10 favorite works for soloist & orchestra that are NOT concerti

Started by kyjo, October 05, 2021, 07:07:23 AM

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kyjo

Thought this would be fun! I decided to omit concertinos as well as works like Foulds' Dynamic Triptych which are basically structured like a concerto:

Arnold: Fantasy on a Theme of John Field (piano)
Bloch: Schelomo (cello)
Frumerie: Variations and Fugue (piano)
Gershwin: Second Rhapsody (piano)
Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody (piano)
Respighi: Adagio con variazioni (cello)
Saint-Saëns: Rhapsodie d'Auvergne (piano)
Schmitt: Introït, récit et congé (cello)
Taneyev: Suite de concert (violin)
Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and Orchestra

Bonus choices: Bruch: Scottish Fantasy (violin), Koechlin: Silhouettes de comedie (bassoon), Nyman: Where the Bee Dances (saxophone)
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Brian

So would how would we score something like Szymanowski's Symphony No. 4? (which is definitely one of my 10 favorite piano concertos or not-concertos)

kyjo

Quote from: Brian on October 05, 2021, 07:14:59 AM
So would how would we score something like Szymanowski's Symphony No. 4? (which is definitely one of my 10 favorite piano concertos or not-concertos)

I decided to omit works like that, as well as "symphony/sinfonia concertantes" because they basically have the structure and scope of a concerto. But you may include them if you wish!
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Biffo

Berlioz: Harold en Italie (solo viola)
Weber: Konzertstuck for Piano & Orchestra
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (solo violin)
Vaughan Williams: Flos campi (solo viola)
Strauss: Don Quixote (solo cello)
Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody (piano)

These are the ones that immediately spring to mind and that I would call favourites. I am sure others will follow.

Mirror Image

I'll refrain from giving a list in that the line between concerti and what Kyle is referring to is incredibly thin and not distinguishable enough for me think of ten works without listing concerti.

Brian

I don't know if they would count in my top 10, but mentioning them will probably be more interesting to other readers than my own top 10, which overlaps a lot with the two posted so far: just yesterday I listened for the first time to Charles Martin Loeffler's "La mort de Tintagile" and "A Pagan Poem," and surprisingly they both fit here. A Pagan Poem has a big continuous part for piano, and La mort has an even more surprising extensive soloist: viola d'amore!

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ok ok here is a list, alphabetically

Aho: Symphony No. 9 (trombone)
Berlioz: Harold en Italie (viola)
Chopin: Variations on La ci darem la mano (piano)
d'Indy: Symphony on a French Mountain Air (piano)
Gade: Symphony No. 5 (piano)
Langgaard: Symphony No. 2 (soprano)*
Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody (piano)
Rossini: Introduction, Theme and Variations (clarinet)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (organ)
Weber: Konzertstuck (piano)

Extra bonus for multiple soloists:
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3*
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4
Nielsen: Symphony No. 5
Schubert: Symphony No. 6 (flute section)

*I am allowing singing in these contexts because these works aren't really "songs" either, which seems to be in the spirit of the question. Allowing stuff like Strauss' Four Last Songs would open up a whole can of worms and result in an "instruments-only" crackdown  ;D

Florestan

Franck - Variations symphoniques for piano and orchestra
Vieuxtemps - Fantasia apassionata for violin and orchestra
Mozart - Rondo(s) for piano and orchestra, KV 382, KV 386
Mendelssohn - Capriccio brillant, Rondo capriccioso, Serenade & Allegro giocoso for piano and orchestra
Sarasate - Zigeunerweisen, Carmen Fantasy for violin and orchestra
Hummel - Oberon's Magic Horn for piano and orchestra
Chopin - "La ci darem la mano" Variations for piano and orchestra
Lecuona - Rapsodia Argentina for piano and orchestra
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

André

Quote from: kyjo on October 05, 2021, 07:07:23 AM
Thought this would be fun! I decided to omit concertinos as well as works like Foulds' Dynamic Triptych which are basically structured like a concerto:

Arnold: Fantasy on a Theme of John Field (piano)
Bloch: Schelomo (cello)
Frumerie: Variations and Fugue (piano)
Gershwin: Second Rhapsody (piano)
Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody (piano)
Respighi: Adagio con variazioni (cello)
Saint-Saëns: Rhapsodie d'Auvergne (piano)
Schmitt: Introït, récit et congé (cello)
Taneyev: Suite de concert (violin)
Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and Orchestra

Bonus choices: Bruch: Scottish Fantasy (violin), Koechlin: Silhouettes de comedie (bassoon), Nyman: Where the Bee Dances (saxophone)

Brownie points for mentioning this superb work !

Jo498

Bach: Ouverture/Suite b minor (flute)
Weber: Konzertstück f minor (piano)
Berlioz: Harold en Italie (viola)
Liszt: Totentanz (piano)
Franck: Symphonic Variations (piano)
Strauss: Burleske (piano, timpani)
Strauss: Don Quixote (cello, viola)
Schmidt: Beethoven Variations (piano left hand)
Martin: Polyptyque (violin)
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue & Riffs (clarinet)
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Brian

In honor of this thread, a first listen to a work that meets the criteria:



"Partita," written when the composer was 20, is an 18 minute miniature piano concerto-that-is-not-a-concerto.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brian on October 05, 2021, 07:58:52 AM
I don't know if they would count in my top 10, but mentioning them will probably be more interesting to other readers than my own top 10, which overlaps a lot with the two posted so far: just yesterday I listened for the first time to Charles Martin Loeffler's "La mort de Tintagile" and "A Pagan Poem," and surprisingly they both fit here. A Pagan Poem has a big continuous part for piano, and La mort has an even more surprising extensive soloist: viola d'amore!

-

ok ok here is a list, alphabetically

Aho: Symphony No. 9 (trombone)
Berlioz: Harold en Italie (viola)
Chopin: Variations on La ci darem la mano (piano)
d'Indy: Symphony on a French Mountain Air (piano)
Gade: Symphony No. 5 (piano)
Langgaard: Symphony No. 2 (soprano)*
Rachmaninov: Paganini Rhapsody (piano)
Rossini: Introduction, Theme and Variations (clarinet)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (organ)
Weber: Konzertstuck (piano)

Extra bonus for multiple soloists:
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3*
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4
Nielsen: Symphony No. 5
Schubert: Symphony No. 6 (flute section)

*I am allowing singing in these contexts because these works aren't really "songs" either, which seems to be in the spirit of the question. Allowing stuff like Strauss' Four Last Songs would open up a whole can of worms and result in an "instruments-only" crackdown  ;D

I don't think symphonies are what Kyle was looking for, though.

Roasted Swan

Bax Winter Legends
Bridge Phantasm
Bridge Oration
Szymanowksi Symphony No.4
Rubbra Soliloquy
Russell Peck The Upward Stream
Lambert The Rio Grande
Haglund Hymns to the Night
Gould Interplay
Daugherty Fire & Blood


Brian

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 05, 2021, 10:21:00 AM
I don't think symphonies are what Kyle was looking for, though.
Sucks to be him, then!  ;D ;D 8)

(But really, I don't know why that would be the case, a sinfonia concertante is clearly similar to a concerto, but something like Gade's Fifth Symphony definitely meets the title definition.)

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brian on October 05, 2021, 11:15:08 AM
Sucks to be him, then!  ;D ;D 8)

(But really, I don't know why that would be the case, a sinfonia concertante is clearly similar to a concerto, but something like Gade's Fifth Symphony definitely meets the title definition.)

This might explain his reasoning:

Quote from: kyjo on October 05, 2021, 07:18:07 AM
I decided to omit works like that, as well as "symphony/sinfonia concertantes" because they basically have the structure and scope of a concerto. But you may include them if you wish!

ritter

Let's see,,.

Off the top of my head:

Schmitt: Symphonie concertante pour orchestre et piano. (piano)
Boulez: ...explosante-fixe.... (flute)
Falla: Noches en los jardines de España. (piano)
E. Halffter: Rapsodia portuguesa. (piano)
Debussy: Première rhapsodie (clarinet)
Berlioz: Harold en Italie (viola)
Saint-Saëns: Havanaise (violin)
Berio: Chemins V (guitar)
Maderna: Grande aulodia (flute and oboe)
Busoni: Indianische Fantasie (piano)

Brian

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 05, 2021, 11:21:50 AM
This might explain his reasoning:
Pretty sure he meant ""symphony concertante" or "sinfonia concertante"", as a symphony does not at all have the structure or scope of a concerto.

Symphonic Addict

Good idea, Kyle. I had to include 11 works:

Respighi: Poema autunnale, for violin and orchestra
Popov: Symphonic Aria, for cello and string orchestra
Bloch: Scherzo fantasque, for piano and orchestra
Braunfels: Hexensabbatt, for piano and orchestra
Dohnányi: Variations for piano and orchestra on a nursery song
Ireland: Legend, for piano and orchestra
Penderecki: Largo for cello and orchestra
Suk: Fantasy for violin and orchestra
Dubois: Fantaisie Triomphale, for organ and orchestra
Rossini: Introduction, Theme and Variations for clarinet and orchestra
Chausson: Poème, for violin and orchestra
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Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brian on October 05, 2021, 11:56:08 AM
Pretty sure he meant ""symphony concertante" or "sinfonia concertante"", as a symphony does not at all have the structure or scope of a concerto.

Well, if you look at his choices, there's not a symphony or symphonic movement in the bunch.

vandermolen

Kabelac: Symphony No.5 'Dramatic' (Soprano soloist)
Bloch: Voice in the Wilderness
VW: Flos Campi
Ireland: Legend
Alwyn: Lyra Angelica (maybe too much like a concerto)/otherwise Bloch's 'Schelomo'
Respighi: Poema Autunnale
Gershwin: Variations on 'I've Got Rhythm'
Ben-Haim: Evocation
David Diamond: 'Kaddish'
Bridge: Oration
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

kyjo

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 05, 2021, 12:51:52 PM
Well, if you look at his choices, there's not a symphony or symphonic movement in the bunch.

People may include symphonies/symphony concertantes if they wish. Let's not be dogmatic about the "rules" of this thread! :)
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff