[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 (41–50)
Overture to the opera “William Tell”Gioachino Rossini
The title “William Tell” is the name of a medieval Swiss hero.
Though a legendary figure, he is popular among the Swiss.
A well-known episode tells how he fearlessly confronted an arrogant ruler without flinching.
In that story, Tell’s actions are said to have brought independence to an occupied Switzerland.
This piece vividly portrays Tell’s strength and bravery.
“Spring” from The Four SeasonsAntonio Vivaldi
Until fairly recently, it was used in middle school music classes and even as a train departure melody, and among the pieces in Vivaldi’s suite The Four Seasons, it is by far the most famous.
It expresses the joy of spring and the chirping of little birds, making it cheerful and memorable.
Not only cheerful, it also depicts scenes of spring storms and thunderstorms, making it a piece with many parts that prompt deeper reflection.
stained glass windows in a churchOttorino Respighi
An orchestral work in four movements composed by Respighi in 1925.
He orchestrated his own 1919 piano pieces, Three Preludes on Gregorian Themes, as the first through third movements, and then added a newly written fourth movement.
The Blue DanubeJohann Strauss II
Along with Tales from the Vienna Woods and the Emperor Waltz, it is counted among Johann Strauss II’s three great waltzes, and it is the most popular of them.
In Austria it is unofficially known as a second national anthem.
It is often used in competitive ballroom dancing and ballet competitions, and it has appeared in commercials for the postal service and pharmaceutical companies, so it is a piece that almost everyone has heard at least once.
Both in Austria and abroad, when it is performed at New Year’s concerts, there is a custom of playing only a short portion of the introduction, briefly stopping, and then proceeding with New Year’s greetings from the conductor and the orchestra members.
Ballet Suite ‘Swan Lake’Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
It has been widely used in commercials for cosmetics and food.
In figure skating, Ikuko Kawai chose it as background music.
It is very famous as ballet music.
In particular, Russia’s Swan Lake ballet performances are breathtaking.
They superbly express the elegance of the swans gathered on the lake and the beauty of their flight.
Yearning and beauty become one, carrying the listener into another world.
Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”Gustav Mahler
This piece was composed between 1888 and 1894.
During its composition, he was struck by various tragedies.
Even so, he continued to compose.
The title “Resurrection” refers to the final movement.
The large brass section and the chorus are beautiful.
I think the piece gains even greater depth when you listen while imagining his circumstances.
Matador’s SongGeorges Bizet
An aria from Georges Bizet’s signature work Carmen, composed during the 19th century in France.
In Japan, it has long been widely used in TV programs and commercials, so it’s a classic number that people of all generations have likely heard at least once.
Its operatic, scenic melodies and the distinctive dynamics of classical music have a compelling power that can overwhelm listeners while drawing them in.
With sweeping rises and falls rarely found in popular music, it crafts vivid musical imagery and lets you experience a sonic world that is difficult to express outside of classical music.
Symphonic Poem ‘Danse Macabre’Camille Saint-Saëns
A piece composed by Saint-Saëns based on his own song of the same name, which set to melody and piano accompaniment a poem by the French poet Henri Cazalis.
Danse macabre depicts people and the Grim Reaper dancing wildly atop graves, their bones clattering, in the face of the terror of death.
The piece follows the story’s timeline, with the music seeming to describe each scene as the narrative unfolds—so vivid that you can almost visualize it like a film.
Listen while imagining how the people and the Grim Reaper are dancing.
Violin ConcertoFelix Mendelssohn
Alongside the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, this piece—often called one of the “three great violin concertos”—was composed by Mendelssohn in 1844, when he was 35 years old.
It was written for the violinist Ferdinand David, who was born in the same apartment building as the Mendelssohn family and was a close family friend.
With David’s advice, Mendelssohn took a long time to complete the work, spending six years in total.
Horn Concerto No. 1Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A concerto with the horn as the main timbre.
It’s suitable as background music for scenes of working in films or commercials.
With a relatively steady tempo, it’s easy to listen to, and even beginners to classical music can enter that world.
The horn doesn’t just make classical music more approachable for listeners.
In terms of imagery, it expresses in sound the state of a person completely absorbed in what’s in front of them.