Classical Instrumental Works for Orchestra

Orchestra. 3.3.2.2 / 4.2.3.0 / timb / perc / hp / strings

Russian composer and chemist Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) wrote the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia in 1880, with it premiering at the Russian Opera Orchestra in St. Petersburg under Ni...

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) wrote his Symphony in C minor, Op. 68 between 1854 and 1876. The long period of composition resulted from Brahms' self-criticism, with the composer destroying much of his e...

Habanera, composed for piano in October 1885, explores a folk tune that Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) collected on his five-month trip to Spain. The habanera derives its name from Havana, Cuba, charac...

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) drew material for his NORWEGISCHE TÄNZE, Op. 35 (4 NORWEGIAN DANCES), originally scored for piano and four hands, from an 1853 collection of Norwegian folk tunes compiled by L...

Franz Joseph Haydn's (1732-1809) Symphony No. 101 in D major, Hob. 1:101, is the ninth of his twelve London symphonies. It is known as 'The Clock' due to the "ticking" rhythm that pervades the second...

The Prince of Denmark's March was composed around 1700 by Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674-1707) , an English Baroque composer and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, and it became one of the most enduring cere...

The Prince of Denmark's March was composed around 1700 by Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674-1707) , an English Baroque composer and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, and it became one of the most enduring cere...

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed his Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 (TrV 209) in 1902-1903, creating one of his most expansive and personal tone poems, a richly orchestrated portrait of a day in the...

Fatum, Op. 77 was composed in 1868 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) as an early symphonic poem inspired by the Romantic idea of inescapable fate, a theme that would recur throughout his later...

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) composed his popular two-act opera buffa L'elisir d'amore hastily over six weeks in 1832 for a premiere that took place on May 12 of that year at the Teatro della Canobbi...

Premiering on May 22, 1813, at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was a success, with subsequent performances in Vi...

Spring Song, Op. 16 (Vårsång) was written in 1894 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and was initially titled Improvisation for Orchestra. Sibelius revised the single-movement tone poem a year later and ret...

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) composed Overture on Jewish Themes (or Overture on Hebrew Themes), Op. 34, in 1919 for the uncommon combination of clarinet, string quartet, and piano, and this original v...

Originally composed for piano, this orchestration from Lecuona's celebrated Andalucia Suite by Morton Gould is a sure crowd-pleaser! Instrumentation: 2(1st dPicc).2.2.2: 4Sax(AATB): 2.3.2.1: Timp.Perc...

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) wrote the waltz La plus que lente for solo piano in 1910, a work that may or may not have been inspired by a small sculpture on his mantelpiece. The title is meant to wryly...

A five-movement suite originally written by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) for solo piano, MIROIRS ("Mirrors") was written between 1904 and 1905, with each movement dedicated to a fellow member of the Fren...

Written by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) in 1934, this set of variations for piano solo and orchestra on Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 24 for solo violin is much like a concerto, though it consists...

Spanish conductor and composer Gerónimo Giménez (1854-1923) was dedicated to writing zarzuelas, the populist Spanish genre of lyric-dramatic one-act operas popular at the end of the 19th century and b...

Andalucia Suite consists of six individual compositions. Included are the immortal Malaguena and the equally beautiful Andalucia, known as the The Breeze and I. Both Malaguena and Andalucia are comple...

Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) was a Jewish-Austian composer of ballet music, spending most of his career as the official Composer of Ballet Music to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia. Over th...

The BALLADE in A minor, Op. 33 is an early composition by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) . Written only a year after completing his education at the Royal College of Music, this one-movement work...

A five-movement suite originally written by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) for solo piano, MIROIRS ("Mirrors") was written between 1904 and 1905, with each movement dedicated to a fellow member of the Fren...

Like most of Leroy Anderson's efforts, "Belle of the Ball" is light, effervescent, and devoid of conflict or disharmony. Anderson looked upon the piece as a modern-day American revival -- or revitaliz...

Though Hubay was best known as a violinist, he also distinguished himself as a composer. His FANTAISIE BRILLANTE was written in 1877. Demanding considerable technique, it contains the opera's greatest...