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Scheherazade, Mars (The Planets), Danse Macabre, What else?

My high school orchestra is doing some Mozart and Haydn symphonies and is really enjoying them

Pictures at an Exhibition
Carnival of the Animals
Dvorak 8th

+1

To play or to listen? Big difference!

Most high school orchestras are not very good. On the other hand, the kind of high school orchestras with competitive audition processes can be quite good. Been there, and done that, just a week ago with the regional honors orchestras in Virginia (there are three). Pull together the best high school musicians in 1/3 of a large state and you get a very capable bunch. Last year they played Firebird and a selection from John Williams' Star Wars Suite. This year they are playing Uranus and Neptune, from the Planets as one selection. Not sure what else they'll play.

The Star Wars Suite is a blast, especially for the brass sections. Most of the young people recognize the Holst in so much of the other incidental music that they have heard.

A list of usual suspects

Beethoven: 5th Symphony
Mendelssohn: 3rd Symphony
Tschaikowsky: 1812 Overture
Grieg: Peer Gynt
Ravel: Bolero
R. Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

Something less well known but catchy and exciting would be

Kabalevsky: Colas Breugnon

1812 Overture
William Tell Overture
Mahler 1st Symphony (my horn section in high school loved this)
Overture to Die Meistersinger
Fanfare for the Common Man
West Side Story (there is a suite version)
For those that have had World History or European History: Shostakovitch 5th Symphony and a discussion of the reality and myths surrounding the piece is helpful.
Tchaikovsky's Fifth symphony, last movement
The Planets - I agree - fun to play and listen to.
Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna
Rodeo (Copeland)
Rhapsody in Blue (with either the orchestral or band arrangement - needs a great pianist)

Any of these pieces could be played and listened to by a decent high school orchestra (well, you need to have a pretty fantastic one to play the Mahler).

I wouldn't recommend Bolero to play. Many of the parts are dull save a few measures. But another song with repeated melody and variations that is fun is the Russian Sailor Dance.

My least favorite piece to play was Delius "Walk Through Paradise Garden." That was too much of a snoozer for most of the high school kids.

"Song"? I thought we were talking about orchestral works!

Cheers!

It's a 'snoozer' for more than high school kids, believe me. But then again, Delius is not a composer I've much responded to. When Brigg Fair comes on the radio in the car, I switch the station for fear of dozing off at the wheel!

Touche, BruceD. I think of a melody with variations often as "songs." Especially when there is not much more to them than one idea. I would never call Mahler 1 a song, but I would call Russian Sailor's Dance one. Gliere is not around to ask his opinion on the matter.

More pieces I never played (so I can't comment on performance capability)that high school kids might like:

Grand Canyon Suite
Infernal Gallop, Orpheus in the Underworld
Pines of Rome

I think my high school symphony is working on the Overture to the Magic Flute...

They're either very good or insane. (or both)

Me too!

Oh, he's not ALL bad. I rather like the Florida Suite.

Complex question...

As someone else asked - are you talking about enjoying listening to - or enjoying playing?



Are you talking about what 'average' high school students might enjoy (i.e. 'easily accessible' music) - or are you talking about what high school aged musicians might enjoy (i.e. 'highly expressive emotional' stuff?)



When I was in high school I played in a number of orchestras (regional youth orchestras and adult amateur orchestras that recruited heavily from youth orchestras to bulk up numbers with high quality players) and enjoyed a lot of stuff. Pretty much anything late romantic and early 20thC was good. I did however, despise anything that was too 'Classical', I was not a fan of Beethoven at that age and really hated the endless stream of Mozart and Haydn I was forced to play. Of course, at that age despite loving playing in orchestras, my personal listening tastes were dominated by the hard rock guitar gods of the day!

The list below is not necessarily an exhaustive one - but its works that I remember really enjoying playing at the time when I was 15-18. If however, you're trying to determine repertoire for a high school orchestra of limited capability its probably not going to be much use - most of the works on this list require a decent orchestra to have a good go at.

Piano Concertos (possibly biased by my own interest in the instrument - and if you're looking for a HS orchestra you're gonna need some serious talent as a soloist!)
Rachmaninov 2 (loved by everyone in any orchestra I ever played in and still arguably my #1 'desert island disc')
Gershwin
Grieg
Tchaikovsky

Violin Concertos
Sibelius
Mendelssohn
Tchaikovsky

Other Concertos
Elgar - Cello
Mayazumi - Xylophone (<----- I realise this stands out as the only 'non-mainstream-standard' in the list!)

Symphonies
Berlioz - Fanastique
Dvorak - New World
Shostakovich - 5
Franck - Dminor
Tchaikovsky - 5 and 6
Mahler - 1 and 5

Choral
Orff - Carmina Burana
Verdi - Requiem
Berlioz - Requiem (complete with multiple brass bands, choirs, and cast of THOUSANDS)

Other works
Holst - Planets
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Britten - Symphonia Da Requiem
Copland - El Salon Mexico

Good list, DadAgain,

but I might suggest 4 instead of 5. The first three movements of 5 I would think rough going for a youngster, though not so much the last two movements.

Well, yes, I do like that one. Also his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet is a sumptuously evocative re-telling of the famous tale. But in general, I have always responded more favourably to Delius's other British contemporaries. (Sorry for OT.)