Classical Instrumental Works for Orchestra

English Only.

Vaughan Williams wrote his Symphony No. 8 between 1953 and 1955, when he was in his eighties. It is his shortest symphony, and is considered by many to be his least serious. Aside from a few sombre mo...

This scholarly edition replaces the original 1958 edition, and includes detailed preliminary matter comprising a preface, sources and editorial method, and detailed textual notes. Orchestral material...

The one-act ballet Job has been described as one of Vaughan Williams's mightiest achievements. It is a work which, in a full production, combines painting, literature, music, and dance. The work was i...

Originally the title for Vaughan Williams's opera Sir John in Love, Fat Knight was conceived as a seven-movement orchestral suite that drew upon the opera and had, as its central character, Shakespear...

The Second Concerto adopts the key of D minor for the first and third movements, and B flat major for the second. The fairly full orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strin...

Though listed in all d'Indy catalogues and biographies, the Italian Symphony had long remained unpublished. D'Indy was just 18 when he wrote these lines. When he obtained his French literature "Baccal...

With Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck stood against more than a century and a half of Italian tradition and became the unavoidable figure of the history of opera. In collaboration with Calzabigi, he refused t...

Hérold's second, and last, symphony, the 2nd Symphony in D major, was composed in Naples in May 1814. In a letter to his mother, the composer writes: "Many greetings to Mr. Méhul. I have just written...

When Azémia ou Les Sauvages is created at the Comédie-Italienne in Paris on May 3rd, 1787, the opéra comique is a genre in full development, fostered by the uprising publishing industry, the travellin...

Faced with the evolution of the symphony prompted by Beethoven at the beginning of the 19th century, many composers turned away from this genre, considering his nine symphonies as an unsurpassable ide...

During the French Revolution, the Consulate and the Empire, Méhul may have been the only major French composer to fully understand and assimilate the latest perfections of the music in his times. Taug...

With Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck stood against more than a century and a half of Italian tradition and became the unavoidable figure of the history of opera. In collaboration with Calzabigi, he refused t...

In 1792, the political upheavals in Paris came along with an aesthetic revolution. Artists demonstrated a deliberate, at times opportunistic, attempt to turn their backs on the melodic refinements and...

Created on 9 March 1873 at the Concert national, the Symphonie romantique by Victorin Joncières enjoyed a real success. The 33-year-old composer was well-known for his dramatic works given at the Théâ...

This 4th Symphony was most probably created on 24 February 1857 at the Société des concerts du Conservatoire, as they announced as part of the programm a "new symphony" by Reber. The previous ones wer...

Far from being an isolated work in Max d'Ollone's production, L'Été (Summer) belongs with Hymne, Dans la tempête and Sous-Bois to a set of four chorus written in the particular context of the competit...

Far from being an isolated work in Max d'Ollone's production, Sous-Bois (Underwood) belongs with L'Été, Hymne and Dans la tempête to a set of four chorus written in the particular context of the compe...

The first thing that stands out in the overture is the instrumentation, which includes two harps and a celeste. We hear these instruments, in an andante in 3/8, for 22 of the first 24 bars. Their timb...

The Piano Concerto in B minor op. 3 (MoszWV 160) was composed during his time in Berlin at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst where Moszkowski became a teacher in 1872 while he was still a student. Togeth...

Confronting the night is probably the first time a child feels destabilised. The familiar outlines of the bedroom fade away into the darkness, the comforting face of the mother disappears behind the d...