Favourite Waltz or Waltz-like Sections in Larger Works

[springrite]

I was listening to arrangements by Alban Berg of Strauss waltzes and am strongly considering ordering this disc:

I have this one and quite enjoy it. If I had the score, I'd love to arrange some in-house performances with a student quartet.

[Franco]

I have this one and quite enjoy it. If I had the score, I'd love to arrange some in-house performances with a student quartet.

I went for it, at less than $5 it was a no-brainer.  They are very charming for string quartet and I am interested to hear the other selections beyond the few I already had in the big Berg box.

[Chaszz]

Well, my favorite is the wonderfully polytonal waltz from Der Rosenkavalier by the other Strauss, Richard.

[karlhenning]

More truly obligatory waltzes are:

From Prokofiev's Cinderella, Opus 87:

№ 30 Grand Waltz
№ 37 Waltz-Coda
№ 49 Waltz

From Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, Opus 64:

№ 20 Romeo's Variation

And his Pushkin Waltzes, Opus 120

. . . all of these are affectionate homages to the obvious and obligatory waltzes from the Tchaikovsky ballets.

[DarkAngel]

He has many of them. The second movement from the Serenade for Strings an all-time favourite of mine, but which is far removed from the mood of the 6th. It is however interesting to note that this is not a waltz in the traditional sense due to its use of a then-unconventional rhythm pattern.

Indeed......
we start with a traditional playful waltz rythm but then melody limps and staggers along as doubts and apprehension creep in (begins 2:35 mark in clip below) and we must resolve these conflicting feelings, a very unique waltz movement with dark undertone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wCEgHz8YGQ&feature=related

[False_Dmitry]

Since we are mentioning waltzes by Prokofiev, let's not forget two from his operas...

... the famous waltz at the Imperial Ball in PEACE, during which pure coincidence and artfully-arranged choreography bring Prince Andrei together with the Natasha Rostova once again.  (And here's the most perfect Russian I've ever heard from a foreign singer - Nathan Gunn - and some damn nimble footwork with Guryakova too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqeCn7AzGN4

There's another more bittersweet waltz in STORY OF A REAL MAN, in the flashback scene, when Andrei Morozov (now in the field hospital with his legs amputated) is remembering his time with his sweetheart before WW2.

[Opus106]

Since we are mentioning waltzes by Prokofiev, let's not forget two from his operas...

... the famous waltz at the Imperial Ball in PEACE, during which pure coincidence and artfully-arranged choreography bring Prince Andrei together with the Natasha Rostova once again.  (And here's the most perfect Russian I've ever heard from a foreign singer - Nathan Gunn - and some damn nimble footwork with Guryakova too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqeCn7AzGN4

Lovely. Prokofiev is a composer whom I ought to explore in the second half of '10. (Not that I generally explore composers in a half-yearly or even a quarterly basis.)


While there, I revisited another old favourite -- which I hadn't listened to in two or three years, by the way: Khachaturian's waltz from Masquerade.

[Teresa]

FRANZ LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No.1 for Orchestra "Dance in the Village Inn", S.514 (1862)

http://www.youtube.com/v/LCnmFBVEFWo

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I'll go with the 2nd mvt. of Schnittke's Piano Quintet. A slow waltz that starts out sad and depressed, and finishes fast and scary before dissolving into the mist. Typical fun Schnittke 

[jimmosk]

I love the waltz that breaks out at the climax of the development in the first movement of Nielsen's Third. Nielsen teases us with fragments, false starts and really builds the tension until it's finally released in one of the most glorious waltzes I've ever heard. It only lasts a minute, but it's my favorite single minute in classical music.

I'm going to have to go with my second choice, because Sarge has already described--perfectly--the piece I was going to nominate.  So instead I'll suggest the second movement of Jan van Gilse's 2nd symphony, a lush waltz in a Mahlerian language, with a trio that shifts in style to something Reger might have written.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm going to have to go with my second choice, because Sarge has already described--perfectly--the piece I was going to nominate.  So instead I'll suggest the second movement of Jan van Gilse's 2nd symphony, a lush waltz in a Mahlerian language, with a trio that shifts in style to something Reger might have written.

Gilse is a composer I know nothing about. The symphony sounds interesting. Thanks. I've ordered it (available cheaply at JPC).

Sarge

[Opus106]

I love the waltz that breaks out at the climax of the development in the first movement of Nielsen's Third. Nielsen teases us with fragments, false starts and really builds the tension until it's finally released in one of the most glorious waltzes I've ever heard. It only lasts a minute, but it's my favorite single minute in classical music. The perfect recorded realization of that is Bernstein's.

Sarge

Waltzing along. It's pretty much what I'm after -- interwoven into larger orchestral fabric.

[Scarpia]

There's the Waltz second movement in Britten's piano concerto.  Sort of half-serious, half-parody. 

The first movement of Schoenberg's Suite for piano, string trio and three clarinets, Op. 29, is marked Overture.  But in the middle there is a loopy atonal Waltz of sorts.  Not a Waltz that will have you imaging Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers swinging around the ballroom, though.

[Opus106]

The first movement of Schoenberg's Suite for piano, string trio and three clarinets, Op. 29, is marked Overture.  But in the middle there is a loopy atonal Waltz of sorts.  Not a Waltz that will have you imaging Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers swinging around the ballroom, though.

I was wondering if waltzes could exists in the Atonal Universe.

[Scarpia]

I was wondering if waltzes could exists in the Atonal Universe.

Yes.  Imagine a Waltz danced by Christopher Walken and Cindi Lauper.

[Scarpia]

The first movement of Schoenberg's Suite for piano, string trio and three clarinets, Op. 29, is marked Overture.  But in the middle there is a loopy atonal Waltz of sorts.  Not a Waltz that will have you imaging Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers swinging around the ballroom, though.

What I forgot to mention is that this movement is full of wonderful, catchy tunes (it takes some concentration to notice them, since they sort of come out of the woodwork).

[karlhenning]

The Waltz was something of a favorite genre for Schoenberg . . . one of the Giraud poems he selected to set in Pierrot Lunaire is "Valse de Chopin," e.g., and there is the waltze in the Opus 23 piano pieces . . . .

[abidoful]

Scriabin has weird waltz-like sections in few of his larger scale works;
-in the 1rst movement of the Concerto op.20, actually more of a mazurka there
-very similar section in practically the only chamber work he composed, the Fantasy in a-minor for two pianos

[Opus106]

Scriabin has weird waltz-like sections in few of his larger scale works;
-in the 1rst movement of the Concerto op.20, actually more of a mazurka there
-very similar section in practically the only chamber work he composed, the Fantasy in a-minor for two pianos

I haven't heard non-solo-piano Scriabin -- yet. So, I'll look forward for those.

Ever since I started this thread, a small waltz-like section -- lasting barely half a minute -- keeps playing again and again in my head. I know it's very likely to be something featured in the CDs I own or something I downloaded, but I just can't figure it out. Typically late-Romantic (not Wagnerian) orchestral piece... possibly Dvořák.

[kyjo]

I feel like digging up some old threads today:

Atterberg: Symphony no. 5, 3rd movement (v. haunting)
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, 2nd movement
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 5, 3rd movement
the waltzes from Shostakovich's Jazz Suites
Rorem: Flute Concerto, 5th movement (entitled False Waltz)

(off the top of my head)