Great orchestrators

[giles.enders]

I would nominate Richard Strauss as the greatest orchestrator of his own music in the past 150 years. (please no discussions about the merits of Strauss).  Who would members suggest is the greatest of the unsungs, and I don't mean for just one piece ?

[Alan Howe]

Raff is consistently fine in this regard. His ability to suggest colour is a rare gift - try the first movement of Im Walde for a wonderful sequence of mood-paintings.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, inevitably Raff first came to my mind amongst unsung candidates. What about Kalinnikov? I know that he was a product of the Borodin/Rimsky tradition, but he seems to have had  a particular gift for jewel-like orchestration.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Granville Bantock. No question. Quite brilliant.

[minacciosa]

Regarding orchestration Strauss absolutely had equals, and to my mind betters. Right off the bat: Respighi, Zemlinsky and Ravel (these two possibly the greatest of all), (possibly the greatest of all), Korngold, Florent Schmitt, Bax, John Alden Carpenter, Schreker, and of course Joseph Marx. orchestration is different from composition in that it can be taught and learned in a way that composition cannot. The genius lies in the way a composer finds a way to properly suit his material, and with that in mind the relatively colorless Brahms is a great orchestrator for the manner always matches his material. One day we should have a group meeting and play examples of our orchestration champ candidates. With ale of course. The persiflage around this topic will be lively.

[EdwardHan]

I think Bax's instrumentation is impressive enough, though his style is a little bit monotonous.

[semloh]

Greatest orchestrators - Respighi and Rimsky-Korsakov; Unsung - give me another ten years or so! 

[jerfilm]

I didn't realize you were composing, oh great new moderator......heehee.....gotcha.....

Jerry

[pcc]

Among American Romantics, George Whitefield Chadwick without a doubt for me. A full but _spacious_ sound, rich colour with an easily identifiable textural clarity.  The first time I ever heard any William Grant Still orchestral music, many years ago, I thought "that sounds like Chadwick" before finding out Still had studied with Chadwick.  Oh, and Victor Herbert, especially in HERO AND LEANDER.

[mbhaub]

I don't recall what bio I was reading a few months ago, but someone had made the comment that some composer orchestrates really well, "but who doesn't nowadays?". There were so many composers who knew how to make an orchestra sing. Of the well-known composers, the list is seemingly endless. But the unsungs sure have some fine ones: Raff, Vladigerov, Peterson-Berger, Weingartner, Karlowicz, Novak, Pfitzner, and many others. For my ear, I love the sound of Elgar, Bax, Vaughan Williams, and Holst. What is about British composers? They sure mastered the orchestra!

[pcc]

Orchestration can be taught, but you have to have the ear for it. Many composers could (and can)get around the orchestra adequately, but to know which instruments distinctively shade a line or a chord - and how to space registers - I think is one step beyond learning to being a gift.

[minacciosa]

And that is the genius of Ravel, Zemlinsky, Bax and the others on my list.

[sdtom]

While he certainly not unsung Rimsky-Korsakov gets my vote. Scheherazade is in a class by itself.
Tom

[X. Trapnel]

I would rank Elgar at the top among English composers for matching orchestral brilliance with the emotional/dramatic substance of the music (I'm working here on the assumption that brilliance is not always called for [Vaughan Williams] and much orchestral flash and filigree hasn't much beneath it [...]).

[semloh]

I didn't realize you were composing, oh great new moderator......heehee.....gotcha.....

Jerry

Just testing, of course, Jerry!  I wondered who'd be the first to spot it!

It's relatively easy to have an opinion about composers with whom one has become familiar over a lifetime, and the moment I had posted my ambiguous message, I felt I should also have named Stanford and Elgar. The Unsungs really are a different matter.

I wonder where Havergal Brian stands in the 'great orchestrator' stakes. Any views, anyone?