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UnStandard Literature

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  • #151034

    Everyone knows the standard concert literature (hopefully), but what turns up the most often that is not standard? I have seen quite a few Howard Hanson Romantic Symphony performances, for one. There’s also those holiday pieces, and things written for community orchestras. And Concertos.

    Copland Old American Songs

    Bernstein Overture to Candide

    Kalinnikov Symphony No. 1

    What else?

    #151035
    Fearghal McCartan
    Participant

    Britten – Soirees Musicales,

    Dmitri Kabalevsky – Colas Breugnon Suite (one of my faves),

    Vaughan Williams – Folk Songs of the Four Seasons (Orch Suite),

    Gordon Jacobs – Passacaglia on a Well Known Theme,

    Grace Williams – Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes,

    William Walton – Belshazzar’s Feast,

    Rachmaninov – ‘The Rock’ Fantasy,

    Massenet – Le Cid Ballet Suite,

    Rimsky-Korsakov – Mlada,

    Malcolm Arnold – 4 Scottish Dances (what about the other suites?),

    Charles Villiers Stamford – Songs of the Fleet

    Joseph Holbrooke – The Wild Fowl, Dylan-Son of the Wave and my fave – Three Blind Mice ‘Variations on an old English Air’ (and his other works as well).

    These are just the ones I have played – Can soon find others.

    Fearghal

    #151036

    You must be in England, most of those are seldom played here. I did play Arnold’s Scottish Dances once, what fun. I got a bow for how I did the harp part.

    #151037
    Fearghal McCartan
    Participant

    Close – but no haggis! :-) Scotland actually. Some of the pieces were played with the youth orchestra back home in N. Ireland before I came over to uni in Aberdeen.

    The Arnold is a great set. The third movement is lovely but I must admit I rather enjoy the lift of the other movements. Have you ever come across the Kabalevsky? I’ve only played it once and haven’t found an orch to do it again yet.

    I’m trying to get a concert of British Light Music organised for next season and will be able to give you quite a list of ‘unstandards’ then!

    All the best,

    Fearghal

    #151038
    HBrock25
    Keymaster

    Liszt’s Les Preludes.

    Looking through the Washington Post last month there were 2 performances with 2 different orchestras

    #151039
    Tacye
    Participant

    It is amusing how pieces can clump- I was asked to play VW’s Sea Symphony twice in under a week (with different people, and playing a different part) but it seems relatively seldom played and I have never done it since.

    Grainger’s The Warrior; Bartok’s Music for String, Percussion and Celeste?

    #151040
    sherry-lenox
    Participant

    Always happy to see mention of Grainger, and also nice to see Gordon Jacob, a composer very under appreciated here in the US.

    One of the most interesting things about having a copy of David Daniels’ book is looking up the lists of familiar and unfamiliar composers and how they usedd one or more harps in their work.

    #151041

    I believe I played the Overture to Colas Breugnon in Avery Fisher Hall, with the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, but I have pretty much blocked it, because I didn’t get to do Capriccio Espagnol. All I remember is playing a few glisses. Not a nice conductor, that was. Great orchestra, though.

    #151042
    Fearghal McCartan
    Participant

    That’s grand! Sounds like the Sea Symph – such a great opening (apart from the double handed gliss over the page turn). I love the Stainer & Bell performance copy – the only one here. I ended up with 20+ photocopied page turn assists – mainly since I was covering both harp parts on one! Never, ever try that – any hope of a rest or finger recovery for the next 70min is dashed!

    I love the London Symphony – I had the luck of playing both the original and the revised versions!

    #151043

    At the time I had no idea how to play a chord such as e-c-e-a. Now I know to leave out the upper e and use 124. I also couldn’t reach a sixth between 4 and 3 then, now I can.

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