Tone Poems

[anasazi]

I consider Richard Strauss to be the master of this form and am surprised to not read a single post mentioning "Til Eulanspielgel's Merry Pranks".   So I will mention it.  Others would include "Ein Heldenlieben", "Don Juan", "Don Quixote" and "Sinfonia Domestica".   

Zarathustra is justly famous (mostly for it's grand opening and for it's use in a Kubrick film , but how many really know what it is about?

[Klaatu]

Hearty thanks to all the contributors to this thread.

There's so much stuff recommended here that I don't know where to start - my wallet's going to get a lot lighter in the coming months!

Can I second eyeresist's endorsement of Elgar's In The South - a superb piece which for some unaccountable reason E.E. called an "overture", thus stymying its concert performances - organisers want to put it first on the list, "because it's an overture, dear boy" - whereas it would make a glorious main course.

Other favourites of mine include Havergal Brian's In Memoriam - already mentioned by Sargeant Rock, and perhaps the Brian piece for people who don't like Brian; it's very Elgarian. And John Ireland's highly atmospheric The Forgotten Rite. (I haven't yet heard his other tone-poem Mai Dun, but I gather it's an equally fine work.)

[Superhorn]

  There are so many highly enjoyable ones.
  I've always been very fond of the Symphonia Domestica of Richard Strauss,a sadly underrated work full of high spirits, sly humor, inventiveness, warmth and sumptuous orchestration. It hasn't been recorded as often as the other Strauss symphonic poems,but there are some fine recordings of it by Karajan,Kempe, Mehta, Sawallisch,DeWaart,
and even the composer himself.
  I also love the Alpine symphony, which has also come in for more  than its share of glibly dismissive comments.

  Nielsen's Pan and Syrinx is a most interesting work based on Greek mythology,telling the story how the dryad Syrinx was changed into a reed after being pursued by the god Pan.
  Nielsen's Phantasy overture,"An imaginary trip to the Faroe islands"  is also very effective.
   "Praga",by Josef Suk,son-in-law of Dvorak,is a vivid portrait of Prague, almost the Czech equivalent of Elgar's Cockgaine overture, another very effective work.
   
 

[Scarpia]

Nielsen's Pan and Syrinx is a most interesting work based on Greek mythology,telling the story how the dryad Syrinx was changed into a reed after being pursued by the god Pan.

Now that's a story I can relate to.   

[SymphonicAddict]

Some favorites of mine:

Glière - The Sirens
Tchaikovsky - The Voyevode, Francesca da Rimini
Sibelius - The Wood Nymph
Lyatoshinsky - Grazhyna
Dvorák - The Watergoblin, The Noon Witch
Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (intended as a big tone poem)
Bantock - Thalaba the Destroyer
Smetana - The Moldau
Klami - Kalevala Suite (if it counts)
Bax - Springfire
Respighi - Feste Romane
Janacek - Taras Bulba
Ireland - Mai-Dun
Karlowicz - Eternal Songs
Nielsen - Pan and Syrinx
Debussy - Nocturnes
McEwen - Gray Galloway
Magnard - Hymne à Venus
Balakirev - Tamara
Lyapunov - Hashish
Englund - Epinikia
Ivanovs - The Rainbow
Atterberg - Alven (The River)
Bartók - Kossuth

[André]

Very nice selection !

I wonder how to characterize the works of Silvestre Revueltas ? He didn't assign them to any genre, but if we take 'tone poems' as orchestral works with an intent to depict (something, somewhere, somebody), then he composed superb items in the genre:

Sensemaya
La Noche de los Mayas
Janitzio
Ocho por radio
Ventanas
Itinerarios
Caminos

Edit for typo correction 

[Mirror Image]

Very nice selection !

I wonder how to characterize the works of Silvestre Revueltas ? He didn't assign them to any genre, but if we take 'tone poems' as orchestral works with an intent to depict (something, somewhere, somebody), then he composed superb items in the genre:

Sensemaya
La Novhe de los Mayas
Janitzio
Ocho por radio
Ventanas
Itinerarios
Caminos

Indeed, Andre. They're musical depictions of ancient myths, trees, islands, native peoples, etc. Revueltas' music is truly remarkable and he remains my favorite Mexican composer. Sorry Carlos!

[bwv 1080]

Can Debussy's Nocturnes really be called a tone poem? Thought the term referred to single movement programmatic romantic orchestral  works.

I like most all of Liszt's, particularly  Les Preludes, Mazeppa, Prometheus and Festklange

[Todd]

I wonder how to characterize the works of Silvestre Revueltas ?

La Noche de los Mayas

This is a suite from a film soundtrack.  Ocho por radio is chamber music.  I wouldn't classify his other works as tone poems, but others might. 

[Mirror Image]

This is a suite from a film soundtrack.  Ocho por radio is chamber music.  I wouldn't classify his other works as tone poems, but others might.

Okay to La noche and Ocho por radio, but the rest of Andre's list most definitely are tone poems.

[vandermolen]

Some favorites of mine:

Glière - The Sirens
Tchaikovsky - The Voyevode, Francesca da Rimini
Sibelius - The Wood Nymph
Lyatoshinsky - Grazhyna
Dvorák - The Watergoblin, The Noon Witch
Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (intended as a big tone poem)
Bantock - Thalaba the Destroyer
Smetana - The Moldau
Klami - Kalevala Suite (if it counts)
Bax - Springfire
Respighi - Feste Romane
Janacek - Taras Bulba
Ireland - Mai-Dun
Karlowicz - Eternal Songs
Nielsen - Pan and Syrinx
Debussy - Nocturnes
McEwen - Gray Galloway
Magnard - Hymne à Venus
Balakirev - Tamara
Lyapunov - Hashish
Englund - Epinikia
Ivanovs - The Rainbow
Atterberg - Alven (The River)
Bartók - Kossuth

Great list! I love many of these.😀

[Christo]

Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet
Dvorák, The Golden Spinning Wheel
Dvorák, The Noon Witch
Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre
Harty, With the Wild Geese
Debussy, La Mer
Janacek, Taras Bulba
Respighi, Trittico botticelliano
Sibelius, Tapiola
Rey, Türkiye

Time to review and add some more:

Barber, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance & Night Flight
Bridge, Summer & Enter Spring
Čiurlionis, Jūra (The Sea)
Eller, Viirastused (Phantoms)
Gershwin, An American in Paris
Kabalevsky, Vestna (Spring)
Langgaard, Sfaerenes Musik (Music of the Spheres)
Martinů, Podobenství (Parables) & Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca
Pierné, Paysages franciscains
Rachmaninoff, Caprice bohémien
Respighi, Fontane di Roma & Feste Romane
Sibelius, Luonnotar
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending & The Solent
Villa-Lobos, O papagaio do moleque & Genesis

[Maestro267]

Tchaikovsky - The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Francesca da Rimini
Strauss - Ein Heldenleben, Eine Alpensinfonie (I count it), Tod und Verklärung
Bantock - Thalaba the Destroyer
Balakirev - Tamara
Schoenberg - Pelleas und Melisande
Zemlinsky - Die Seejungfrau
Suk - Prague, Ripening
Liszt - Hungaria, Hunnenschlacht

[vandermolen]

Time to review and add some more:

Barber, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance & Night Flight
Bridge, Summer & Enter Spring
Čiurlionis, Jūra (The Sea)
Eller, Viirastused (Phantoms)
Gershwin, An American in Paris
Kabalevsky, Vestna (Spring)
Langgaard, Sfaerenes Musik (Music of the Spheres)
Martinů, Podobenství (Parables) & Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca
Pierné, Paysages franciscains
Rachmaninoff, Caprice bohémien
Respighi, Fontane di Roma & Feste Romane
Sibelius, Luonnotar
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending & The Solent
Villa-Lobos, O papagaio do moleque & Genesis

Another list with which I largely agree.

Must listen to Bantock's 'Thalaba the Destroyer' after two recommendations here. Lyatoshinsky's 'Grazhyna' is a very fine work.

[André]

Thalaba is quite good, despite its hollywoodian title. The box of Bantock orchestral works is a fount of delights.

Regarding La Noche de los Mayas, it's a special case, the work as we know it having been recomposed and put together by conductor José Limantour many hears after Revueltas' death. In its new guise it is a four movement suite that portrays different « moods » of the ancient mayans' civillization.
Link here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-noche-de-los-Mayas.

As for Ocho por radio, it's an abstract tone poem for 8 instruments depicting (according to the composer's own description) a mathematical equation that cannot be resolved. The title merely alludes to the instrumental distribution at his disposal (he expected more) and the fact that it was a radio commission. Its structure is tripartite like that of a concerto and contains many typical 'mexican' touches, like mariachis bits. Here's an excellent article depicting its form and genesis, plus a clip of an actual performance:
http://musicaenmexico.com.mx/ocho-por-radio-silvestre-revueltas-1899-1940/     

What exactly constitutes a tone poem is anybody's guess. A narrow description will mean leaving aside vast quantities of orchestral works, great and small, that have some elements of pictorial description - even mathematical equations !

[Karl Henning]

Thalaba is quite good, despite its hollywoodian title.

I do think Ghostbusters . . . .

[pjme]

Three old friends....(somewhere between Debussy, Respighi and Hollywood/Steiner/Tiomkin....).

https://www.youtube.com/v/b29hVwh2zIU

https://youtube.com/v/013HGwYumu0

https://www.youtube.com/v/Ie9yGilmVNk

And from the Belgian archives: Robert Herberigs "Cyrano de Bergerac"!!

http://www.robertherberigs.be/


https://www.youtube.com/v/jaNzoida8iI

P.

[Karl Henning]

Koechlin, Vers la Voûte étoilée Op.129 (1923–33)

[BasilValentine]

Can Debussy's Nocturnes really be called a tone poem? Thought the term referred to single movement programmatic romantic orchestral  works.

I like most all of Liszt's, particularly  Les Preludes, Mazeppa, Prometheus and Festklange

It can be called three tone poems. 

[Maestro267]

Must listen to Bantock's 'Thalaba the Destroyer' after two recommendations here. Lyatoshinsy's 'Grazhyna' is a very fine work.

It's glorious. Think of brooding. heroic B minor works such as Tchaikovsky's Manfred (particularly the first movement) and Gliere's Il'ya Muromets symphonies. And Vernon Handley's recording is stunning. Absolutely cataclysmic percussion!