# Recordings where the orchestra is larger than normally



## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

I've recently heard a recording by Sinfonica Juvenil de Caracas, where they played Tchaikovsky with 5 flutes, 5 bassoons, 8 horns, 40 or so violins, 20 celli, and so on. I wonder if you know any recordings of repertoire written for a "normal" orchestra, where larger forces were used to a good effect.


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Karajan used larger orchestras on many occasions.
There is this interview with current/former BPO players and they said "Karajan used a lot of doubling" in the size of orchestras, Claudio Abbado reverted that when he became BPO's music director.

Watch min 22:40 where they mentioned it


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

There was a recording on EMI where they re-created the original performance of Handel's Water and Royal Fireworks music -- celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with hundreds of players performing on barges in the middle of the Thames.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Fabulin said:


> I've recently heard a recording by Sinfonica Juvenil de Caracas, where they played Tchaikovsky with 5 flutes, 5 bassoons, 8 horns, 40 or so violins, 20 celli, and so on. I wonder if you know any recordings of repertoire written for a "normal" orchestra, where larger forces were used to a good effect.


It is very typical that youth orchestras have much larger than normal sections as the point is to give the kids the opportunity to perform ... just take a look at some of the performances by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain...


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## RobertKC (Dec 9, 2013)

Mahler Symphony No 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"


Gustavo Dudamel leading the LA Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra
Live performance recorded in Caracas, Venezuela in 2012
1,400 performers

Blu-ray audio/video featuring DTS-HD MA 5.1 hi-res surround-sound:


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