# Favorite Percussion Solo/Soli



## Rondo

The discussion in the percussion thread has been pretty quiet lately, so why not liven it up a little. As the title states, what are some of the best percussion solos you have heard in a classical piece? These can be solo's by one performer or a soli consisting of more than one instrument.

For me, the soli directly before the final canon in Britten's _Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra_, the quiet timpani solo a few minutes into the first mv't of Mahler's 5th (a nice recapitulation of the trumpet solo at the beginning), and the percussion soli at the end of the 4th mv't of Shostakovich's 15th symphony.



NOTE: I do realize that this is another installment in the heated TC "Favorite/Best" series, so I would like to emphasize this is about _favorites_ and not _best's_.


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## Kezza

The First Movement of Prevailing Winds: Symphony for Wind Orchestra by Karel Husa
has a very awesome Timpani solo at the beginning with some Marimba and other percussion coming in just at the end of of the solo. The percussion is very awesome throughout the entire piece and I can't wait to play it next year for the eisteddfod!

I'll be making sure that I get the timp part. After all I am playing a ridiculously hard Xylophone part for our piece this year and I reckon I deserve what ever part I want.


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## World Violist

The last note of one piece - I think "The Entrance to the Emperor's Court" or something like that - by Kodaly is the best bas drum solo ever made by mankind. The last note in the orchestra and then - BOOM!!!

It's really cool and funny when it's done right.


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## tutto

šostakovič 1st, timps...


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## Lisztfreak

tutto said:


> šostakovič 1st, timps...


Oho, š and č! May I ask where you are from?

I love the timps in Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, in Nielsen's 4th, of course, and in Shostakovich's 2nd Violin Concerto, the 3rd movement. Not to forget the scherzo of Walton's Symphony No.1, too.
Also at the and of Shozzy's 2nd Cello Concerto, there's a game of various percussion instruments.


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## confuoco

Of course famous "timpani duel" in the 4th movement of Nielsen's fourth. And timpani in the 3rd movement of Sibelius's 1st symphony.


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## Lisztfreak

confuoco said:


> And timpani in the 3rd movement of Sibelius's 1st symphony.


Oh, that always makes me shiver! I love it when the timpani take over a melody. I don't know, it's somehow exciting.

Has anyone heard Taras Bulba by Janáček? There's a solo timpani part in the final part of the triptych ('Prophecy and death of Taras Bulba'): several loud hits, like a hammer, in a rallentando and then total silence before a distant call of horns.


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## Rondo

Now that you mentioned Sibelius, another timpani part (not _really_ a solo) comes to mind. I've always found the timpani roll leading into the main theme in the second half of finale of his 2nd symphony to be amazing. Only a couple recordings I've heard actually pull it off, though.


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## Lisztfreak

Interesting how some recordings mute the timpani totally, and some sound as though they were recorded separately, like in a solistic concerto. For example, I've got 2 versions of Walton's Symphony No.1, one is Ashkenazy and the Royal PhO (1991), and the other Litton with the Bournemouth SO (1995). The Litton recording has faboulous timpani, and the Ashkenazy one is dreadful in that part - I mean, after you've heard Litton's timpani.


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## World Violist

There are several long percussion soli in Mahler's third symphony as well. I don't know how much I like them, but... they're there.


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## maestro267

The dramatic timp/BD/tam-tam/snare solo in the 2nd mvmt. of Shostakovich 11, the roll (involving the same instruments) in the 5th mvmt. of Mahler 2 and the opening of Barber's Third Essay for Orchestra all rank highly for me.


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## thatperson

Stravinsky rite of spring: Bass drum, tam tam, guiro trio

Shostakovich 15: percussion end the symphony, celesta and glock. finish off the symphony by completing an A Major chord

Barber third essay: begins with percussion ensemble of timpani, bass drum, tam tam, metal sheet, piano, and gongs

Shostakovich 1: awesome timpani solo in the middle of the 4th movement

Bernstein West side story: a mad percussion ensemble of bongos, cowbells, drum set, congas, castanets, tom toms, wood block, temple blocks, and much more ahaha

Tan Dun Paper concerto for paper percussion and orchestra: large paper screens, paper cymbals, thick paper sheets, cardboard thundersheets, thin waxed-paper bags, paper strips, tracing paper, paper spinphones, paper head drums, paper cardboard tube drum, paper thunder tube, paper umbrella, paper box drums, and Chinese folding paper fan

MAHLER 6: DONT FORGET THE HAMMER


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## maestro267

A composer I've discovered recently with several great percussion solos in his music is Malcolm Arnold, from the 3 cowbell strokes occuring several times in his 7th Symphony, to the bongo/tom-tom/timpani/SD build-up in the finale of his 4th Symphony.


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## Weston

At the risk of sounding obvious, my favorite percussion solo parts are Beethoven's 9th, Scherzo where the timpani take over the melody for three short notes. People must have fainted at the premier.

Also Wagner's long stretch for solo anvils in - whatever it is, that big opera about a ring and dwarves and giants and stuff, you know. (Dang! Can't remember stuff and necroposting too.)


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## Rondo

Weston said:


> Also Wagner's long stretch for solo anvils in - whatever it is, that big opera about a ring and dwarves and giants and stuff, you know. (Dang! Can't remember stuff and necroposting too.)












**"CALLING CHI_TOWNPHILLY TO THE PERCUSSION THREAD!"**


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## andruini

Weston said:


> At the risk of sounding obvious, my favorite percussion solo parts are Beethoven's 9th, Scherzo where the timpani take over the melody for three short notes. People must have fainted at the premier.
> 
> Also Wagner's long stretch for solo anvils in - whatever it is, that big opera about a ring and dwarves and giants and stuff, you know. (Dang! Can't remember stuff and necroposting too.)


I suppose you mean this one?






I totally love it too, it's one of my favorite Wagner orchestral excerpts.


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## Jeremy Marchant

If you'll allow a siren - it is played by the percussionist after all - then I'd nominate the siren that screams out at the climax of Penderecki's _Dies irae oratorio in memory of those murdered at Auschwitz_. The fff orchestra and chorus are temporarily silenced before returning with utmost violence while the siren wails like a million lost souls.


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## rrudolph

If we're talking solely about percussion solos in the context of an orchestral piece, I'd have to say the timpani part in the Finale of Elloitt Carter's Variations is the one that does it for me.


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## davidlockeridge




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## Pierrot Lunaire

This one...


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## romboid

Conga


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