# Music that really draws out the unique qualities of instruments/voices



## Guest (Jan 15, 2019)

As a guitarist I think it's often very impressive when a composer is able to compose something that fits really well on the guitar. The music may not be easy to play, mind you, but it feels satisfying under the hand and really highlights qualities that make the instrument I play unique.

I think it may be because of this appreciation that I have a particular affinity for instrumental music that sounds like it was composed by someone with a deep understanding of any instrument, its acoustic qualities and precisely how it can produce a wide range of different sounds easily.

For guitar fans, Leo Brouwer's sonata is the one I would mention for guitar as it's a personal favourite 




I think the violin part of Britten's Violin Concerto also displays some really wonderfully idiomatic qualities that highlight what the violin does _so_ well:






R Murray Schafer's choral music brings together the utterly melodic and the powerfully theatrical natures of the human voice, along with some incredibly unique effects possible with large groups of singers:






What are some pieces that you believe especially idiomatic, and why? YouTube links/embedded videos are most welcome! I'd love to hear your thoughts!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Writing really idiomatically and writing really un-idiomatically are both skills that require tremendous talent. For instance, the piano version of Rite of Spring sounds just plain weird without the instruments that Stravinsky heard in his mind when he wrote the original. However, almost anything by Bach can survive almost any transcription one wants to use.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^ I love the four hand transcription of the Rite. It doesn't sound weird to me at all and judging by the number of recordings of it that there are I guess I am not alone. I also quite like the transcription of Holst's Planets Suite! In general, I enjoy transcriptions "down" (from big to small ensemble) more that "up" but there are exceptions.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Hespos, Hans Joachim Hespos, is interesting I think.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Interesting topic that raises some questions. "Idiomatic" may require further definition.

The matter of transcription has been brought up, but I think that confuses the issue a bit. It's possible to write very idiomatically for a certain instrument or ensemble music which also permits successful transcription. Are those who enjoy _Le Sacre_ arranged for piano saying that by virtue of its successful transcription it is less than perfectly idiomatic in its orchestral form? Is Bach's music less idiomatic for the instruments he chose merely because it can be successfully performed by other instruments? Does "idiomatic" apply only to music which can't be effectively transcribed? Is idiomaticity (did I just invent a word?) mainly a matter of technical effects peculiar to the way an instrument is constructed and played, or a matter of the music deriving its expressive content or "spirit" from its sonorities? There's lots of music that's virtually inseparable from the instruments it's written for, and the reason can be technical, aesthetic, or both - and yet there's music that sounds absolutely right for the forces it was written for, but which can nevertheless sound splendid, though different, in transcription. I'd cite Rachmaninoff's _Symphonic Dances_ as a parallel to Stravinsky's ballet: an orchestral masterpiece that still makes a terrific two-piano transcription. In both cases I would say that the orchestral writing in the original work is perfectly idiomatic.

Speaking of Rachmaninoff, his piano music, in my opinion, makes the piano sound as fulfilled - as rich, warm, delicate, brilliant, sumptuous, gorgeous, magnificent, choose your adjective - as anyone's ever has, and it's impossible to imagine any other instrument taking its place in the works he wrote for it. You can hardly get more idiomatic than that.


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## BabyGiraffe (Feb 24, 2017)

Stravinsky is known for his good woodwinds writing.
Brahms is also very good overall knowing the orchestra and what to write for each instrument.
I am not sure that each instrument is completely unique in terms of timbre or techniques. There are many niche instruments from roughly the same family that can substitute for traditional instruments. (It is always funny how musician in Eastern Asia have mastered the art of imitation of natural or animal sounds on musical instruments; no sound is unique.)


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

the great orchestrators excel[led] at displaying the unique characteristics of each instrument...Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Ravel all spring to mind...
for my own instrument - bassoon- great parts were written by, among many - Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Ravel, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven....


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Probably not exactly what you had in mind, but Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K364 draws out contrasts between violin and viola, which are the featured solo duo. It's especially cool to see this piece performed live, which I was lucky enough to do recently. The violin is metallic and brilliant, the viola warm and woody.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Yes - fortepiano - 18thC instrument

Mozart brings out the tinny brilliance of this instrument like no other in his PCs and PS


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

If we think of The Human Being as an instrument - not just his/her voice but the whole body, and then ask who draws out its unique qualities best, I think the answer will be John Cage in The Song Books.


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