Your favourite percussion moments

[Maestro267]

Your favourite percussion moments in music, please. Excluding solo piano or piano concertos, but orchestral piano is allowed.

[Symphonic Addict]

For now, this selection:

The anarchic snare drum in Nielsen's Symphony No. 5.

The powerful climax in Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, first movement.

The transition between the movements 3 and 4 from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8; also, the epic ending of his Symphony No. 11 with the bells.

The climax with tam-tam and bass drum in Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 2, fourth movement.

The glorious ending of Casella's Symphony No. 2 that also includes a part for the organ.

Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes and Le jardin féerique from Ravel's Ma mère l'oye.

[brewski]

For now, this selection:

The anarchic snare drum in Nielsen's Symphony No. 5.

The powerful climax in Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, first movement.

The transition between the movements 3 and 4 from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8; also, the epic ending of his Symphony No. 11 with the bells.

The climax with tam-tam and bass drum in Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 2, fourth movement.

The glorious ending of Casella's Symphony No. 2 that also includes a part for the organ.

Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes and Le jardin féerique from Ravel's Ma mère l'oye.

Though I don't know the Casella, I could be really happy with this list — especially that Nielsen and the Shostakovich 11th.

-Bruce

[Symphonic Addict]

I almost forget a prime example: practically the whole 3rd movement from Bartók's Music for strings, percussion and celesta, especially when the celesta enters and the tension increases more and more. That's an unbelievably chilling moment.

[Symphonic Addict]

Though I don't know the Casella, I could be really happy with this list — especially that Nielsen and the Shostakovich 11th.

-Bruce

Shostakovich, particularly, could appear in several lists, I think.

[Luke]

Yes, Shostakovich could feature multiple times, as he has a way of placing the percussion just perfectly - in his music percussion is not only for colour and power but for its moral force, for want of a better word, as it is in those famous Nielsen examples. So the entry of the piano in the first movement of the 5th, or of the celesta in the same movement's coda, are powerful beyond their notes. Examples could be multiplied many times over.

[Luke]

Other favourites, off the top of my head

The timpani solo in Britten's Nocturne

The deafening, elemental tam tams etc in Messiaen's Et expecto... and in Webern's op 6

The chattering, muttering, mutinous, plaintive undertow throughout Varēse's Ameriques (for example)

The two drum-led eruptions, one wild and one determinedly regimented, at the end of HB's Gothic

The percussion writing throughout Tippett's Triple Concerto, which contributes so much to this wonderful score.

[Maestro267]

- The martial climax of the second movt. of Shostakovich 11. Snare drum, bass drum, tam-tam, timpani and xylophone

- Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'au-dela, 6th movt. The preceding 10 minutes, rapt music for strings alone, is crushed by three almighty bass drum strokes, and the tuned gongs lead the movement along with trombones and whip.

- The offstage cowbells that pop up in 3 movements of Mahler 6. And the high celesta trills (?) at one point in the finale (accompanied by muted brass)

[San Antone]

When I was in college studying music theory and composition, my instrument elective was percussion, mallet mainly. All composition majors also had to have an ensemble credit, which I fulfilled by being accepted into the Shreveport Symphony as a member of the percussion section. 

One year the Shostakovich 5th was on the program and it was a field day for us bangers, especially the last movement.

[Jo498]

- the percussion variation in Britten's "Young person's guide"
- I think there is a similar passage in the "Turandot" movement of Hindemith's Symphonic metamorphoses
- Bartok, Music for strings, percussion & celesta, 3rd movement, already mentioned above

[atardecer]

Some that come to mind:

- The Takemitsu works mentioned in the percussion concertos thread (From Me Flows What You Call Time and Cassiopeia)
- The percussion in Partch's Delusion of the Fury
- The end of Ives Symphony No. 1
- The percussion parts throughout Gubaidulina's Viola Concerto
- The first (Götterdämmerung) section of Mahler Symphony No. 3
- The opening of Bach's Christmas Oratorio
- The Kyrie from Mozart's Requiem

[AnotherSpin]

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem - Denn alles Fleisch,...
Verdi: Messa da Requiem - Dies irae
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo - Toccata
Bach: Weinachtsoratorium - Part I
Händel: Music For The Royal Fireworks - La Réjouissance
Haydn: Symphony No.104 - I
Wagner: Götterdämmerung, Act 3 - Siegfried's Funeral March
Strauss R.: Der Rosenkavalier - Act III - Ist ein Traum...
Holst: The Planets - Jupiter
Ravel: Boléro
Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians

[pjme]

I like Milhaud's and Jolivet's use of percussion: straightforward and quite brutal, often very subtle and mysterious.

Milhaud's symphonies nr 4 and 8
Concerto for 2 pianos and percussion ( the first movement has very quircky twinkling "llilliputian" music, the second movement builds up to a short percussion solo, the last movement storms ahead with a relentless snare drum)
From the Orestie/ Les Choéphores: the fragments for reciter, chorus and percussion
Joivet's first cello concerto, violin concerto, the "exotic" pianoconcerto, sympnony nr 3
Janacek's use timpani
Copland, Mennin, Bernstein (symph. nr 3) ...
Lutoslavski : concerto for orchesta

Brahms: symph. nr 1
....

[ritter]

Off the top of my head..

Boulez: Bel édifice et les pressentiments II (the closing section of Le Marteau sans maître).
R. Strauss: the start of the Burleske.
Stravinsky: Les Noces (all of it, but particularly The Wedding Feast section).
Falla: the introduction to El sombrero de tres picos and the start of El retablo de Maese Pedro.

[LKB]

From the perspective of a former percussionist:

Orff, Carmina Burana

Beethoven, Symphony no.5

( More to come, I'm going back nearly fifty years and need to look up some stuff. )

[Florestan]

The beginning of Radetzky-Marsch, the beginning of the Overture to La gazza ladra and the timpani strokes in the Scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth.

[DavidW]

The beginning of Radetzky-Marsch, the beginning of the Overture to La gazza ladra and the timpani strokes in the Scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth.

You mention Beethoven in a favorite post!

[Florestan]

You mention Beethoven in a favorite post!

Yes and why not? Beethoven wrote a lot of music that I love/like. What I hate/dislike is the cult of Beethoven, for which I don't fault him personally.   

[kyjo]

Lots of superb suggestions so far! I'll offer some more off the top of my head:

Arnold: Symphony No. 4, mainly the 1st movement, in which the bongos and marimba give the music a distinctly "Carribean" feel. Also, his 7th Symphony, which has the most harrowingly apocalyptic cowbell part of any piece of music!

Barber: Second Essay with its magnificently imposing timpani part, in which the instrument acts as an orator for the unfolding drama. Also his Third Essay and Medea's Dance of Vengeance have great percussion parts, especially for the xylophone.

Enescu: Symphony No. 3, scherzo (climax). Particularly the xylophone part in this climactic moment, which conjures up images to me of lightning streaking across a dark night sky.

Englund: Symphony No. 4, mvt. 2 "Tempus fugit". Some really ingenious and fantastical percussion writing here. It recalls the 15th Symphony of Shostakovich, in whose memory the symphony is dedicated.

Ginastera: Estancia, featuring those irresistible xylophone glissandi in the famous Malambo. Not to mention numerous other orchestral works with great percussion parts by Latin American composers such as Chavez, Revueltas, Villa-Lobos, etc.

Holst: The Planets, Uranus. For its mischievous yet threatening timpani part.

Erland von Koch: Impulsi Trilogy. This whole work is filled with exuberantly dynamic percussion writing.

Nielsen: Symphony No. 6, the deceptively semplice opening "dings" on the glockenspiel. The instrument also plays a role in the fearsome climax of the first movement. And, of course, the timpani duel in the 4th Symphony and the snare drum battle in the 5th already mentioned by Cesar. I'd nominate the latter, especially, as the most effective and thrilling percussion writing in the entire repertoire.

Lajtha: Symphony No. 8, mvt. 3 Really, I could've picked a number of symphonic movements by this composer. Like Bartók, he was a master of using the percussion section to evoke spooky, nocturnal atmospheres. Outside his 9 numbered symphonies, don't neglect his remarkable Symphony Les Soli for strings, harp, and percussion!

Lloyd: Symphony No. 7, the opening ticking xylophone ostinato which returns with full force at the great climax of the 1st movement. Also, there's lots of exuberantly colorful xylophone and marimba writing in the finales of his 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th symphonies.

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7, original ending with its valedictory chiming on the glockenspiel.

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, ending. I prefer the tam-tam to laissez vibrer.

Rossini: Overture to La gazza ladra , the opening snare drum salvos. Already mentioned by Andrei, but I wanted to throw something non-20th century in there!

William Schuman: Symphony No. 3, mvt. 2. A riotous display of percussive magnificence, especially the propulsive coda. His 6th Symphony and Violin Concerto are also notable for their prominent timpani parts.

Tubin: Symphony No. 6. Really, the whole symphony is a feast for the percussionists, including the orchestral piano.

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 8, finale. "All the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer."

Weinberg: Symphony No. 5, ending. A prominent celesta part, ethereal yet creepy, brings this symphony to its enigmatic conclusion. Rather similar to the coda of Shostakovich 4, but not too derivative.

[Luke]

The two drum-led eruptions, one wild and one determinedly regimented, at the end of HB's Gothic

I should add the wildly virtuosic xylophone solo in the third movement of the symphony,that seems
to suck the piece into a kind of sonic black hole, and also the mysterious ticking side drum that sends the whole symphony over to the weird, fantastical side, earlier on in the same movement.