Music for String Orchestra

[A Lark Ascending]

Lying between the full on symphony and the more rarefied world of the string quartet, there are scores of wonderful pieces for string orchestras of various sizes - Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar etc.

Things you especially enjoy?

Request: one at a time with a line or two about what draws you to the piece rather than lists.

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Frank Bridge - Suite for String Orchestra

This one has haunted me for 30 years or so. For some reason there are a lot English pieces for string orchestra, usually melancholy in feel. This four movement piece has that aching, autumnal feel, rich in melody.

Edited December 29, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Larry Kart]

Suk, Serenade for Strings -- unending tender lyricism (first movement only in this clip):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AD0RA3AgrY

Well, actually the tender lyricism of the Suk Serenade does end -- the piece as a whole runs about 26 minutes -- but you know what I mean.

[Teasing the Korean]

Bernard Herrmann - Psycho

Bernard Herrmann used just strings for this score, as Hitchcock was trying to prove he could make a great film on TV budget. Herrmann also said he wanted to provide a "black and white" score for the film, as Hitchcock made the deliberate artistic choice to film it in B&W.

What I particularly love about the score is the gradual shift from consonance to dissonance to mirror the deteriorating mental state of Norman Bates.

There are a number of different recordings, including suites of varying lengths. The Salonen suite runs about 25 minutes and is a good recording and performance. Herrmann's own recordings tend to be a tad on the lethargic side. The McNeely album is the way to go if you want the whole score. The actual film tracks are lost and have never been released.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Teasing the Korean

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks. This is exactly what I had in mind.

I have the Suk piece but have not given it due attention. Will rectify that. Don't know the Herrmann except in passing.

I was listening to the Tchaikovsky "Serenade for Strings" this afternoon. Not something I'd paid much attention to until I woke up to it on the radio in the middle of the night about a year back. What struck me was how much Elgar had got from the main tune at the start and finish for his wonderful "Introduction and Allegro". That same declamatory opening using the full force of the orchestra.

Edited December 29, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[J.A.W.]

EMI released a beautiful album years ago, Sir John Barbirolli Conducts English String Music, with pieces by Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

The LP:

The latest, remastered CD issue with extra tracks:

Edited December 28, 2012 by J.A.W.

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, that Barbirolli disc has some absolute treasures in this area.

One to really listen to is the lesser known (probably because it is short and therefore hard to programme as other than a passing piece) 'Sospiri' - achingly beautiful.

The Tallis Fantasia - and this is the version I live by - is as close as you can get to standing inside a marvellous old English church without standing inside a marvellous old English church.

[J.A.W.]

Yes, that Barbirolli disc has some absolute treasures in this area.

One to really listen to is the lesser known (probably because it is short and therefore hard to programme as other than a passing piece) 'Sospiri' - achingly beautiful.

The Tallis Fantasia - and this is the version I live by - is as close as you can get to standing inside a marvellous old English church without standing inside a marvellous old English church.

I've seen quite a few marvellous English churches from the inside (even though I'm an atheist ). The most beautiful one I've seen so far is the York Minster.

[A Lark Ascending]

I've seen quite a few marvellous English churches from the inside (even though I'm an atheist ). The most beautiful one I've seen so far is the York Minster.

York is lovely. We're lucky to have so many that survived the Reformation (and the Second World War!) intact.

[Larry Kart]

Bartok's Divertimento for Strings (only movement one on in this clip), a work with a unique lilt, Hungarian rhythmic zest, and echt Bartokian harmonic rightness:

[A Lark Ascending]

Britten wrote quite a bit for string orchestra - the Frank Bridge Variations are probably the best known.

But this year I've been haunted by Lachrymae: Reflections on a Song of Dowland, for viola and string orchestra. A set of variations from 1948 that have Britten's wonderful agility and end in a beautiful, funereal final section. One of those pieces I've been playing on and off for years without really noticing. Then it hits you.

Edited December 29, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Chuck Nessa]

Bartok's Divertimento for Strings (only movement one on in this clip), a work with a unique lilt, Hungarian rhythmic zest, and echt Bartokian harmonic rightness:

If you can locate a copy of the Fricsay recording (on DG) it will chill your bones. Dandy.

[A Lark Ascending]

Tippett : Concerto For Double String Orchestra

3 movements, the outer ones international neo-classical in feel. The middle is just about the only piece of Tippett I can think of that fits under the English pastoral label. A gorgeous evocation of a shimmering landscape on a balmy summer day (whatever that is). I somehow doubt that's what Tippett intended but it frequently gets used on the TV when that sort of signalling is needed in a soundtrack.

[A Lark Ascending]

Korngold: Symphonic Serenade

This one has been haunting me over recent weeks (and may be where this thread has come from). A substantial four movement work - the main theme of the opening movement is very strange and becomes a real ear-worm. I've been waking up in the night with it whirling round. Also a tremendous slow movement - that searing, chromatic string writing you get in late-Mahler.

Strongly recommended for checking out on Spotify or whatever try-before-you-buy site you use. I have it on both of these:

[Peter Friedman]

Respighi - Ancient Dances and Airs / Suite No.3 for Strings - Antal Dorati / Philharmonia Hungarica - Mercury

Lovely melodies from the past based on Italian and French music for the Lute.

[David Ayers]

Pieces for string orchestra fit oddly in a concert - I wonder if that is why there are not so very many of them. You pay for an entire orchestra and then half of them sit out...

[Teasing the Korean]

Pieces for string orchestra fit oddly in a concert - I wonder if that is why there are not so very many of them. You pay for an entire orchestra and then half of them sit out...

With atypical ensembles, sometimes orchestras program several similar pieces on the same bill, so the abbreviated orchestra plays throughout the concert, and the rest of the players get the weekend off.

[David Ayers]

If you can locate a copy of the Fricsay recording (on DG) it will chill your bones. Dandy.

Good! And on Spotify - just played it...

[J.A.W.]

If you can locate a copy of the Fricsay recording (on DG) it will chill your bones. Dandy.

Great interpretation. Highly recommended!

[Larry Kart]

Bartok's Divertimento for Strings (only movement one on in this clip), a work with a unique lilt, Hungarian rhythmic zest, and echt Bartokian harmonic rightness:

If you can locate a copy of the Fricsay recording (on DG) it will chill your bones. Dandy.

I have fond memories of a Constantin Silvestri recording on EMI, coupled IIRC with an equally striking Mathis der Mahler -- both pieces "shaped" more than is usual.

[Mark Stryker]

Have always retained a soft spot for Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48. It's all about the melody! The popular 2nd movement waltz especially ...

[A Lark Ascending]

Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht. Although originally for string sextet the version for string orchestra gets heard just as often. A marvellous piece of curdled Late-Romanticism.

[Royal Oak]

I like Richard Strauss's "Metamorphosen". Don't bother asking me why - I just like the way it sounds.

[A Lark Ascending]

I like Richard Strauss's "Metamorphosen". Don't bother asking me why - I just like the way it sounds.

Me too! Though it always has me thinking of bombed cities - I've read one too many liner notes.

Seek out a recording of Strauss' prelude to 'Capriccio' (for string sextet) which is full of the same 'longing' and sense of loss. Actually, if you don't know it already, try that Schoenberg too - it's an early work which comes from a similar world.

Edited December 29, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Royal Oak]

I like Richard Strauss's "Metamorphosen". Don't bother asking me why - I just like the way it sounds.

Me too! Though it always has me thinking of bombed cities - I've read one too many liner notes.

Seek out a recording of Strauss' prelude to 'Capriccio' (for string sextet) which is full of the same 'longing' and sense of loss. Actually, if you don't know it already, try that Schoenberg too - it's an early work which comes from a similar world.

Yes, it does kind of suggest bombed cities, but I too made the mistake of reading the liner notes first.

I have the Schoenberg somewhere, will have a listen tonight.

Edited December 29, 2012 by rdavenport

[David Ayers]

There are two of these from Kenneth Leighton on the Chandos series we discussed in another thread. The first is juvenile and nothing worth going put of your way for. The 'mature' one is 'of interest' but pales in comparison to any so far mentioned. It serves to show how exceptional some of the classics of the genre really are.

Never got excited about the Mendelssohn... and truly unexcited by the Barshai transcriptions of the Shostakovich quartets for strong orchestra....

Oh! Apollon Musagete (excuse lack of diacritical marks) which I sat through recently... I'm also finding that some works I remember as being for strings.. aren't!

Edited December 29, 2012 by David Ayers