# What Works Arranged for Different Instruments Do You Like Better



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Does anyone like a work better in the new setting that was written originally for one instrument or group of instruments and played by another?





Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op.56b (Argerich and Freire)





Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme of Haydn for orchestra Op. 56a


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I prefer the piano trio arrangement of Beethoven's septet. Beethoven arranged it himself, and I actually feel that it works better than the original. Or maybe it's just that I'm biased toward anything with piano!


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

With a lot of such new arrangements, it seems to me that they often give you a new insight lacking in the original, but at the same time they lose something in the translation. Thus, a good excuse to listen to both. The work of Bach particularly comes to mind: it is very suited to be played on various instruments, and with every new arrangement comes new joys.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There are times when I enjoy the two late Brahms Sonatas for Viola and other times, for Clarinet.

Likewise, there are times that I enjoy the Prokofiev Flute Sonata and also the Violin version.

I especially like the Viola in the Brahms because I crave a bit of vibrato in these works.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The great Brahms Clarinet Trio has a viola alternative as a substitute for the clarinet. Here I prefer the clarinet version.

Also there are Mozart Piano Concerto reductions written as "piano quintets", for piano and string quartet. No substitute for the real thing, IMO. However, I can see five musicians playing and enjoying these reductions at informal gatherings.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

hpowders said:


> The great Brahms Clarinet Trio has a viola alternative as a substitute for the clarinet. Here I prefer the clarinet version.
> 
> Also there are Mozart Piano Concerto reductions written as "piano quintets", for piano and string quartet. No substitute for the real thing, IMO. However, I can see five musicians playing and enjoying these reductions at informal gatherings.


Are there recordings available for the reductions?


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I adore the wind octet arrangements (some in Mozart's hand, but most in others', such as Triebensee, Wendt and others) of the 'greatest hits' from his mature operas. I can listen to them for hours.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

hpowders said:


> There are times when I enjoy the two late Brahms Sonatas for Viola and other times, for Clarinet.
> 
> Likewise, there are times that I enjoy the Prokofiev Flute Sonata and also the Violin version.
> 
> I especially like the Viola in the Brahms because I crave a bit of vibrato in these works.


Please - we poor clarinetists have so few works to call our own.

On the other hand, I'm glad Schumann's publisher released a clarinet version of the two oboe romances. I actually prefer them to Schumann's equivalent pieces for the clarinet.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I enjoy Scarlatti on the guitar.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

jegreenwood said:


> I enjoy Scarlatti on the guitar.


Bach on guitar is also nice from time to time.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

jegreenwood said:


> Please - we poor clarinetists have so few works to call our own.
> 
> On the other hand, I'm glad Schumann's publisher released a clarinet version of the two oboe romances. I actually prefer them to Schumann's equivalent pieces for the clarinet.


Yeah. I'm an ex-clarinet player. Had both scores of the Brahms. I like the sound of the clarinet better in the sonatas, but I do crave a bit of vibrato and that's where the viola comes in.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition probably has more arrangements than any other work. I went nuts on this one a few years back and acquired 2-3 orchestrations, original piano of course, strings, brass, accordion, organ, concerto, and others I can't remember.

I wonder if it has been done on bagpipes? That would be weird.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

different arrangements, or transcriptions?

pretty much the entire catalogue for the classical guitar from the baroque period is a transcription or sorts since the modern guitar didn't actually exist. I'm a big fan of the Bach Cello suites on guitar, though

but setting that to one side for a moment, the Albeniz "Suite Espanola" sounds fantastic on guitar, but it was originally written for piano. 

with guitar, there are a lot of transcriptions because so few of the great composers wrote for the instrument


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

regenmusic said:


> Does anyone like a work better in the new setting that was written originally for one instrument or group of instruments and played by another?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful piece. Well transformed, simple but deep. The second piano part is well structured.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Ravel was the champion of orchestrating his own piano works. Just from my memory he did 2/3 of _Le Tombeau de Couperin_, _Un Barque sur l'océan_, _Alborado del Gracioso_, and _La Valse_, which uses a lot of the themes from _Valses nobles et sentimentales_.

In the hands of Ravel, the orchestrations are fabulous. At the bottom end lie the orchestrations of Chopin, most irritatingly the stuff that was done for the ballet Les Sylphides. Does anybody really want to hear the prelude in A major, orchestrated in the syrupy string school, repeated at infinitum??


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Beethoven's violin concerto sounds much better to me as a piano concerto.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Try listening to the Album
Romance of the Violin performed by Joshua Bell.
It has a lot of piano pieces played on the violin such as:
Nocturne in C Sharp Minor Chopin
Serenade Schubert
Andante from Piano Concerto no 21 Mozart 
Traumerie Schumann

Every one of these pieces sound just as lovely on the violin and a little different!


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

I like this one






Simple, short and sweet, yet technically challenged.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Pugg said:


> Bach on guitar is also nice from time to time.


I'd rate it higher than that if it's well played. John Williams for example is as fine a Bach player as any nowadays.

My nomination in this thread would be Brahms chamber music arranged for piano duet. There's a very fine series of recordings of this repertoire on Naxos.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I enjoy Arnold Schoenberg's reduction for chamber ensemble of Mahler´s Das lied, sometimes more than the full orchestral version.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

pcnog11 said:


> Are there recordings available for the reductions?


There is one by Alban Berg Quartet w/ A. Brendel, and some other recording on Naxos as well.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Florestan said:


> Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition probably has more arrangements than any other work. I went nuts on this one a few years back and acquired 2-3 orchestrations, original piano of course, strings, brass, accordion, organ, concerto, and others I can't remember.
> 
> I wonder if it has been done on bagpipes? That would be weird.





Nate Miller said:


> different arrangements, or transcriptions?
> 
> pretty much the entire catalogue for the classical guitar from the baroque period is a transcription or sorts since the modern guitar didn't actually exist. I'm a big fan of the Bach Cello suites on guitar, though
> 
> ...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

pcnog11 said:


> Are there recordings available for the reductions?











You might wish to try the reductions of Piano Concertos, 12 13 and 14 with Robert Blocker piano, playing with the Biava Quartet.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

jegreenwood said:


>


Ummmmm. Now I am searching Amazon for a CD of this!


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

hpowders said:


> View attachment 90805
> 
> 
> You might wish to try the reductions of Piano Concertos, 12 13 and 14 with Robert Blocker piano, playing with the Biava Quartet.


Thanks hpowders. Are there more PCs from Mozart that was performed as string quartet?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

pcnog11 said:


> Thanks hpowders. Are there more PCs from Mozart that was performed as string quartet?


I do believe they are the works you see here. Nos. 12 and 14 are especially well-known in piano/string quartet reduction.

Glad to help you, pcnog11!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Animal the Drummer said:


> I'd rate it higher than that if it's well played. John Williams for example is as fine a Bach player as any nowadays.
> 
> My nomination in this thread would be Brahms chamber music arranged for piano duet. There's a very fine series of recordings of this repertoire on Naxos.


But Pepe Romero does also a very good job!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I generally like piano only transcriptions of songs for piano and voice.  Such as Liszt's version of Schumann's Widmung and Schubert's Standchen.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I also like Albeniz' Asturias, originally for piano, better for guitar. It's often performed on guitar.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

DeepR said:


> I also like Albeniz' Asturias, originally for piano, better for guitar. It's often performed on guitar.


That I have by John Williams.

I actually don't have his Bach. But I am very happy with Goran Sollscher and Hopkinson Smith on lute (for transcriptions of all of the solo cello and violin music). I enjoy several other performers as well.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

pcnog11 said:


> Thanks hpowders. Are there more PCs from Mozart that was performed as string quartet?


Hummel transcribed several works of Mozart for chamber forces. Piano concertos Nos. 10, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26 as well as Symphony No. 40. Fumiko Shiraga has recorded the set on BIS.









She has also recorded chamber versions of some of Beethoven's and Chopin's concertos. Chitose Okashiro is another pianist who has done a few unusual transcriptions, the common Wagner ones but also Mahler's 1st symphony and Tchaikovsky's 6th.

Another interesting Mozart work is his requiem transcribed by Czerny for piano 4 hands and choir:









Hansjörg Albrecht has done several organ transcriptions of famous works including The Four Seasons, parts of The Ring, Symphonie fantastique, Pictures at an Exhibition, The Isle of the Dead, The Goldbergs and The Planets


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

pcnog11 said:


> Thanks hpowders. Are there more PCs from Mozart that was performed as string quartet?


The following Mozart piano concertos are performable as a piano quintet without any modification:
No 6, K 238
No 8, K 246
No 11, K 413
No 12, K 414
No 13, K 413
No 14, K 449


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Kenneth Hasketh has made a nice arrangement of Dutilleux's "Au gré des ondes."

Hasketh's orchestral version: 




The original, for solo piano:


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I like this orchestral version of Debussy's _Petite Suite _(originally composed as a piano duet).


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

I'm not sure if this really fits to OP, but I take the opportunity to advocate Brahms 

Clarinet sonata sounds massive and lush in the hands of Berio:

Johannes Brahms / Luciano Berio: Sonata for Clarinet and Orchestra


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## Schumanniac (Dec 11, 2016)

Faures Elegie for cello and orchestra. Originally for cello and piano, Faure arranged for it by request of a conductor. Typically Faure shines trough simplicity for me but this piece is different. The orchestra just did the cello part much better justice.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

bharbeke said:


> Beethoven's violin concerto sounds much better to me as a piano concerto.


I have now got this one performed on the clarinet by Michael Collins. Very nice and easy to listen to!!


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

A peeve I have is Baroque works intended for harpsichord played on piano. In most cases, it just doesn't sound right to me. It feels like it's violating historical and compositional accuracy in order to be a little more hip. (Sorry, don't mean to sound pretentious or whiny.)


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

It's a point of view and you express it perfectly politely, so I don't think you need to apologise for it, and there are others on here who'll agree with it.

However, I for one don't, for a variety of reasons. Not liking the sound of the piano in this music is a matter of taste and there's no point debating that, but the idea that use of the piano "violates historical and compositional accuracy (etc.)" is dubious IMHO. Baroque composers themselves regularly arranged their own and other composers' pieces for instruments other than those for which the music was originally composed, so the idea that playing this music on the piano necessarily violates their intentions does not correspond with their own practices at the time. As for the argument some put forward that the piano is different because it wasn't around in their day, that also looks shaky when you consider that Bach himself not only praised early pianos but demonstrated them in public. Last but not least, I definitely don't think performing this music on the piano is done to be hip - I've been lucky enough to play some of this stuff both on harpsichord and on piano, but a lot of people will only ever have access to a piano and it simply cannot be right that they should be denied, or deny themselves, the pleasure of playing this music because of that.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

tdc said:


> I like this orchestral version of Debussy's _Petite Suite _(originally composed as a piano duet).


This is great! Thanks for sharing this. Did Debussy orchestrate it himself, or did someone else do it?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Bettina said:


> This is great! Thanks for sharing this. Did Debussy orchestrate it himself, or did someone else do it?


As far as I know this orchestral version was arranged by Henri Busser. I like it a lot too, it sounds like Debussy at his most Tchaikovsky-esque. (Thinking of the good and magical aspects of Tchaikovsky here).

If you enjoyed this you should check out Tortelier's orchestration of Ravel's Piano Trio if you get a chance (unfortunately not on youtube) it is out of this world.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

The Liszt transcriptions of Beethovens' symphonies are wonderful. It's like listening to 9 new great Beethoven sonatas.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I quite like the great Goldberg Variations by Bach arranged for a string quartet or trio. It's wonderful.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Animal the Drummer said:


> Not liking the sound of the piano in this music is a matter of taste and there's no point debating that, but the idea that use of the piano "violates historical and compositional accuracy (etc.)" is dubious IMHO... .


I see your point of view and can quite understand it. I know there has been a fair amount of debate on this topic, and I'd only add some additional thoughts on this.

Baroque compositions intended for harpsichord didn't provide the kind of notations that they would have if composed for piano. Therefore you introduce a variety of forced interpretations such as pedal marks that were not provided or intended. The music and sound therefore is changed from the original composition and performance. Instead of getting closer to the real Bach (for example), you're actually moving further away, either intentionally or unintentionally.

I understand the point about the later accessibility of the piano as the instrument of choice for expressiveness as a preference. There have been well intentioned performances of the Messsiah played on kazoos and harmonicas, but I don't think anyone would argue they're just representations of Handel's superb work. It's an extreme analogy, I know, but given to make the point.

But as you say, it's a matter of taste. I prefer the accuracy aspect of classical music in wanting to hear it as the composer heard it, played it, and intended it. It may come down to being a fan of HIP performances or not. Each perspective is perfectly valid in personal preference.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I learned recently that Brahms himself made four hand piano transcriptions of his symphonies. Worth exploring I guess...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

It's like movie sequels-originals are usually (but not always) better.

Exceptions: Godfather 2. Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

I love Mahler's arrangement for string orchestra of Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet. I wouldn't say I like it more than the original, but I wouldn't want to be without either version in my collection.


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## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

An obvious one, but Mussorgsky - _Pictures at an Exhibition_ (Ravel's orchestration). Makes a huge difference in that piece.


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## RRod (Sep 17, 2012)

Bartok - Romanian Folk Dances for violin and piano instead of original piano
Ligeti's barrel organ arrangements
Various Grieg Lyric Pieces on guitar or accordion
Ravel Tombeau on marimba

My wife prefers the Bach Chaconne on organ instead of violin.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

I love Ravel's orchestral version of Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Otherwise, on YouTube I have found some really pretty arrangements. A string arrangement of Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium. And then there's these oboe and harp renditions of Debussy works. They're beautiful.


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