# 10+ Orchestral works that have thrilled you



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

This is not a list for your 10 favourite symphonies or orchestral works that you consider most heavy weight. Please list the top works with the focus on the orchestral magnificence! Pieces of music that have enriched your perception of what the orchestra can accomplish!

Emphasis on your personal preference and experience, not objectivity.

My list for today in no particular order. I will have to settle for 15 works for now.


Debussy: La mer
Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Strauss: Also Spracht Zarathustra
Sibelius: The Oceanides
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture
Mozart: Symphony no. 40
Mahler: Symphony no. 6
Bach: Brandenburger Concerto no. 5
Esa-Pekka Salonen: LA Variations
Sibelius: Symphony no. 5


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Ok, my ten for today, in no particular order neither....

Martinů: Symphony No.6
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Haydn: Symphony No.26 "Lamentations"
Shostakovich: Symphony No.1
Mahler: Symphony No.7
Sibelius: Symphony No.6
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4
Suk: A Summer Tale
Berwald: Sinfonie Singuliere


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Here are 15 of mine:

Varèse: Amériques
Koechlin: Le buisson ardent [part 1 (1945) + part 2 (1938)]
Blomdahl: Sisyphus
Scelsi: Aion
Jolivet: Troisième Symphonie
Heininen: Adagio
Goldsmith: *Planet of the Apes* film score
Schurmann: Six Studies of Francis Bacon
Nordheim: Greening
Rautavaara: Angels and Visitations
Ohana: Livre des Prodiges
Kupferman: Wings of the Highest Tower 
Bergman: Silence and Eruptions
Schuller: Of Reminiscenes and Reflections
Dufourt: Lucifer d'après Pollock


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I'll list them as they come into my mind, but I've got a bunch that have "thrilled" me over the decades, certainly a lot more than 10...:

--Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe (complete ballet):




--Ravel, Ma Mere l'oye, or Mother Goose Suite: 



--Debussy, Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune, or Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun: 












--Debussy, Trois Nocturnes: 



--Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande: 








--Bartok, The Miraculous Mandarin: 



--Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: 








--Wagner, Parsifal: 



--Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen: 



--Mahler, Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
--Mahler, Symphony No. 9
--Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1: 



--Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet: 



--Sibelius, Tapiola: 








--Sibelius, Symphony No. 7 (& the rest of Sibelius's symphonies): 



--Stravinsky, L'Oiseau de feu, or "The Firebird" (complete ballet)--if I had to pick just one of Stravinsky's ballets it would be "The Firebird" , but Le Sacre du Printemps or "The Rite of Spring", Pétrouchka, & others fascinate me, as well, orchestrally: 



--Stravinsky, Le Rossignol, or "The Nightingale" (opera): 



--Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
--Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"
--Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 "Eroica": 



--Mozart, Don Giovanni: 



--F.J. Haydn, "The Creation": 



--R. Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathrustra (plus, Death & Transfiguration, Metamorphosen, Ein Heldenleben, Don Juan,, etc.; Strauss was a brilliant orchestrator): 



--R. Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier
--Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade: 



--Bruckner, Symphony No. 9: 



--Martinu, Symphony No. 6 "Fantaisies Symphoniques": 



--Martinu, "The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca": 



--Holst, The Planets: 



--Orff, Carmina Burana: 




& what about the Baroque era? Just because the composers back then used smaller orchestras, doesn't mean their orchestrations are any less magnificent or brilliantly done,

--Handel, Water Music: 








--Handel, Messiah: 



--Handel, Samson: 



--J.S. Bach, Mass in B minor:




--J.S. Bach, 6 Brandenberg Concertos: 



--J.S. Bach, Four Orchestral Suites: 



--Vivaldi, Four Seasons: 



--Biber, Missa Salisburgensis (for double orchestra & chorus!): 



--Rebel, Les Élémens, or The Elements: 




--Monteverdi, L'Orfeo: 



--Monteverdi, Vespro della beata vergine, 1610: 




As an extra bonus, here's my more 'off the beaten' path list,

--Messiaen, Turangalîla Symphonie: 



--Langgaard, Sfærernes musik, or Music of the Spheres: 



--Holmboe, Symphony No. 8 "Sinfonia boreale": 



--Kokkonen, Symphony No. 4: 



--Norgard, Symphony No. 3: 



--Norgard, Symphony No. 6 "At the End of the Day": 



--Persichetti, Symphony No. 9 "Janiculum": 



--Hillborg, Liquid Marble: 




Live:




--Hillborg, Sirens: 



--Hillborg, Violin Concerto No. 2: 



--M. Lindberg, Violin Concerto No. 1: 



--Knussen, Symphony No. 3: 



--Knussen, Where the Wild Things Are: 



--Rautavaara, Violin Concerto: 



--Glass, Violin Concerto No. 1:


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

Prodromides said:


> Here are 15 of mine:
> 
> Varèse: Amériques
> Koechlin: Le buisson ardent [part 1 (1945) + part 2 (1938)]
> ...


I love that you included Goldsmith's PLANET OF THE APES - one of my favorite film scores.


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites
Holst: The Planets
Part: Benjamin Britten Cantus Memoriam 
Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead 
Ravel: Bolero
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade 
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring 
Vaughan-Williams: Thomas Tallis Fantasia


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Holst - The Planets
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Ginastera - Piano Concerto No. 1
Hartmann - Symphony No. 6
Schnittke - Symphony No. 1
Chavez - Symphony No. 5 (specifically for showcasing what a string orchestra is capable of)
Tchaikovsky - Francesca da Rimini
Messiaen - Turangalila-Symphonie
Corigliano - Symphony No. 1
Bax - Symphony No. 6
Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie


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## szabomd (Dec 13, 2021)

Rimsky Korsakov Scheherezade
Berlioz Symphony Fantastic
Wagner Rienzi overture
Wagner Tannhauser overture
Stravinsky Le sacre du primtems
Stravinsky Petrouchka
Tchaikovsky the sleeping beauty suite
Gershwin blue rhapsody
Mussorgsky pictures at an exhibition
Kodály Hary Janos intermezzo
Liszt Les preludes


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Wagner: Parsifal
Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
Puccini: Madame Butterfly
Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Ligeti: Lontano
Boulez: Pli selon pli
Berio: Sinfonia
Steven Stucky: Concerto for Orchestra No. 2


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## composingmusic (Dec 16, 2021)

Roger Knox said:


> Wagner: Parsifal
> Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2
> Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
> Puccini: Madame Butterfly
> ...


Seconding the Berio, Walton, Ligeti, and Boulez in particular - great list! I'll add a few too: 
Dutilleux - Métaboles, also the cello concerto
Debussy - La Mer
Grisey - Les espaces acoustiques
Fagerlund - Water Atlas
Chin - Rocaná
Takemitsu - A flock descends into the pentagonal garden, also Spirit Garden


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

s'mores:

Caplet: Le Masque de la Morte rouge
Villa-Lobos: Uirapuru
Leifs: Baldr
Maderna: Improvvisazione no.1
Petrassi: Invenzione concertata
Cerha: _Spiegel I_ through _Spiegel VII_ (1959-1961)
Feldman: Structures
Dallapiccola: Three Questions with Two Answers
Gerhard: Concerto for Orchestra
Krenek: Horizon Circled
Searle: Labyrinth
Canat de Chizy: Yell
Skrowaczewski: Concerto for Orchestra
Tihanyi: Enodios
Lindberg: Sculpture


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