If you play in an orchestra....

[SpindleFibre]

...or similar, what is your all time favourite piece of music you have played?

Or what piece would you love to play as part of a large orchestra but haven't?

Is it possible that John Williams was influenced by Gustav Holst ? Freddie Phillips, who composed all the Camberwick Green/Trumpton/Chigley music, appears to have picked up more than a little Mozart and Vivaldi.

I also love Aaron copeland. Appalachian spring is wonderful, and hoe down is just super fun.

I was about to say Shostakovich 7 - first symphony I ever played and was way out of depth really (lurking back of the seconds with a jolly old dude next to me whispering stuff like "aaah, very Russian" during the quiet bits). Iade an impression on me.

Years ago there was a London shostakovich orchestra that I was a member of, co opted my my professional cellist sister to, mostly amateurs but we worked through all the symphonies and performed a concert yearly in a church near Baker St in London. It was ace.

We always worried when the conductor abandoned the score for the show, but it always worked.

I've had some wonderful experiences in orchestras, especially playing for opera (a run of Der Freischutz was particularly memorable - the moonlight scene in the enchanted forest with the silver bullets).

I was also recently in a run of Candide and that is a great composition - so enjoyable to play, although it's very tempting to turn round and see the singers are up to, and then you get lost.

I have also enjoyed every piece of Britten I've ever played, which is odd as DH is practically allergic to it - funny how varied people's responses are. I feel that way about Vaughan Williams although I've sung in Sinfonia Antarctica and the Sea Symphony and those were fun. The wind machine! And when we finally escaped lockdown in 2021 and went to the seaside I had to sing "The sea! Itself!!' to it...

Ooh, that has reminded me, se wise, of how much I love Mendelssohn's hebrides overture. And Dvorak's new world...

And sibelius symphony 2. Lots of listening to do, great thread.

Nice to see some love for Sibelius 2, that's what I came on to say. Tbh it's the only thing I can definitively remember playing (violin) from my time with our county youth orchestra (which I did several European tours with 😆). Actually I do remember doing west side story with another orchestra when I was younger and that was fun.

Mahler 7. Such an amazing, powerful, stunning piece. Also Martinů 6, such a deep experience,

So many that I'd love to take charge of; Shostakovich 7 as previously mentioned. Bruckner 9, Turangalîla, Alpine Symphony, Arsael. Walton 1, Vaughan Williams 6. More Mahler, more Bruckner, more Martinů. Nielsen 6. Pettersson 7. I could go on and on...

Mahler 1 (when the horns stand up at the end! Magic), Shostakovich 5 and Tchaikovsky 6 are my most memorable. I get SO much out of playing in an orchestra.

Sibelius finlandia always thrills me (violin 1)

Which Mahler tune was used for the Castrol GTX ads ? It was like something out of a feverish bad dream!

Ah “ the sea itself” 50 years on I can remember the words.
And how could I have forgotten New World symphony and Belshazzars Feast
How exciting to sing with Willard White. I’ve got a cd of Copland songs with him as the soloist.

I do feel a special affinity with and love of those pieces I played or sung in my youth.
At university I remember singing a particular Copland song called “ long time ago” and again it’s something I’ll always love listening to.

I’m very envious of those of you playing in orchestras as adults. I’ve recently joined a choral society after a gap of many years and am thoroughly enjoying it. Maybe 66 isn’t too old to return to the violin?….

That was Mahler 7...

@ehb102 currently playing Gallimaufry in the concert band I'm in!

My orchestra has many returners in it. My desk partner had 25 years off, it soon came back. Do it! It’s so worthwhile.

Thankyou Waver.

What a great thread!

Too many to mention but Strauss 'An Alpine Symphony' and Beethoven 9th Symphony stand out (1st violin).

I’ve had 45 years off the violin…
However I’ve returned to piano after a 10 year gap!

@pinesofrome my ds played in Ein Alpinesinfonie just before the pandemic in his uni orchestra (on percussion). It was brilliant!

Heldenleben is pretty special. Rachmaninov 2nd piano concerto is fab to play, as is Strauss' Death & Transfiguration, and Metamorphosen.

My all-time favourite is VW- Tallis Variations, although I love his Sea Symphony too. I can't stand playing Elgar Pomp & Circs or any other Last Night of the Proms shite - especially since Brexit. All that flag waving makes me feel sick tbh.

1812
Elgar Cello Concerto
Mozart Requiem
William Tell Overture

So much more I can't r even think of right now but there's no feeling quite like being in the middle of an orchestra!

Bernstein Chichester Psalms, Hindemith Mathis der Mahler, Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss...... professional career included almost everything.

@Rocket1982 that sounds amazing. I have always wanted to play Danse Macabre but never got the chance.