# Top 10 orchestral showpieces



## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Since top 10 lists are back in fashion on this forum, why not make another one and list our top 10 orchestral showpieces.

I have excluded symphonies and concertos, with the exception of concertos for orchestra. I have also excluded cantatas and other music with vocals, but feel free to include orchestral music with vocals in your lists.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Gustav Holst - The Planets
Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Bedrich Smetana - Ma Vlast
Georg Friedrich Handel - Music for the Royal Fireworks
Paul Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Prokofiev: Scythian Suite
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Respighi: Suite from 'Belkis, Regina di Saba'
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis on themes of Weber
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances
Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture
Strauss: Don Juan
Bantock: Thalaba the Destroyer
Schmitt: Psaume XLVII
Walton: Portsmouth Point Overture


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Deleted because I can't count or prioritize.


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

SearsPoncho said:


> Deleted because I can't count or prioritize.


That's the right answer


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

lucashomem said:


> That's the right answer


...but Dvorak's Slavonic Dances definitely has to be on the list.


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

SearsPoncho said:


> ...but Dvorak's Slavonic Dances definitely has to be on the list.


Why did you have to make me disagree with you? We were fine before!


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

For R. Strauss I prefer the Alpensinfonie as an orchestral display.

Also need to add the 1812 Overture.

.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I tend to think of shorter pieces, often ouvertures:

Bernstein: Candide-Ouverture
J. Strauss: Fledermaus-Ouverture
R. Strauss: Don Juan
Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol
Stravinsky: Feu d'artifice
Shostakovich: Tahiti Trot (Tea for two)
Smetana: Bartered Bride Ouverture
Dvorak: Scherzo capriccioso
Liebermann: Furioso
Glinka: Ruslan & Ludmila Ouverture


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Rossini: La Garza Ladra Overture
Respighi: Roman Festivals
Glinka: Ruslan & Ludmila Overture
Mussorgsky: Polovtsian Dances
Wagner: Ride of Valkyries or Rienzi Overture
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 "Pesther Carneval" (orchestral version)
Vaughan Williams: Flourish for Glorious John
Weingartner: "Aus ernster Zeit" Overture
Bantock: The Sea Reivers
Rimsky-Korsakov: May Night Overture


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> For R. Strauss I prefer the Alpensinfonie as an orchestral display.
> 
> Also need to add the 1812 Overture.
> 
> .


I was going to include the Alpine symphony until I realized that I would break my own rules about not including any symphonies, though it may be a symphony in name only. I thought about the 1812 Overture, but it's never been among my favourites.


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

If I had to choose only one
*Stravinsky - Rite of Spring*

Other choices
Holst - The Planets
Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Tchaikovsky - Francesca da Rimini


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

"Top 10 orchestral showpieces"

Let me put it this way: if I was called up by a major orchestra to plan and conduct a "pops" concert, it would go something like this:

1. *Dmitry Shostakovich*: _Festive Overture_
2. *Claude Debussy/Herbert Mouton*: _Clair de Lune_
3. *Georges Enesco*: _Romanian Rhapsody #1_
4. *Sergei Prokofiev*: _Troika_ from _Lt. Kije_
5. *Ludwig van Beethoven*: _Turkish March_ from _The Ruins of Athens_

Intermission

6. *Hector Berlioz*: _Roman Carnival Overture_
7. *Peter Illych Tchaikovsky*: _Cappriccio Italien_ or alternately (depending upon whether I'm in more of an Italian mood as opposed to a Spanish mood...) *Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov*: _Cappriccio Espanol_; *Richard Strauss'* _Till Eulnspeigel_ might also fit this spot if I'm feeling a bit German. 
8. *Johann Sebastian Bach/Leopold Stokowski*: _Chaconne_
9. *Aaron Copland*: _Ho-Down_ from _Rodeo_ or alternately *John Adams'* _Short Ride in a Fast Machine_ (depending upon whether I'm feeling a little bit "country" or a little bit "rock-n-roll")

Encore:

10. *John Philips Sousa*: _Stars and Stripes Forever_ (of course)

I'm still waiting for the New York Philharmonic to call me.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I'll replace Don Juan (my favorite Strauss tone poem but a bit too long and serious to be at typical showpiece for my taste) with Berlioz' version of the Rakoczi March from Damnation de Faust.


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

It's getting hard to think of ones that haven't been mentioned, so I'm going to include some choral showpieces:

Orff: Carmina Burana
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
Dvorak: Carnival Overture
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Martinu: Frescoes of Piero Della Francesco
Stravinsky: Firebird
Vaughan-Williams: Job
Rimsky-Korsakov: Procession of the Nobles from Mlada
Wagner: Overture to Die Meistersinger 

Also throwing in my opinion that the Alpine Symphony isn't really a symphony.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Fredrikalansson said:


> It's getting hard to think of ones that haven't been mentioned, so I'm going to include some choral showpieces:
> 
> Orff: Carmina Burana
> *Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky*
> ...


(Bold added by me)

I remember watching on TV a tribute to Mstislav Rostropovich where an elderly Rostropovich and his wife Galina sat in the special chairs near the stage. As an encore, the orchestra and chorus played _Alexander's Entry into Pskov_ from _Alexander Nevsky_. It brought tears of joy and laughter to Rostropovich's eyes. It was also the first time I ever heard _Alexander Nevsky_, so of course, I had to run right out and get a recording of it, the first chance I got.


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

Castelnuovo-Tedesco - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 108 (1940)
Delius - A song of summer (1930)
Karłowicz - Lithuanian Rhapsody, Op. 11 (1906)
Karłowicz - A Sorrowful Tale (Preludes to Eternity), Op. 13 (1908)
Respighi - Suite in Sol Maggiore, P.058 (1905)
Respighi - Poema autunnale P.146 (1925)
Respighi - Vetrate di Chiesa, P.150 (1926)
Sibelius - Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22 (1895)
Sibelius - Finlandia, Op. 26 (1900)
Sibelius - Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49 (1906)


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Berlioz - Sym. Fantastique (2nd movement)
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Wagner - Siegfried's Funeral March
Wagner - Tannhäuser Overture
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Holst - Planets
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Strauss - Alpine Symphony
Ravel - Bolero


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

From Strauss it would be Ein Heldenleben. Then maybe Respighi's Pines of Rome. The other 8 I don't know. Maybe Mahler and some Wagner excerpts. (edit) oh, Stravinsky's Petrushka and Shostakovich's 7th and maybe the Ravel-Mussorgsky Pictures.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Fredrikalansson said:


> It's getting hard to think of ones that haven't been mentioned, so I'm going to include some choral showpieces:
> 
> Orff: Carmina Burana
> Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
> ...


How I could forget the Janacek!! Great pick.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Fredrikalansson said:


> It's getting hard to think of ones that haven't been mentioned, so I'm going to include some choral showpieces:
> 
> Orff: Carmina Burana
> Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
> ...


Feel free to repeat pieces. I didn't expect the variety of selections so far, so I'm looking forward to explore the works that are not familiar to me.

If I had included vocal works in my list I probably would have included Carmina Burana too.


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

To Coach G: Thanks for sharing such a beautiful memory of Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya. I've always loved Alexander Nevsky, especially the lament for contralto. It's on my list of most beautiful pieces of music ever. If you ever get a chance, watch the Eisenstein film.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Here are some obvious and perhaps not so obvious choices (in no particular order):

Xenakis: _Jonchaies_
Penderecki: _Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima_
Bartók: _The Miraculous Mandarin_
Britten: _Symphonic Suite from "Gloriana"_
Schnittke: _Symphony No. 1_
Boulez: _Notations for Orchestra_
Murail: _Gondwana_
Ligeti: _San Francisco Polyphony_
Lutosławski: _Mi-parti_
Tippett: _The Rose Lake_


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## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

If I were trying to guess what the "objective Top 10" are, as determined perhaps by how often they're programmed in the second half of summer concerts, I would say the OP definitely hit on the Top 5: Scheherazade, The Planets, Pictures at an Exhibition, The Rite of Spring, and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.

To that, you probably have to add Daphnis et Chloé, La Mer, The Firebird, Petrushka, and...The Pines of Rome?

For personal picks, I second Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances and Vaughan Williams' Job.

The only thing I would add that hasn't been mentioned is the Schoenberg orchestration of Brahms' first piano quartet. It's a real hoot.


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