Unsung Orchestral Variations (with or without closing Fugue!)

[TerraEpon]

It's a modern work, but it's basically tonal the whole way...
Ernest Tomlinson's Variations on Auld Lang Syne. A lot of people will hate it. But consider Peter Schickele's 'Unbegun Symphony' two and a half times as long with Auld Lang Syne strung throughout...

[Alan Howe]

Let's keep to UC's brief, please. 'Basically tonal' is not enough...

[alberto]

There are the Arenskj's Variations on a theme of Tchaicovskj for strings orchestra.
Albeit for piano and orchestra Bax Symphonic Variations : I would say that in idiom they qualify (one year after "le Sacre").
Another concertante work (certainly romantic and unsung): Leon Boelmann Symphonic Variations for cello and orchestra (there is a Tortelier recording).
A "borderline" work: Nino Rota "Variazioni su un tema gioviale" for orchestra by Nino Rota (1953, but an idion more tonal than Poulenc's). There is a very recent first recording on Italian Decca (which I own; I heard the work in a concert once, decades ago, when Rota's music was in practice banned......on account of his alleged conservativism),

[alberto]

I have forgotten Respighi's orchestral Variazioni Sinfoniche. Also (albeit with a soloist) Adagio con variazioni for cello and orchestra.

[jerfilm]

Well, since I didn't get lashed for suggesting the Dohnanyi (and yes, what a GREAT tongue in cheek piece it is,  in addition to having some very lovely melodies) how about the flip side of the old Lp which contained Siegfried Ochs Humorous Variations on "There is a bird a approaching" ??  Talk about a forgotten composer.......

Jerry

[Gareth Vaughan]

We all seem to have overlooked Josef Holbrooke. Three sets of wonderfully orchestrated and very witty (the first two at least) variations on: Three Blind Mice; The Girl I Left Behind Me and Auld Lang Syne.

[semloh]

Try his Symphony No.2. ...........

I rate Berger among the best of the UCs, and his 2nd symphony is marvellous. The Adagio exemplifies all that I like about the romantic idiom - beautiful themes, precise orchestration, passionate yet carefully controlled, and constructed in a way that creates a sense of natural progression. 

As to "Orchestral Variations", it seems to be a mostly 20th Century form, but there are still plenty that fit the brief of UC, even if we leave out concertante forms such as Arensky's spectacular Variations on a Theme of Ryabinin, and Henselt's various enetertaining 'concert variations'.

Among the best, how about:

Bantock's Helena Variations; [/li][/list]
Parry's Symphonic Variations
Amy Beach's Variations on a Balkan Theme, Op.60 (orch.) , which is quite stunning, and for me the best work I've heard by her;
Kienzel's Symphonic Variations on the Strassburglied
Noskowski's Sym. Vars on Chopin's Op.28/7 Prelude[/li][/list]

[Gareth Vaughan]

I don't know the Kienzel or the Noskowski variations, and would be very interested to hear them. Have they been recorded?

[Mark Thomas]

Kienzl's Symphonic Variations on the Strassburglied is available for download from this site here. I have a recording from Polish Radio of the Chopin variations (actually titled "From the Life of a Nation") which I will upload shortly.

[Mark Thomas]

I've now uploaded the radio recording of Noskowski's Symphonic Variations "Z zycia narodu (From the Life of a Nation)" on Chopin's Prelude in A op.28 no.7 here. I had quite forgotten about this attractive work, which is symphonic both in its scale (it's almost 33 minutes long) and in its structure: after a substantial introduction, and a statement of Chopin's theme, the variations are grouped into clear sections which share roughly the same tempo, as if in a through-composed symphony. To my ear, though, the character of the work is more reminiscent of the large scale ballets of Tchaikovsky than of one of Noskowski's own symphonies. An interesting piece.

[JimL]

As to "Orchestral Variations", it seems to be a mostly 20th Century form, but there are still plenty that fit the brief of UC...

What?   How about the Variations on an Original Theme by Dvorak?  That's just for starters...

[markniew]

unsung are also Variations for Symphony Orchestra by Artur Malawski - uploaded to UC some time ago

[Gareth Vaughan]

I've now uploaded the radio recording of Noskowski's Symphonic Variations "Z zycia narodu (From the Life of a Nation)" on Chopin's Prelude in A op.28 no.7

Thank you very much, Mark.

[bulleid_pacific]

Excellent - already some intriguing suggestions - and a few I have but had forgotten about.  Thank you all (but don't stop if there are more  )  Meanwhile - Berger 2 sounds like it's worth chasing down...

[Gauk]

I would recommend Walter Braunfels's Phantastische Erscheinungen eines Themas von Hector Berlioz ... not the only work he wrote in this form, but the only one I have heard.