Your most favorite works for string orchestra

[Mirror Image]

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

Outstanding lists, amw. You actually reminded I forgot to mention Stravinsky's Apollon musagète as an honorable mention.

[Florestan]

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in D minor

Drat! How could I have forgotten this gem? 

[amw]

Outstanding lists, amw. You actually reminded I forgot to mention Stravinsky's Apollon musagète as an honorable mention.

Honestly I was thinking about it! Had to stop listing pieces at some point though, lol (and it's never been a huge favourite of mine personally—prefer Orpheus).

[ritter]

.... lol (and it's never been a huge favourite of mine personally—prefer Orpheus).

That makes two of us  , although I must say that seeing Apollo danced (in the original Balanchine choreography) here in Madrid some months ago greatly increased my appreciation for the piece.

....but someone needs to be the only person on the planet who likes both Kernis and Xenakis
...

That would be a great thread idea! I must be the only person on the planet who likes both Boulez and Mascagni. 

[Florestan]

I must be the only person on the planet who likes both Boulez and Mascagni. 

Big deal! Boulez must have been the only person on the planet who conducted both Mahler and Handel.   

Buenas noches, don Rafael.

[Karl Henning]

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

Hey there! And thanks: listening!

[LKB]

Big deal! Boulez must have been the only person on the planet who conducted both Mahler and Handel.   

Buenas noches, don Rafael.

Actually, Sir Colin Davis recorded both Messiah ( at least twice ) and Das Lied von der Erde. But I'd agree that it's a fairly small club. 

[Florestan]

Actually, Sir Colin Davis recorded both Messiah ( at least twice ) and Das Lied von der Erde. But I'd agree that it's a fairly small club. 

Hah! God bless Sir Colin's soul!

[ritter]

And Furtwängler did Handel (I have a live recording of the Concerto grosso, op. 6 No. 10 from Caracas!) and Mahler's Lieder eines  fahrenden Gesellen (with Fischer-Dieskau on EMI), so there you go ...

Scherchen also did Mahler and Handel (and Varèse!), Abbado did Nono and Bach, Maderna did Boulez and Scarlatti), usw., usw. 

Good evening, Andrei and LKB.

THREAD DUTY: Surely Boulez's Livre pour cordes deserves mention in this thread. It definitely is a favourite of mine...

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky, Apollo
Schuman, Symphony № 5
Weinberg, Symphony № 2
Mennin, Fantasia
Hovhaness, Alleluia & Fugue, Op. 40b
Wuorinen, Grand Bamboula
Hindemith Fünf Stücke für Streichorchester

[kyjo]

Love this genre!!

Dvořák, Suk, Wirén, and L. Berkeley: Serenades
Atterberg: Sinfonia for Strings, Suite no. 3 for violin, viola, and strings
Schoeck: Sommernacht
Schreker: Intermezzo and Scherzo, op. 8
Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Elgar: Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia
Rutter: Suite for Strings
Diamond: Rounds
Bartók and Rautavaara: Divertimentos
K.A. Hartmann: Symphony no. 4
W. Schuman: Symphony no. 5
Bacewicz: Concerto for String Orchestra

[Brian]

Charles Mackerras also did Mahler and Handel.

[Jo498]

It's not that special; Klemperer recorded Messiah, a concerto grosso and Mahler, Marriner did Mahler's 4th and lots of Handel. There were several decades between the 1950s and 80s when Handel was not mostly relegated to specialist groups and Mahler already quite popular.
AFAIK the oboe parts in some of Handel's op.6 are optional and only doubling (and one can of course always have a bassoon doubling a bass line). It's often hardly perceivable, even if oboes are present; the main effect I recall them is in the beautiful pastoral musette in the g minor concerto.

I totallly forgot about the Harmann 4th, or more precisely forgot that it was a string symphony.
A fun pieces for strings + is Shchedrin's "Carmen Suite" based on Bizet for strings and percussion.

[Biffo]

It's not that special; Klemperer recorded Messiah, a concerto grosso and Mahler, Marriner did Mahler's 4th and lots of Handel. There were several decades between the 1950s and 80s when Handel was not mostly relegated to specialist groups and Mahler already quite popular.
AFAIK the oboe parts in some of Handel's op.6 are optional and only doubling (and one can of course always have a bassoon doubling a bass line). It's often hardly perceivable, even if oboes are present; the main effect I recall them is in the beautiful pastoral musette in the g minor concerto.

I totallly forgot about the Harmann 4th, or more precisely forgot that it was a string symphony.
A fun pieces for strings + is Shchedrin's "Carmen Suite" based on Bizet for strings and percussion.

You can add Sir Adrian Boult to the list. He conducted a Mahler symphony cycle in the 1940s and recorded Symphony No 1. He recorded an album of Bach and Handel arias with Kathleen Ferrier and must have conducted a complete Messiah at some point in his long career.

Sir John Barbirolli was a noted Mahlerian and conducted Messiah numerous times as well as the Water Music

[MusicTurner]

As mentioned previously, Scherchen recorded a lot of both Mahler and Händel; same applies to Karajan. Mengelberg and Stokowski also recorded works by both composers as well.

Plus Ormandy and Bernstein did a good deal of Mahler & they recorded The Messiah, Fireworks and Water Music too ...

[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"

And now a "Top 10" of honorable mentions...

(In no particular order)

Strauss: Metamorphosen
Stravinsky: Apollon musagète
Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Berg: Three Pieces from "Lyric Suite"
Weinberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 145
Diamond: Rounds
Carter: Elegy
Hartmann: Symphony No. 4
Ginastera: Concerto for Strings, Op. 33
Bacewicz: Symphony for Strings

[vandermolen]

Lennox Berkeley's 'Serenade for Strings' was on the radio today. I consider it to be one of his finest and most enjoyable works.

[Lisztianwagner]

Bantock: Celtic Symphony
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for strings
Strauss: Metamorphosen
Bartók: Divertimento for string orchestra
Britten: Simple Symphony
Holst: St. Paul's Suite
Hartmann: Symphony No. 4
Respighi: Antiche Dance e Arie, Suite No. 3
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony
Nielsen: Suite for string orchestra