Band & Orchestra
Recommended Literature
Basics
Recommended Literature
Basics
These works are the standards. NO library is complete without at least one version of the following compositions, and many discerning listeners have different versions of the same piece (i.e., different ensembles or conductors for the sake of interpretation). If you do not have these recordings, you must cease what you are doing and: a) run to the mall and get one of these recordings, or b) go to www.amazon.com or something similar and buy it online.
1812 Overture (Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland)
Billy the Kid Suite (Aaron Copland)
Carnival of the Animals (Camille Saint-Saens)
Carmina Burana (Carl Orff)
Danse Macabre (Camille Saint-Saens)
Firebird, The (Igor Stravinsky)
First Suite in Eb (Gustav Holst)
Lincolnshire Posy (Percy Grainger)
Night on Bald Mountain (Modeste Mussourgsky) *also found
as "St John's Night on the Bare Mountain"
Nutcracker Suite (Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
Peer Gynt Suite (Edvard Grieg)
Peter and the Wolf (Sergei Prokofiev)
Pictures at an Exhibition (Modeste Mussourgsky)
Planets, The (Gustav Holst)
Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin)
Rodeo (Aaron Copland)
Second Suite in F (Gustav Holst)
Sorcerer's Apprentice, The (Paul Dukas)
Symphony No. 9 "Ode to Joy" (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" (Antonin Dvorak)
Variations on a Korean Folk Song (John Barnes Chance)
Advanced
These works are a little more challenging to listen to and dissect. They include advanced compositional techniques and are certainly among the best literature the world has to offer, but may not be as readily accessible to first-time listeners of quality literature.
Adagio for Strings (Samuel Barber)
Bolero (Maurice Ravel)
Carmen (Georges Bizet)
Concerto for Orchestra (Bela Bartok)
El Salon Mexico (Aaron Copland)
Hammersmith (Gustav Holst)
La Mer (Claude Debussy)
Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste (Bela Bartok)
Pacific 231 (Arthur Honegger)
Petrouchka (Igor Stravinsky)
Pines of Rome (Ottorino Respighi)
Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky) *also found as "Le Sacre
du Printemps"
Romeo and Juliet (Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky)
Romeo and Juliet (Sergei Prokofiev)
Scheherazade (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
String Quartet No. 8 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Suite Francaise (Darius Milhaud)
Symphonie Fantastique (Hector Berlioz)
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein)
Symphony in Bb (Paul Hindemith)
Symphony No. 3 "Organ" (Camille Saint-Saens)
Symphony No. 5 (Gustav Mahler)
Symphony No. 5 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Mr. Pilato's Personal Recommendations:
A Child's Garden of Dreams (David Maslanka)
Academic Festival Overture (Johannes Brahms)
Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland)
Belshazzar's Feast (Sir William Walton)
Cello Concerto No. 1 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Concerto for Orchestra (Bela Bartok)
Cuban Overture (George Gershwin)
English Dances Sets 1 & 2 (Sir Malcolm Arnold)
Enigma Variations (Sir Edward Elgar)
Javelin (Michael Torke)
Les Preludes (Franz Liszt)
Metropolis Symphony (Michael Daugherty)
Moldau, The (Bedrich Smetana)
Overture to the School for Scandal (Samuel Barber)
Passacaglia, Homage on BACH (Ron Nelson)
Piano Concerto in A Minor (Edvard Grieg)
Russian Easter Overture (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Southern Harmony (Donald Grantham)
Spartacus (Aram Khatchaturian)
Suite Francaise (Darius Milhaud)
Symphonie Fantastique (Hector Berlioz)
Symphony No. 5 (Dmitri Shostakovich)
Terpsichore (Bob Margolis)
Vetrate di Chiesa (Ottorino Respighi ) *also found as
"Church Windows"
Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Benjamin Britten)