music for string orchestra?

[Lontano]

can anyone suggest scores written for string orchestra only eg bartok's 'divertimento', takemitsu's 'requiem', lutoslawski's 'funeral music'?

[SimonI]

There's a whole load of them by English composers, such as Vaughan William's famous Tallis Fantasia; Elgar's Sospiri; I'm sure there's one by Finzi but can't remember the name.

There's also Dag Wiren's Serenade, Sibelius Rastakava, Grieg Holberg Suite, Nielsen's Little Suite.

Dvorak's Serenade for strings, Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht and Strauss's Metamorphosen ... phew, will that do ;)

[Lontano]

hmm the only composer there who i think i can tolerate - other than schonberg and i already have karajan's orchestral version of that one - is dvorak. i am fairly ignorant of romantic music though - are works for string orchestra common from that era?

anyway i'll try the dvorak and see if i can cope with vaugn williams so thanks for that :clap:

[SimonI]

No bother - I guess you like the more modern end of 20th century music then! String only works are probably more common in early 20th century / late romantic than in early romantic, the notable exceptions being Rossini's and Mendelssohn's string symphonies.