# Arrangements for chamber ensemble



## Andreas

Recently I've become interested in orchestral works that have been arranged for chamber ensemble. So far, I've come across the following:

Schoenberg, Chamber Symphony - arr. Webern
Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde - arr. Schoenberg/Riehn
Mahler, Symphony no. 4 - arr. Schoenberg/Stein
Bruckner, Symphony no. 7 - arr. Stein/Eisler/Rankl

I was wondering if there are other such arrangements?


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## Sid James

Schoenberg, Berg and Webern all did arrangements of J. Strauss' waltzes for chamber group. There is are a few cd's of this floating around.

Berg did an arrangment of the middle slow movement of his _Chamber Concerto _for clarinet, piano, violin. Its on an Eloquence release, 2 cd set, which has Boston Chamber Players doing mainly Stravinsky.

Hanns Eisler did a chamber version of Debussy's _Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun _(this was done I think while Eisler was studying with Schoenberg).

Hans Stadlmair did an 'adaptation' for string orchestra of the _Adagio_ (first movement) of Mahler's 10th symphony. This is obscure and maybe hard to find.

Seems like there's a Viennese thread going through all this. I wonder why?


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## Andreas

Thanks! Sounds intruiging, I will definitely seek out the Berg and Debussy!


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## KenOC

Still Viennese...Beethoven did a piano trio arrangement of his 2nd Symphony which is really quite good. Used to have a recording on cassette.


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## Ukko

There are also arrangements in the other direction - from string quartet and piano quintet to chamber orchestra; usually to the detriment of the music.


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## joen_cph

Some more practical / commercial examples, all recorded, are

- Kunst der Fuge, for saxophone quartet;
- Shostakovich Symphony 15, arranged for piano trio & percussion (recorded by Kremer)
- Verklärte Nacht, arranged for piano trio

and
- Brahms: Serenade no.1, arranged for decet by Karl Aage Rasmussen (not sure it has been recorded)
- Goldberg Variations, for string trio;
- Pictures at an Exhibition, for piano trio (I don´t know if they relied a good deal on Ravel)


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## KenOC

Or the Goldberg Variations for...the Swingle Singers! Really.


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## Adagietto

There is an ensemble called Mini-Mahler, I think they only play ensemble arrangements. Apparently a recording of Mahler's 9th is going to be released, which I'm excited about.


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## Head_case

Hilltroll72 said:


> There are also arrangements in the other direction - from string quartet and piano quintet to chamber orchestra; usually to the detriment of the music.


I think of the australian chamber orchestra's effort for Szymanowski' and other string quartets. The leader of the chamber orchestra has some link with the Golder quartet who is very fond of the Szymanowski string quartets and recorded the string quartets:


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## Andreas

Adagietto said:


> There is an ensemble called Mini-Mahler, I think they only play ensemble arrangements. Apparently a recording of Mahler's 9th is going to be released, which I'm excited about.


Oh, this sounds really amazing! I'll be keeping a close eye on them, that's for sure.


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## KenOC

Adagietto said:


> There is an ensemble called Mini-Mahler, I think they only play ensemble arrangements. Apparently a recording of Mahler's 9th is going to be released, which I'm excited about.


Gidom Kremer has recorded a reduced strings-only version of the Adagio from Mahler's 10th, with (get this) the Kremerata Baltica. Haven't listened to it yet!


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## Quartetfore

Pictures at an Exhibition for Piano Trio. Off hand I dont remember the name of the group, but it was very bad!


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