Essential Symphonic Repertoire

Essential Symphonic Repertoire
Criteria: Pieces by (mostly) non-living composers, playable by standard, modern
instruments, appearing frequently in recordings and performances by American
orchestras and which constitute a musical statement of large scope in a concert setting. In
general, “overtures” and “concerti” are excluded.
First Tier:
Bartok
Beethoven
Berlioz
Brahms
Brahms
Bruckner
Copland
Debussy
Debussy
Dvorak
Franck
Gershwin
Handel
Haydn, F.J.
Concerto for Orchestra
Symphonies (9)
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonies (4)
Variations on a Theme of
Haydn
Symphonies (9) (Nos. 3-9)
Appalachian Spring
Prelude a l'apres-midi d'une
faune
La Mer
Symphonies (9) (Nos. 6-9)
Symphony in D minor
Rhapsody in Blue
Messiah
“London” Symphonies (Nos.
93-104)
Holst
Mahler
Mendelssohn
Mozart
Mozart
Mussorgsky
Orff
RimskyKorsakov
Schubert
Sibelius
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Wagner
The Planets
Symphonies (9)
Symphonies (5) (Nos. 3-5)
Requiem
Symphonies (Nos. 31, 35,3841)
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch.
Ravel)
Carmina Burana
Scheherazade
Symphonies (9) (Nos. 8 & 9)
Symphonies (7) (2, 5 & 7)
The Rite of Spring
Symphonies (6) (Nos. 4, 5, 6)
Prelude to "Tristan und Isolde"
Second Tier:
Bartok
Bartok
Beethoven
Bernstein
Bernstein
Bizet
Bizet
Bizet
Borodin
Brahms
Britten
Britten
Copland
Debussy
Debussy
Dukas
Elgar
Elgar
Gershwin
Music for Strings, Percussion
and Celeste
The Miraculous Mandarin
Missa Solemnis
Chichester Psalms
Symphonic Dances from
"West Side Story"
Carmen Suites
L'Arlesienne Suites
Symphony in C
Polovtsian Dances from
"Prince Igor"
Ein Deutsches Requiem
Variations and Fugue on a
Theme of Purcell (The Young
Person's Guide to the
Orchestra)
War Requiem
Symphonies (3) (No. 3)
Nocturnes
Images
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Pomp & Circumstance
Marches (4)
Variations on an Original
Theme (Enigma)
An American in Paris
Grieg
Grieg
Handel
Handel
Haydn, F.J.
Hindemith
Hindemith
Janacek
Kodaly
Ligeti
Lutoslawski
Mahler
Mahler
Mendelssohn
Mussorgsky
Nielsen
Poulenc
Prokofiev
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff
Ravel
Lyric Suite
Peer Gynt Suites
Music for the Royal Fireworks
Water Music
The Creation
Symphonic Metamorphoses
on Themes of Carl Maria von
Weber
Symphony "Mathis der Maler"
Sinfonietta
Hary Janos Suite
Atmospheres
Symphonies (4) (Nos. 3 &4)
Das Lied von der Erde
Kindertotenlieder
Incidental Music to “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream”
A Night on Bald Mountain
(orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Symphonies (6) (Nos. 3-5)
Gloria
Romeo & Juliet Suites
Symphonies (7) (Nos. 1 & 5)
Symphonic Dances
Symphonies (3) (No. 2)
Bolero
Essential Symphonic Repertiore 1—by Matthew C. Saunders—www.martiandances.com
Ravel
Ravel
Ravel
Respighi
Respighi
RimskyKorsakov
Rodrigo
Saint-Saens
Schoenberg
Schoenberg
Schumann, R.
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Daphnis et Chloe
La Valse
Ma Mere l'Oye
Fountains of Rome
Pines of Rome
Capriccio Espagnol
Concierto de Aranjuez
Symphony No. 3
Five Orchestral Pieces
Orchestral Variations
Symphonies (4)
Symphonies (15) (Nos. 1, 5,
7, 9, 10)
Tone Poems (Finlandia,
Tapiola, The Oceanides)
Smetana
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Stravinsky
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
Vaughan
Williams
Verdi
Wagner
Ma Vlast (esp. “The Moldau”)
Also sprach Zarathustra
Death and Transfiguration
Don Juan
Till Eulenspiegels lustige
Streiche
Petroushka
The Firebird
Capriccio Italien
Romeo & Juiliet
Symphonies (9) (Nos. 2, 3, 5,
6, 7)
Requiem
Highlights from "Der Ring des
Nibelungen"
Third Tier:
Barber
Beethoven
Berg
Berg
Berlioz
Berlioz
Bernstein
Britten
Britten
Bruckner
Chabrier
Dvorak
Elgar
Falla
Falla
Faure
Faure
Ginastera
Gorecki
Honnegger
Hovhaness
Ibert
Ives
Ives
Janacek
Janacek
Liszt
Liszt
Mendelssohn
Messiaen
Milhaud
Milhaud
Symphony No. 1
Choral Fantasia
Lyric Suite
Three Orchestral Pieces
Requiem
The Damnation of Faust
Symphonies (3)
Four Sea Interludes from
"Peter Grimes"
Sinfonia da Requiem
Te Deum
España
Stabat Mater
Symphonies (2)
El Amor Brujo
The Three-Cornered Hat
Pelleas et Mellisande
Requiem
Estancia Suite
Symphony No. 3
Pacific 231
Symphonies (67)(No. 2)
Escales
Symphonies (4) (No. 4)
Three Places in New England
Glagolitic Mass
Taras Bulba
Tone Poems (Les Preludes,
Mazeppa)
A Faust Symphony
Elijah
Turangalila-Symphonie
Le Boeuf sur le Toit
La Creation du Monde
Mozart
Penderecki
Prokofiev
Prokofiev
Ravel
Ravel
Respighi
Rossini
Schoenberg
Schoenberg
Schuman, W.
Scriabin
Scriabin
Sibelius
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Strauss, R.
Stravinsky
Stravinsky
Stravinsky
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
Varese
Villa-Lobos
Wagner
Webern
Webern
Webern
Serenade No. 10 ("Gran
Partita")
Threnody for the Victims of
Hiroshima
Lieutenant Kije Suite
Peter and the Wolf
Alborada del Gracioso
Pavane pour une Infante
Defunte
Church Windows
Stabat Mater
Pelleas und Mellisande
Verklarte Nacht
New England Tryptych
Poem of Ecstasy
Prometheus
The Swan of Tuonela
Don Quixote
Ein Alpensinfonie
Ein Heldenleben
Sinfonia Domestica
Oedipus Rex
Pulcinella
Symphony in Three
Movements
Symphony of Psalms
Francesca da Rimini
Serenade for Strings
Ameriques
Bachianas Brasileiras
Siegfried Idyll
Im Sommerwind
Passacaglia
Symphony, Op. 21
Essential Symphonic Repertiore 2—by Matthew C. Saunders—www.martiandances.com