10 ESSENTIAL Orchestral Scores You Need To Study

10 orchestral scores every composer and orchestrator can learn from.

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0:05 No. 1
1:16 No. 2
2:36 No. 3
4:11 No. 4
5:16 No. 5
6:54 No. 6
8:10 No. 7
9:36 No. 8
11:15 No. 9
12:43 No. 10

[TheProsaicCult]

i am a 65 yr. self taught composer only ever having piano lessons when I was in my teens. Studying scores was key to my getting a better understanding of how to start being a composer. I was considered a prodigy as a child but severe mental health disorders took hold of me and it crippled me throughout my life. Lucky for me I lived within walking distance from the Eastman School of Music which was a positive influence on my life. I actually had a brief time when the composer, David Diamond, offered me great encouragement which I never forgot. (I met him in a local gay bar in Rochester, NY. I really had no idea who he was let alone what he was; one of America's greatest composers.) So today, up to now, I have composed almost 100 works and have had some of my music performed publicly. This is a great channel and I've learned a great deal from it.

[alexchristodoulou]

Solid list. I think another one to be there is Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, which is one of the most anticipated scores to make it in the public domain.

[Quotenwagnerianer]

I would also recommend to look at the 2 Piano Version of "The Planets".
Holst's work regime when composing was to first compose for 2 Pianos. Then have two pupils play the work for him and while listening to it he would orchestrate.
When looking at both versions of the piece, one can really see in the score how that worked.

[alinkbetweengames]

All ten are great choices! I would add Mahler's first two symphonies and all of Shostakovich's symphonies for the lessons they give on orchestration and how to contrast a wide variety of feelings while maintaining a consistent tone.

[marichristian]

I'm not a composer or orchestrator - just a humble musician. But I find that reading scores while listening to recordings is wonderful for keeping the brain in top shape.

[yjoon]

1. Mozart symphony no.40 g minor: starter, ww family-string family
2. Beethoven sympony no.3 Eb Major: bigger, solo ww
3. Berlioz Symphonie fantastique: story, leit motif
4. Brahms Symphony no.4 E minor: romantic feeling Beethoven
5. Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade: wide texture, timbre, variation
6. Tchaikovsky Nutrucker Suite: melody, clear orchestration
7. Debussy Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune: color
8. Ravel Ma Mere l'oye: piano to orch.
9. Stravinsky The rite of spring: grotesque, texture
10. Holst The planet : Massive

[greyscale]

Great List. I would add some other composers to it, especially if someone wants to do film music. So I would totally add Respighi (not just the Roman Trilogy 😉), Korngold (his orchestral Stuff, which gives you an inside into the classic hollywood sound), William Walton as well as Bruckner who has some real epic orchestration in his symphonies.

[Markrspooner]

I am quite partial to late 19th and 20 century composers that employed folk tunes and themes, like, Delius, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Janacek and Dvorak.

[loicdesjardins]

Sheherazade is one of my all-time favorite too.
It's also my reference to test my DAW template :)

One addition ? Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. Well, actually, all Ravel.

Congratulations for this great list !

[TubeDu]

Possibly the list could contain completely different titles - but how you illustrate certain essential individual aspects on the basis of the respective piece is instructive and valuable - thank you very much!

[Markrspooner]

Great list Ryan. To your point about composing being different to orchestration, I agree, to the extend that I'm not working on orchestration at the moment and just on piano based composition.

However I do feel with modern DAWs, the manipulation you can do, especially with found sounds, and electronic instruments, has blurred the line quite a bit to the point it is hard to know what is sound design and what is compostion. A lot of this work I feel is harder to reproduce or sound interesting on a piano.

[mendBOT]

Scheherazade is also my favorite piece from the list, I love the colors that Korsakov uses.

[TamberCave]

Great list. I grew up listening to and study Jean Sibelius' symphonies, which I think are also a great source of inspiration for colorful instrument group combinations and anything having to do with pedal tones. His symphonies have influenced a number of film composers, and there's something about how he bridges and expands on sections (and strips them down) with his use of orchestration that can really teach you a lot. Since he was mostly happy to develop small motifs into something larger, his scores can be good lessons on making small, incremental changes to an idea and its setting that are fresh and interesting. Like Holst, he definitely seemed to be looking towards the future in his music, but simply came at it from a more tonal (although very original) direction.

[Teladian]

I would add Richard Strauss' tone poems and music by Franz Schreker (the big one being Die Gezeichneten) as well as Mahlers Adaggietto from the 5th. Mahler's ability to capture essence of the Earth in his third, sixth drop (an example C to A to C an octave down in the harp part) is the essence of relaxation and serenity.

[nightshockplayz]

Excellent list!

I have already started studied some of these pieces too, so it is great to know how much they can help me! (The Beethoven, the Brahms, the Korsakov, the Tchaikovsky, the Debussy, and the Holst). I will continue branching out to make sure I can still get as much out of these pieces as inspiration for my writing!

I would also like to suggest Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie, which as a programmatic tone poem, uses incredible techniques from the orchestra to replicate physical encounters in an adventure, while also being a great example of leitmotif. It is like a movie on its own!

[Tyrell_Corp]

Debussy: “His written parts feel improvised.” Interesting observation. I remember reading years ago that on many occasions, Debussy did in fact improvise for his friends. Apparently for long length of time. We can only imagine. Great video! 👏

[lyricsronen]

Great list, you make great points about each of these pieces and the benefits that studying them provides. For those who come from Afternoon of a Fawn and feel like Mother Goose suite is a bit of a step down in complexity, try Daphnis et Chloe (suite no. 2 if you don't have the patience for the entire ballet). As Ravel's magnum opus, it really showcases what he was capable of artistically. Besides being an astonishingly beautiful piece, it has to be among the most creative orchestrations of all time. And if you love picking out leitmotifs and their iterations but don't connect so much with opera, the Strauss tone poems are some of the most invigorating compositions to explore.

[leonardomorosini]

Hi Ryan, I am a violinist and I wanted to start composing. I find your videos really useful, but could you make a video teaching us HOW to study a score? Thanks! Love your videos

[waverly]

I was looking at the score of Schubert's 2nd Symphony and I was surprised how straightforward it is -- basically two opposing forces (winds and strings) playing against each other. While melody is what we usually hear first, I'm convinced that what is a driver in much of his music is the harmony. In the final movement of the Wanderer Fantasy, he probably figured out the harmonic progression first and then wrote the melody to follow the harmonies. He studied with Salieri so I'd love to know what he learned from the underrated composer.

[frankwales]

Although not coming from a single composer, there's also Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' that can provide another interesting piano to orchestra comparison. And, if you don't mind going backwards, there are Liszt's piano reductions of Beethoven's symphonies, which are handy study tools as they boil the orchestra down to its essentials.