maiden; The Tale of Tsar Saltan;
63. Rossini - The Barber of Seville;
64. Russell Bennett - Symphonic Songs for Band;
65. Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals; Symphony No. 3;
66. Schoenberg - Five Orchestral Pieces; Transfigured Night;
67. Schubert - Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"; Symphony No. 9 "The Great";
68. Schumann - Manfred; Piano Concerto; Symphony No. 1 "Spring"; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish"; Symphony No. 4;
69. Shostakovich - Festive Overture; Jazz Suites; Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"; Tahiti Trot; The Age of Gold Ballet Suite; The Bolt Ballet Suite;
70. Sibelius - En Saga; Finlandia; Karelia Suite; Luonnotar; Symphonies; Tapiola; Two Serenades; Two Serious Melodies; Valse Triste; Violin Concerto;
71. Strauss Jr. - Die Fledermaus; Waltzs;
72. Stravinsky - Petrouchka; The Firebird; The Nightingale; The Rite of Spring;
73. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture; Capriccio Italien; Marche Slav; Romeo and Julliette Fantasy-Overture; Sleeping Beauty; Swan Lake; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 6; The Nutcracker;
74. Telemann - Wassermusik;
75. Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Fantasia on Greensleevs; Five Variants of "Dives & Lazarus"; Sea Songs; Symphony No. 3; Sympony No. 5; Symphony No. 6; The Lark Ascending;
76. Verdi - Aida; I Vespri Siciliani; La Traviata; Requiem; Rigoletto;
77. Villa-Lobos - Choros;
78. Vivaldi - Concertos;
79. Wagner - Parcifal; Tristan und Isolde;
80. Walteufel - Waltzes;
81. Weill - The Three Penny Opera;

Danny elfman has alot of very provoking music... soundtracks and arrangements of classical pieces witha modern twist, worth a look/listen.

Barcarolle from "The Tales of Hoffman" by Offenbach
 

Several days ago while practicing my cello, I was delighted to find myself playing a very simple melody from a classical piece I remember loving devotedly and to tears because of its sweet simplicity when I was 19, but could not identify because I didn't know the composer. Armed with this new crucial bit of information provided by my cello instructional book, I read up on the piece to learn more and share it with you here.

The piece is "Barcarolle" from the opera, "The Tales of Hoffmann," by Jacques Offenbach. Although I prefer the orcestral version (and have never heard the opera), I feel the opera's story is interesting:

"The Muse appears and reveals to the audience that her purpose is to draw Hoffmann's attention to herself, and to make him abjure all other loves, so he can be devoted fully to her: poetry. She takes the appearance of Hoffmann's closest friend, Nicklausse" as Hoffmann recounts his three failed loves, with the muse at the end revealing herself to him and telling him: "Be reborn a poet! I love you, Hoffmann! Be mine!" The magic of poetry reaches Hoffmann as he sings, "Muse whom I love, I am yours!" The Tales of Hoffmann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. So, it is not exactly a happy ending, assuming that loving a Muse rather than a human is a good thing, and apparently in the end the Muse realizes that Hoffman's three loves represent the real love for a woman he was trying to meet that day...but when she arrives, he is too drunk to notice, and so the Muse (poetry) wins him as he loses real human love.

Offenbach in fact died several months before finishing the opera, and so a friend of his, another composer, finished it for him...which I feel is a great and loving act of friendship, isn't it?

Before I post the youtube video of Barcarolle, here's more information about Offenbach and the piece:

I think I must have had the whole orchestral version of the opera on tape, because I used to play it at night while falling asleep and I remember there were many parts. I will try to find the whole thing, but this is the movement that sticks in my mind as the saddest and sweetest and, unsurprisingly, it is the most famous, I now learn:

"Barcarolle" from the opera, "The Tales of Hoffmann," by Jacques Offenbach

YouTube - Offenbach - Barcarolle , from 'The Tales of Hoffmann'



And here is the actual Barcarolle with opera singers Rebecca Knight and Karen England...the...erm..."OperaBabes." :o: Oi! Somehow that epithet turns opera into something perverse and lowbrow...but they sing well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25tLv...eature=related



Now here is an actual scene from the opera (made into a movie) in which Hoffman's third love, Antonia, sings of missing Hoffman in what eventually is a passionate duet with him and then further singing that, to Hoffman's horror, leads to her death due to her fragile state of health, as described here: Metropolitan Opera International Radio Broadcast Information Center - Opera Archive. The melody isn't so memorable or moving as Barcarolle, I feel, but it is still a pretty, wistful love song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhuV...eature=related

S&M?
it was really interesting. but still the original was much much better. i wanted to listen to some completely new composition for that "band + orchestra" set.

Metallica's S&M is meh... I really like Deep Purple's flirtations with orchestra, though.



Concerto for Group and Orchestra is one of their best albums by far, imo.

Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's dream Overture.