Your most favorite works for string orchestra

[Symphonic Addict]

No wonder why the half of the works are English in my most beloved preferences...

Alwyn: Lyra Angelica (the harp being a plucked-stringed instrument)
Bantock: A Celtic Symphony
Penderecki: Polymorphia
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Strauss: Metamorphosen
Suk: Serenade for strings
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence
Tippett: Fantasia concertante on a theme of Corelli
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia (a little obvious, but I love it)
Wirén: Serenade for strings

What about you?

[Jo498]

Bartok: Divertimento
Dvorak: Serenade
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia
Bach: Brandenburg concerto #3 (although this is more properly a ca. 10 player chamber ensemble)
Handel: Concerto grosso op.6,6 (although I prefer the version with oboes)
Britten: Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge
Tchaikovsky: Serenade
Strauss: Metamorphosen

[Florestan]

Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar, Robert Fuchs: Serenades
CPE Bach, Mendelssohn: String Symphonies

[relm1]

I love Atterberg's Suite No. 3 for violin, viola, and strings. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ApWSiT0ZSE

[Mirror Image]

I'll do a 'Top 10'...in no particular order:

Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra Sz.113 BB.118
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Vaughan Williams: Partita for Double String Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48
Takemitsu: Requiem for Strings
Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Korngold: Symphonic Serenade for string orchestra in B major, Op. 39
Tabakova: Cello Concerto
Malipiero: Sinfonia No. 6, "Degli archi"

[Cato]

Greetings!

Life has become hectic since my return (until June) to teaching and the end of a 6-month "retirement" which was filled with far too much but house maintenance and remodeling!

Anyway, Dvorak's and Suk's Serenades are always at the top!

Not mentioned yet:

Hartmann's Symphony #4

https://www.youtube.com/v/TxfUzEuG2Zk


Honegger's Symphony #2  ( a trumpet appears, but...)

https://www.youtube.com/v/gTd_1GKeQg8

[TheGSMoeller]

The Best
Strauss: Metamorphosen

The Rest
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Overture
Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 12
Dvorak: Serenade
Janacek: Idylla
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony based on his 8th SQ
Hindemith: Trauermusik for Viola and Strings
Philip Glass: Symphony No. 3
Britten: Lachrymae
Bartok: Divertimento
Tabakova: Cello Concerto

[Iota]

Dvorak - Serenade for Strings
Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Tippett - Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Pärt - Fratres (version for Cello Ensemble)
Pärt - Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten

[Mirror Image]

Dvorak - Serenade for Strings
Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Tippett - Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Pärt - Fratres (version for Cello Ensemble)
Pärt - Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten

Does Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten actually count? It has a tubular bell part. If the OP agrees, then I'd like to add Sibelius' Rakastava as an honorable mention.

[Iota]

Does Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten actually count? It has a tubular bell part. If the OP agrees, then I'd like to add Sibelius' Rakastava as an honorable mention.

It hardly predominates though (even if atmospherically important) and as somebody had just mentioned Honnegger's  Second Symphony with trumpet, I took the liberty ..  After all "rules do not make works of art.. ". 

[Mirror Image]

It hardly predominates though (even if atmospherically important) and as somebody had just mentioned Honnegger's  Second Symphony with trumpet, I took the liberty ..  After all "rules do not make works of art.. ". 

Sorry, I guess I'm just thinking of works for strings only. I may have to rethink my list or, at least, add something to the existing one.

[LKB]

Strauss: Metamorphosen
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia
Barber: Adagio

By way of an " Honorable Mention ", twenty years ago the list would have included Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. But once l heard the augmented Hollywood Quartet on Testament performing the original version, l committed to it completely, and hearing full orchestral strings in the work is no longer preferable.

[MusicTurner]

Favourites?

->  insert some British, mainly 20th-century composer, and a work for string orchestra by him or her 

Also:
- Schoenberg, Verklaerte Nacht
- possibly Eliasson, 'Sinfonia per Archi'

[Iota]

Sorry, I guess I'm just thinking of works for strings only ..

And you're right to do so, it's what the OP asked for. I'll happily take out the Cantus if desired. 

[Mirror Image]

And you're right to do so, it's what the OP asked for. I'll happily take out the Cantus if desired. 

You made a good argument for its inclusion, so I see no reason why it shouldn't be included.

[Cato]

Another Symphony #2 for strings: this time by the great Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov.

He died over 3 years ago! 

https://www.youtube.com/v/wjLhTrATI-4

[vandermolen]

Ovchinnikov: Symphony No.2
Berkeley L: Serenade for Strings
VW: Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus/Concerto Grosso/Tallis Fantasia
Bantock: Celtic Symphony
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Alwyn: Lyra Angelica
Britten: Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
Vladigerov: Symphony No.2 for string orchestra (just discovered this one today)
Bliss: Music for Strings
Dello Joio: Meditations on Ecclesiastes
Miaskovsky: Two Pieces for String Orchestra (from Symphony 11).

I especially like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGxpkF1yq-w

[Symphonic Addict]

Thanks for the interesting replies! I've seen some works being mentioned I didn't recall at all (Hartmann 4, Tabakova CC, Malipiero 6, Ovchinnikov 2, et al).

[Maestro267]

Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings
Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Chavez - Symphony No. 5
Bantock - Celtic Symphony
Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9
Penderecki - Polymorphia

[amw]

This is obviously a minor special interest for me. Pieces are arranged by type with a subsection for those that would otherwise be excluded by virtue of containing some non-string instruments or soloists.

Dvořák - Serenade, Op. 22
Bartók - Divertimento, Sz. 113
Suk - Serenade, Op. 6
Tchaikovsky - Serenade, Op. 48
Fuchs - Serenades 1 through 4 (5 is for a chamber orchestra); can't pick just one, although no. 1 is probably the best
Arnold - Symphony for Strings, Op. 13
Hartmann - Symphony No. 4
Mendelssohn - String Symphonies No. 11, 12 and 13, at minimum
Leighton - Symphony for Strings op. 3; Concerto for Strings op. 39
Ginastera - Concerto for Strings, Op. 33
Rouse - Concerto for Strings
Handel - 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 (can't remember offhand if any of these have wind instruments). If I had to pick just one, HWV 323, op. 6 no. 5
Stravinsky - Concerto in D
Tippett - Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Holst - St. Paul's Suite
Lou Harrison - Suite for symphonic strings
Penderecki - Polymorphia; Emanationen
Xenakis - every Xenakis piece is technically for "x" solo strings, but I'll take Shaar (60) and Voile (20) at minimum
Iannotta - dead wasps in the jam-jar ii
Lutosławski - Funeral Music; Preludes and Fugue (version for string orchestra)
Kernis - Musica celestis - I normally won't count arrangements (and the string quartet version probably "works" better) but someone needs to be the only person on the planet who likes both Kernis and Xenakis
Vaughan Williams - Tallis Fantasia

String orchestra + Something:
Martinů - Double concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani - This and the Bartók (below) are quite possibly the masterpieces of the string orchestra repertoire, despite both having additional non-soloist instruments.
Bartók - Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Lajtha - Les Soli, op. 33 (for strings and percussion)
JS Bach: Concertos in general (obviously), although these can be performed with ripieno solo strings as well
Gerhard - Piano Concerto; Harpsichord Concerto
Martin - Petite symphonie concertante; Polyptyque
Bacewicz - Music for strings, trumpets and percussion
Hartmann - Kammerkonzert for clarinet and strings
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in D minor