Classical Music, String Recommendations

Undesired Walrus

Penultimate Amazing
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I am not very well educated in this field, so I'd appreciate some recommendations.

I'm thinking more sombre, sad and haunting music rather than aggressive, fast and eccentric (Yet impressive) string work. Lots of arches and rises. And more of a group work rather than the solo work like in Bach's cello concerto's.

Appreciated.
 
I am not very well educated in this field, so I'd appreciate some recommendations.

I'm thinking more sombre, sad and haunting music rather than aggressive, fast and eccentric (Yet impressive) string work. Lots of arches and rises. And more of a group work rather than the solo work like in Bach's cello concerto's.

Appreciated.

Nigel Kennedy's Four Seasons does a good mix of moods, although you may also consider it to be solo work. (I'd also recommend his version of Air on the G String.)

The Oistrakhs' version of Bach's Double Violin Concerto is also brilliant, but hard to find.

Almost any classical work by Andres Segovia (if you like Guitar); the Boccherini Guitar Quartet have also done a marvelous version of guitar arrangements of some of the classics like the Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise.
 
If you're thinking "sombre, sad and haunting" and "Lots of arches and rises" you can't do much better than Barber's Adagio for Strings.

I'm also a big fan of Schubert's Unfinished, although I personally wouldn't call that sad. But it isn't aggressive.
 
If you're thinking "sombre, sad and haunting" and "Lots of arches and rises" you can't do much better than Barber's Adagio for Strings.

I know, I know. I can't find anything to top that masterpiece.

Or anything close. Adagio in G Minor (In Orwell's The Trial) maybe, but still not as alien in its brilliance.

Actually, if I were to rephrase the OP, it would be to ask, no, beg, for anything at all like Adagio for Strings and Adagio in G Minor. So much classical music just seems 'happy' to me, and these two appear to rebel against that.
 
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I love Rachmaninov, especially piano concerto no. 3, which has a lot of strings attached too.

edit: Oh, did i mention that i love youtube too? ;)

 
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Rumanian I suppose. (ETA) No, wait, Hungarian!

Hungary, sung in Hungarian and Hebrew, from Muszikas, arr. Lily Storm and Davka
“The cock’s crowing soon, the sun’s rising soon. In the green woods walks a bird, a loon…Wait you bird, you fancy loon! If God ordered me to be yours, I’ll be yours and soon! When will that soon be? When the temple is rebuilt and the City of Zion is filled again. Then will be that soon. There we shall sing a new song and we will rise up joyously.” I can hardly wait for that soon.”

Link to lyrics page. 2nd translation. :)
 
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Adagio by Albinoni (sorry, can't find anything more specific about where it's from)

Nocturne by Alexander Borodin

Those are all I can think of that are ENTIRELY strings, but if you're willing to accept some non-string instruments mixed in with them, then here are some string-heavy ones I'm familiar with that seem to fit:

Gymnopédie by Erik Satie

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni

Nimrod by Edward Elgar... at first I tried to connect this in my mind to the legendary hunter and warrior of the ancient Middle East, also known as Nemrud. It wasn't working because it's not action music; I thought maybe it was about the hero's death, or the end of the story when he gets to retire from his lifetime of action and live in peace enjoying the fruits of his labor. I finally had this explained by the conductor just before a live performance of it, which hadn't been expected and wasn't written in the program. Elgar had written it in memory of a friend of his who had just died; the only connection to the title was that that man's last name ("Jäger", I think) had meant "hunter" in German, and he had been not a hunter but a colleague in the music profession. So now, in this live performance I didn't even know was going to happen before the planned program, they were playing it for someone who had just died, an important figure in the local "classical" music scene and a friend of the conductor and some of the players. I thought I even saw a few of them crying while they played. (I don't know whether it has become traditional among orchestras to play it in tribute to lost colleagues in general, but the connection between the performers and how Elgar himself felt while writing it certainly fits.)

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninov... slow and gentle with wide sweeping dynamic range, but maybe not "sad" enough or too heavy on non-strings

Several parts of the soundtrack to Dances With Wolves by John Barry

The Boston Pops Orchestra's versions of The Dangling Conversation and Scarborough Fair, from their album of orchestra music based on the songs of Simon & Garfunkel

Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph Vaughan Williams if you haven't started hating all possible forms of Lady-Greensleeves/What-Child-Is-This due to repetition
 
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Delvo, you probably can't find anything more specific on Albinoni's Adagio (also known as the theme from Orson Welles's The Trial) because its authenticity is somewhat in doubt: though it purports to be based on a fragment by Albinoni, it's basically a modern piece. Still nice, but the work from which it was excerpted is lost.

For sad and haunting string works, there are some good possibilities in string quartets, or at least in portions of them. Not all of every quartet will have what you're looking for, but some of the best stuff there is can be found there if you look.

Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" might be a good start. Try Smetana's quartet subtitled "In My Life," also. This is a very intense and tragic work by someone who really knew how to wring out a melody. Janacek's first quartet, subtitled "The Kreutzer Sonata," is quite intense as well, and highly recommended. If you ever saw the movie of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, you will have heard some of it. For a little extra dose of lyrical strangeness, you might also hunt up a recording of Shostakovich's second piano trio (that's piano, cello and violin).

Barber's Adagio has been mentioned. I don't care much for the orchestral version, which strikes me as overwrought, but it was originally a movement from Barber's string quartet, and in that form I think it is much more effective; the small string ensemble gives it a bit more edge and emotional immediacy, and saves it from being so lush and mawkish. If you've never heard it in this form, you've missed something.
 
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major.


(First movement.)

Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major.



Brahm's Violin Concerto in D Major.


(First movement.)

I've always wanted for the Hollywood Bowl to put on a night of all three of those concertos. Until then . . .

Uh, those concertos do showcase a solo artist, but rest assured the whole orchestra does play in all three pieces.

If you don't mind a more solo-type piece, Schindler's List is very moving:



Or about how Boccherini's Fandango Concerto for guitar and strings?


(First movement.)

HG
 
Hmm. It just occurred to me that what I recommended may be a bit faster paced than what you had in mind.

Never mind.

HG
 
For sad, haunting, nostalgic and unbelievably beautiful string music, the Fantasia on a theme be Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams is a must. It's written for double string orchestra together with solo string quartet and it's full of arches and rises, with a long build-up to a great chordal climax towards the middle of the piece. If you've seen Master and Commander you'll have heard some of it already.

For a recording I recommend the old version conducted by Barbirolli. You can get it on this CD, which contains some other great music for strings: the slow movement from Elgar's Serenade for Strings or his Elegy also score high in the "sad, haunting" category.
 
Some interesting recommendations that I've not listened to before. I'll be looking up a few of them myself.

Here's my contribution. This one probably wouldn't normally be considered because Wagner's 'Ring' cycle is opera. I dislike opera, but I love the music, so give Wagner's "Ring Ohne Worte", the 'Ring Without Words' a try. Haunting and sad. The Ring cycle is, after all, tragedy. Lorin Maazel conducts the Berlin Philharmonic.
 
The 2nd mov. of Beethoven's 7th symphony is a must.

Some of the most beautiful string music was written by Dvorak, it may not be "haunting", but very passionate: For example the Slavonic dance No. 2 in E minor op. 72:
 
The 2nd mov. of Beethoven's 7th symphony is a must.

Some of the most beautiful string music was written by Dvorak, it may not be "haunting", but very passionate: For example the Slavonic dance No. 2 in E minor op. 72:

How could we have forgotten Dvorak? For this subject, Dvorak is a target made of bullseyes.
 
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