Great orchestrators

[X. Trapnel]

Scherzo of the Gothic, astonishing sounds.

[giles.enders]

The sad thing is we slide back to the sungs, there are more mentions of these than the unsungs.

[Alan Howe]

OK, let's put our thinking caps on, then...

[mbhaub]

Julius Rontgen always sounds fresh and invigorating. Big bold sound when needed.
Balakirev was no slouch: Tamar and the first symphony are marvelously orchestrated.
Glazunov was brilliant - the scherzos of almost every symphony, but his orchestral wizardry is nowhere more apparent than in The Sea
Recent outings of Widor's music shows a musical mind at home as much with the orchestra as the organ.
Is Schoenberg unsung? I'm not sure, but his Pelleas und Melisande never fails to astonish me and the extraordinarily complex orchestral sound. The score is mind boggling.
Right up there with the Schoenberg is Franz Schmidt's 2nd symphony. Over the top orchestration that goes beyond Mahler and Bruckner.

[minacciosa]

Depends upon what one means by "flash". Though Elgar is excellent, I don't consider him among the true virtuosos of instrumentation. His is largely traditional in its use of sections, as opposed to the kind of fragmentation of those sections evidenced by the composers I put forth.

[Lionel Harrsion]

I think that The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan reveals Charles Tomlinson Griffes as an Unsung with credentials to be considered a great orchestrator -- an impressionist, to be sure but to my ear, more Debussy than Ravel.  Such a pity that he didn't live to fulfill his potential. 

[minacciosa]

I should ad Frank Bridge. His Enter Spring could be a textbook on how to orchestrate.

[Jonathan]

I may be wrong here but didn't someone famous suggested Moszkowski was the best orchestrator of his time?

[Lionel Harrsion]

I may be wrong here but didn't someone famous suggested Moszkowski was the best orchestrator of his time?

André Messager is supposed to have said something of the sort to Thomas Beecham when recommending that he study with Moszkowski and I'm sure I've read somewhere that Jules Massenet held a similar opinion. 

[X. Trapnel]

I certainly agree about Frank Bridge and often wonder what Vaughan Williams meant when he referred to Bridge's music as "the abyss of 'writing effectively.'" A name that has rarely come up here (unless I've missed something) is Joseph Jongen, my favorite unsung along with Marx. The Symphonie Concertante is a spectacular (and musically substantive) amalgam of impressionist color and robust romanticism, not far in spirit from the Schmitt of Psalm 47 and La Tragodie de Salome.

[reiger]

Taken in the context of Vaughan Williams' letter to Gustav Holst (whence came the quote), he seems to be chiding Bridge as being a bit too precise, too proficient, too perfect ( )... IMHO, however, I generally find the orchestral works of Bridge to be perfectly sublime... Ah, The Sea! 

[minacciosa]

Bridge went where Vaughan Williams could not, as FB's later works attest. He died prematurely, and I believe had he lived longer he would today be held in equal or greater esteem than RVW.

[X. Trapnel]

Minaccosia, I don't think it was a question with Vaughan Williams of "couldn't go" (the same argument used to denigrate post-Elektra Strauss) but rather, as with all great composers, of going where he had to go, regardless of fashion or "historical imperatives." Personally, I think RVW a greater figure than his present reputation would have it. I do agree, though, that Bridge's premature death was a terrible loss, but what we have is flat out, unequivocally, sung or unsung great: Phantasm, Oration, Enter Spring, and, oh yes, The Sea, The Sea.

[minacciosa]

Absolutely.

[Alan Howe]

Agreed. Very perceptive - thanks.