Effective orchestrations

[Mark Thomas]

I've just "discovered" Leo Weiner's impressive orchestration of Liszt's Piano Sonata (recorded by Laszlo Kovacs on Hungarton) and have known for years George Szell's equally effective job on Smetana's "From My Life" String Quartet. Each manages not only to be faithful to the idiom and era in which the original work was composed and to work on their own account, without reference to the original, but also to afford genuine insights into the piece which inspired them. They've set me wondering how many other orchestrations are there out there, by people other than the original composer, which work in all three ways? There are the many arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures of course (I have four, some more successful than others, but Wikipedia lists 34!), Schoenberg's orchestrations of Brahms' Piano Quartet No.1 and Berio's of Brahms' Clarinet Quintet (although I don't find that very convincing on any count). I enjoy Andy Stein's orchestration of Schubert's "Death & The Maiden" Quartet which is available on Naxos but, although it sounds convincing enough, it's a bit one-dimensional and literal. There are the many Bach orchestrations spearheaded by Raff's pioneering one of the Chaconne in D minor but, for me, whilst the best of the works in this genre are enjoyable in their own right, they all still suffer from the anachronistic layering of the romantic era's orchestral richness over the much sparer baroque underlying material.

Any suggestions?

[alberto]

For me the most astounding (as effective in the three ways Mark indicates) is Respighi's orchestration of five Etudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninov (four from. op.39, one from op.33).
Certainly greatly effective in any meaning suggested are for me Ravel's orchestration of Sarabande and Danse by Debussy (who titled the latter "Tarantelle Styrienne") and of "Menuet Pompeux" by Chabrier.
Even if I read once a contrary opinion by a professional  critic, I ,IMHO, deem higly effective Edmund Rubbra's orchestration of Brahms Handel Variations.
In a short list I would put also that "impossible task": Marius Constant's orchestration of "Gaspard de la Nuit" by Ravel.
There is an esoteric CD (label Melodybank 053803) by Laurent Petitgirard and the Orchestre Symphonique Francaise (I think an "ad hoc" band). By the way I heard the work in an actual concert (cond. by L.Petitgirard).
(Brahms-Berio: I think Berio orchestrated just the clarinet sonata op.120 n.1 for clarinet and orchestra).

[alberto]

For me a short list should include also Arbòs orchestration of five pieces (among 12) of Albeniz's Iberia.
Slightly less effective but worth mentioning the Surinach orchestration of  the remaining seven pieces.
Effective for me in any meaning the orchestration by Rafael Fruebeck de Burgos of Albeniz earlier Suite Espanola (de Burgos at first orchestrated seven, substituting the eightth with another Albeniz piece; later orchestrated also the eightth piece of Suite Espasnola). 

[Alan Howe]

Actually, I find the arrangement of Liszt's Piano Sonata pretty unconvincing - I feel that this is one work which just does not translate easily from a pianistic to an orchestral idiom. Whereas on the other hand, Szell's arrangement of Smetana's String Quartet has validity because the original is already bursting at the seams...

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for your suggestions, Alberto. I didn't know the Rubbra/Brahms, but that sounds to be a contender, and the Respighi/Rachmaninov looks to be worth investigating, too. Yes, of course, the Berio orchestration is of the Clarinet Sonata - my mistake.

Alan, I'm sorry that you don't rate the Weiner/Liszt.  Admittedly, I have only just come across it and don't know it as well as the Szell/Smetana but it seems to me to do a very good job of translating that odd Lisztian mix of turbulence, monumentality, sentimentality and, I suppose, kitsch very well.

[febnyc]

A couple of orchestrations of Rachmaninoff which I think are attractive and interesting:

Suites 1&2 for Two Pianos (arranged by Hoiby, Harkness) on Citadel label

Chandos 9261:  Orchestrations of the Trio Elégiaque  and the Corelli Variations

(And then there is the concerto-izing of Mussorgsky's Pictures and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No.2 - very well done)

[jerfilm]

One that in my humble opinion doesn't make it is Taneyev's arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet for orchestra and soloists.  It builds to that astonishingly lovely climax and you expect some kind of extasy from the lovers and - nothing.   But then, perhaps it takes a large ego to think you could improve on Tchaikovsky........

Jerry

[eschiss1]

the Bach/Webern ricercare seems to me a very effective orchestration that is not late-19th-century/early-20th-century (e.g. the Bach/Elgar in that last).

[chill319]

It's been some years... but an excellent orchestration of MacDowell's first piano sonata exists in the Eastman Library at the University of Rochester. The sort of thing an Adriano might consider recording after Western economies recover.

[dax]

Henry Brant's orchestration of Ives's Concord Sonata is certainly intriguing. Two orchestrations I'd like to hear are Constant Lambert's of Liszt's Dante Sonata and Casella's version of islamey. Any views, anyone?
An orchestration which I thought missed the point entirely was Boulez's of Ravel's Frontispice.

[TerraEpon]

I love the Dante Sonata orchestration (the 2CD set it's on, 'Tribute to Sir Fred', is discussed in another thread.

Honestly, I'm a big fan of orchestrations in general, though. Many Bach pieces, for instance, I actually find boring in their originals but love the giant orchestral versions of.
And I try to get every version of Pictures I can, for instance.  There's way too many wonderful ones to give any real tribute, but I think what deserves special mention is two seperate sets of orchestrations of all 24 Debussy Preludes, one by Luc Brewaeys on Talent, and the other by Colin Matthews (along with his own 'Postlude'). In both cases they are not just standard transcribing into orchestra, but there's a lot played with as it were and almost every piece is turned into a really effective orchestral work in its own right (mathews even does something really different with La Fille Aux Cheuveux de Lin).

[alberto]

I own both in LP and CD the very exciting Casella orchestration of Islamey (Cd Sony; LP CBS Ormandy and Philadelphia).
Luckily I could attend to an actual concert where no less than Kondrashin conducted the Balakirev-Casella (there was also Saint-Saens Egyptian Concerto with Aldo Ciccolini).
Not that the original piano Islamey appears to me overexposed, as in decades I listened just one live performance (as an encore!) by  Yefim Bronfman. Nor is the Lyapunov orchestration precisely over-performed (or recorded).
I gather just now from the web that the Balakirev-Casella exists on record in another performance conducted by Goossens (older than the Ormandy which dates from 1961). I could say that Islamey itself is unsung (the original piano version maybe owing to the enormous difficulties; but also as, not belonging to a "form", lasting less than ten minutes, it appears "not particularly fit" to the usually "standardized" concert piano recitals).

[Lionel Harrsion]

I have to agree with Alberto's opinions about Respighi's orchestration the five Etudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninov and about Rubbra's orchestration of the Brahms Handel Variations.  I have an EMI LP of the former played by the New Philharmonia Orchestra under Yuri Krasnapolsky; and a CBS LP of Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Brahms/Rubbra which, despite the 'fi' not being all that 'hi', is still well worth listening to.  I don't know if either has ever been re-issued on CD. 

[febnyc]

There is on Chandos (9484) a lush orchestration of Borodin's Second String Quartet.  Very beautiful performance by I Musici de Montreal and Yuri Turovsky (he was the arranger?).