[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 (21–30)
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.
Symphonic Poem FinlandiaJean Sibelius
Composed to encourage the Finnish people during a period of Russian oppression, this piece is filled with courage and power, and it is a grand work.
Calling for hope and freedom while possessing great beauty, it is likely the most famous of Sibelius’s compositions.
[Orchestra] Introducing Famous and Popular Pieces (31–40)
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.
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.
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.
‘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.