[Orchestra] Introducing famous and popular pieces
Among classical music, the orchestra is the most opulent and offers the widest range of expression.
When a variety of instruments, each infused with the performer’s own sensibility, come together to create a single piece of music, it produces a unique allure found nowhere else.
In this article, we’ve picked out famous and popular orchestral pieces.
Even within orchestral music, there are many genres—from symphonies and concertos to operas.
We’re introducing everything from pieces everyone has heard to works well-known among classical enthusiasts, so be sure to check them out.
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[Orchestra] Introducing Famous and Popular Pieces (31–40)
Sword DanceAram Khachaturian
This piece, often used as background music in games, was composed under the influence of East Asian folk music.
Though it lasts only about two minutes, its overwhelming sense of rhythm and tension leaves a powerful impression.
It was originally written as the final number of a ballet.
‘Polovtsian Dances’ from the opera Prince IgorAlexander Borodin
This piece is from Act II of the opera Prince Igor, written by the Russian composer Borodin and based on the Russian epic The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.
It depicts the lavish songs and dances at a banquet hosted by the enemy commander Khan Konchak to entertain Prince Igor and his son Vladimir, who have been captured by the nomadic Polovtsians.
The melodies for woodwinds and harp are particularly striking, aren’t they?
Suite “L’Arlésienne”Georges Bizet
This suite was composed by Bizet in 1872 to accompany Daudet’s short story of the same name.
It has also been used in commercials for ice cream and energy drinks.
The suite comprises 27 pieces in total, but it is customary for orchestras to select a few of them to perform.
Its streamlined, unadorned music conveys a gentle, heartwarming atmosphere and can be considered soothing.
Jazz Suite No. 2Dmitrievich Shostakovich
A suite for orchestra composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the foremost Russian composers of the 20th century.
It was written to promote the spread of jazz in Russia at the time and to improve band performance.
Consisting of eight movements such as marches and waltzes, the suite is marked by comical rhythms and a bright, flamboyant character.
It has more of a big-band flavor than a traditional orchestral one, distinguished by the powerful timbre of the brass.
Each of the eight movements has its own distinct personality, allowing listeners to enjoy a wide range of musical expressions.
Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique”Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky is well known for his bright pieces, but as the title suggests, this work carries a sad and weighty theme.
He himself released it to the world with confidence as a grand masterpiece, and it is said to address life itself.
Pay attention to how the fourth movement ends.
Prelude to Act I from the opera ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’Richard Wagner
The piece has been used as background music in commercials for Cygames’ GRANBLUE FANTASY, McDonald’s Happy Meal, and Seven-Eleven Japan’s Seven Gold “Kin no Beer,” among others.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a musical play.
While it has a strong comedic tone, Wagner’s genius is clearly expressed.
True to its comedic nature, it features bright, up-tempo melodies.
Amid the splendor, it contains criticism of certain things, prompting listeners to reflect in various ways.
Hungarian Dance No. 5Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dances consists of 21 pieces, with No.
5 being particularly famous.
It has been used as background music in various places, such as Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
In the Hungarian Dances, features of Gypsy music are incorporated, such as raising the fourth degree by a semitone in minor keys and changing tempos.
Brahms seems to have become interested in Gypsy music after going on a performance tour with the violinist Reményi.
Symphony No. 1Johannes Brahms
A symphony that Brahms completed in 1876.
So conscious was Brahms of Beethoven’s nine symphonies that he struggled to finish one of his own, taking 21 years from conception to completion.
Nevertheless, the work received such high acclaim that it has been called “Beethoven’s Tenth.” With a structure easily grasped by listeners—“from darkness to light”—it has now become the most frequently performed of Brahms’s symphonies.
Radetzky MarchJohann Strauss I
A representative work by Vienna-born composer Johann Strauss I, who laid the foundations of the Viennese waltz.
The title “Radetzky” refers to Josef Radetzky, an aristocratic military leader active in Austria in the first half of the 19th century; the piece was composed in his honor for suppressing the independence movements in northern Italy, then part of the Austrian Empire.
The piece is characterized by an atmosphere that blends brilliance with dignity.
It famously closes the encore segment of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert, where the audience joins in by clapping along to the music.
Symphonic Poem “Les Préludes”Franz Liszt
The third symphonic poem Franz Liszt, known as the “Magician of the Piano,” released after retiring as a pianist to devote himself to composing and conducting.
This symphonic poem bears a program that begins, “Our life is a prelude to death.” The piece is performed without breaks and consists of four sections that evoke “the beginning of life, love,” “the storm,” “the pastoral,” and “the battle.” Please enjoy this drama of life, painted with the rich colors of the orchestra.