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?

Ah so many memories reading through this thread.

I love Appalachian springs and The Planets. Anything Shostakovich. Also Mendelssohn's fourth symphony - the fourth movement in particular is so exciting to play!

DS plays in a string orchestra and his favourite piece they played was Time from the film Inception by Hans Zimmer.

Seeing a bunch of teens and pre-teens play such an interesting and complex piece was brilliant! The kids loved playing it and it showed in their performance.

Belshazzar's Feast and Turangalila are definitely on my wish list. Sooooo expensive though so I'm not sure who would programme them.

Hallelujah Chorus, with a choir.

On a lighter note - One, from A Chorus Line.

Shostakowich 5. Hits me in the feels.

@SoMuchToBits Jealous! It must be nearly 30 years since I played it. We won the Nationals with it. Guy Woolfenden was a judge. He autographed my part for me. I just love the bit at the start. We had a concert band with everything, it was huge. Best experience of my playing career.

Oh! I forgot an experience playing the Rite of Spring once. Counting counting counting but it felt like an achievement.

As a viola player, some of the pieces mentioned are terrific pieces but not so enjoyable from the viola. Heldenleben. Bah! Was running out of fingerboard. And From the New World I love but the viola part is boring. Symphony no. 8 every time.

Also Sibelius 2, Tchaikovsky 4 and Shostakovich 5.

I'd love to play Shostakovich 10 and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

I've played both Shostakovich 10 and Symphonie Fantastique (got to play the fab E flat clarinet solo!)

@ehb102 we're currently playing Gallimaufry by Guy Woolfenden in one of the bands I'm in.

I remember the wind machine making an appearance in Ernest Fog's 'The Seasons'. I wondered what on earth it was at first (member of the choir, not an instrumentalist).

Sorry, misremembered, it was Eric Fogg’s The Seasons.

Haven't played in an orchestra for many a year but loved playing the Hebrides overture. I'm in choirs now and I love singing the Messiah and Faures Requiem. I'd really love to sing the Monteverdi Vespers, one of the most wonderful pieces of music ever written in my opinion

So many great works mentioned.

Forgot to mention Shostakovich 5 and Sibelius 5 - both totally exhilarating to play!

One of my most memorable large scale performance experiences was singing Verdi Requiem in a massive choir. The conductor was not usually a conductor, but all was fine up to the Sanctus, when you could see the entire choir bobbing heads to keep time.... between that final rehearsal and the performance it was concluded that we needed to watch the elbows not the hands; it helped but in the performance there was still a lot of movement amongst the troupes! Real heart in mouth stuff for most of use! Thrilling? In a way....

I've played William Tell. The applause was so rapturous we played it again at the end of the concert! Thrilling to play!

There are so many other wonderful pieces I've played. The one I haven't played but would like to is Die Hutte de Baba Yaga from Mussorgsky's Pictures. I've played excepts but not the whole work and we missed that movement which is my favourite!

Oh, and Holst Somerset Rhapsody! Never played that but I'd love to. Or conduct it!

Love this thread. Some of my favourites to play are Shostakovich 5, Carmina Burana, Dvorak 8. Adding some of these others to the list of things I want to though!

Lansonmaid (I like the black label btw) join a smaller, good, church choir. Preferably one which sings a mass every week. You'd be amazed how much other stuff you'll sing too. My church choir did the Vespers for some special thing one year, we did the Allegri Miserere regularly, we did concerts for all sorts of church-related reasons, we even swapped churches with other church choirs around the country.... The exposure, the need to learn pieces quickly, were invaluable. While I'm not a soloistby any means, it meant I sang in may top London choirs because because of my sight reading and experience.

I am actually in my local church choir and in the past we have sung Evensong in Truro and Exeter Cathedrals, but sadly our numbers are declining because people are getting older. Still singing to a good standard though.

I agree, singing in a church choir is a great way to get sight reading going. I love Tudor and Baroque music particularly, singing the 1610 Vespers is on my musical bucket list but it's finding a local choir big enough to take it on.

This is also my favourite, I love it!

Ooh yes, Dvorak 8 is great!
Loved playing Dvorak's cello concerto and Rachmaninov's symphonic dances too

Ooh, yes, Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances was another I really enjoyed! Such an amazing piece, not at all like most people expect Rachmaninov to be!