Favourite orchestral Theme and Variations works

[Sergeant Rock]

Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn
Dohnányi: Variations on a Nursery Song (piano and orch)
Elgar: Enigma Variations
Reger: Mozart Variations
Schönberg: Variations opus 21

Sarge

[springrite]

A bit surprised that I am the only person to put in a vote for Simpson.

[Brahmsian]

I'm surprised there are only 2 votes for Kodály thus far.

[Christo]

A bit surprised that I am the only person to put in a vote for Simpson.

Obviously none of us is. 
(To be honest: I like Simpson, but don't know this piece. Would love to cast to other votes on the Arnold. Tiopett and Leifs though). 

[schnittkease]

No room for d'Indy, but Istar is truly a masterwork that displays the composer's best traits. It is unique in that the theme appears at the end rather than at the beginning -- quite effective because it has you guessing what it might be the whole way through.

[Symphonic Addict]

Narrowing the list to five choices:

Respighi: Metamorphoseon
Reger: Variations and Fugue on a theme by Hiller
Kodály: Peacock Variations
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini
Tveitt: Variations for two pianos and orchestra on a folk song

[DaveF]

Both list and discussion are so completely without any mention of Stravinsky's Huxley Variations that I started to wonder whether I'd imagined them.  But no (it was Stravinsky who did that).  They're rather good.

And there's only one Schoenberg work, he being a lover of numerology, that could be his Op.21.  The Variations are 31.  They're rather good, too.