Selected by members of our working group from submissions and suggestions from around the world. Pieces here are for any large, conducted, mainly instrumental ensemble - e.g. string orchestra, wind band, concert band, brass band - as well as full orchestra. Soloists and extra players may be included.
Works that include both choir and orchestra will be listed both here and on our choir repertoire page. Works for chamber orchestra (15 players or fewer, sometimes without a conductor) are more likely to be found on our chamber music repertoire page. Also see our staged works page for further works that use orchestral forces.
John Luther Adams - Become Ocean (large orchestra: 3.3(ca).3(bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/2hp[+2hp].cel.pf/str). Listen on YouTube, and view full score and buying/ordering links at WiseMusicClassical. Life on this earth first emerged from the sea. And as the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.
John Luther Adams - Become Desert (very large orchestra and choir: 4444/8440/4perc+2chm+Handbells[vib]+crotales/4hp/str(min.24.0.12.12.8) + SATB choir). Listen on YouTube, and view full score and buying/ordering links at WiseMusicClassical. I’ve pondered from a new perspective the melting of the polar ice and the rising of the seas. And now I’m considering more deeply Chateaubriand’s observation: “Forests precede civilizations, and deserts follow…”
Laura Bowler - Antarctica (orchestra with multimedia). Find out more about the work at Laura's website, and email her for more details and a score. In 2018, Laura embarked on a research voyage; sailing to Antarctica. Commissioned by Manchester Camerata and BBC Radio 3, Laura created an immersive multimedia music theatre work for orchestra incorporating video footage and sound recordings she collected during her time in Antartica. The work highlights the negative impact humankind has had on the Antarctic region and globally.
Tansy Davies - Forest (four horn soloists and large orchestra: 2.picc.3(III=ca).3(II=ebcl).2.cbsn – 4(soli).3.3.1 – perc(3) – harp - strings). Listen to excerpts and hear Davies talk about the piece on YouTube: view more details at Faber Music. "Forest" explores how we, as humans, can search for a dialogue with nature as we move further and further apart in our modern world, using the theme of the hunt and inspired by the hunting horn's roots in the forests of France.
Fiona T Frank - Tears of Gaia (string orchestra). Listen on YouTube (string quartet version), and contact the composer to request a score (£300). Written in response to uncharacteristic incessant rainfall, which provoked me to think about our beautiful world, Gaia; pouring out her tears to cleanse the poisoned earth and waters.
Stan Grill - Gaia's Lament (solo violin and chamber orchestra: picc-2fl-2ob-2cl-2bn-2hn-tp-2tbn-tba-tim-strings). Listen on YouTube: contact the composer to request a score (free). The United Nations was in session and what, if anything, would come out of the climate change discussions was the hot topic of the day. The young activist Greta Thunberg had sailed to the U.S. on a solar powered sailing vessel and having been invited to speak before the assembled members, gave all of the adults in the room the thrashing they well deserved. With all of this going on, somehow a scene from the 1960 film of H.G. Wells “The Time Machine” kept coming to mind – a brief scene where he travels to the far, far distant future to arrive to find a dying earth, a huge red sun suspended on the horizon, and a desolate landscape nearly devoid of life. It was with this somber vision that I set about writing music, filled with sorrow at what our species is doing to our only home, with little hope that we have the awareness, rationality or willingness to act as we must. A companion piece, Gaia's Song for piano & chamber orchestra (YouTube recording: composer site link) is also available.
Stan Grill - Season of Rain (orchestra: 2+picc.2+ca.2.2 - 4.2.2.1 - timp, hp, strings). Listen on YouTube: contact the composer to request a score (free). A symphony in four movements, composed during a mostly rainy season. The music is also a rather somber reflection on the state of the world, as it becomes devastatingly apparent that climate change is a certainty and, at the same time, the rise of populist politics around the world makes it equally certain that humanity will not respond to the alarms.
Greg Lawson - Symbiosis (string orchestra). Read more about the piece. Score and recording links coming soon. Recognising that music could cut through so much of the noise surrounding the climate change issue, Aviva Investors partnered with the SCO to commission and perform an emotional and accessible piece of music to try and stir emotions enough for world leaders, governments and individuals across the globe to feel inspired to take shared action and responsibility on climate change.
Lei Liang - A Thousand Mountains, A Million Streams (large orchestra: 2(I=picc,II=afl).2.2(II=bcl).2 - 2.2.2.1 - perc(3) - hp - pno - strings). Listen on YouTube Music (track 7 onwards): view score and purchase/hire at Schott Music. Meditates on the loss of landscapes of cultural and spiritual dimensions. The work implies an intention to preserve and resurrect parallel landscapes - both spiritual and physical – and sustain a place where we and our children can belong.
Stevens & Pound - The Silent Planet (harmonica/melodeon soloist, perc soloist, orchestra 2 (1+picc; 2+a.fl). 2 (2+Cor). 2 (2+b.cl). 2 (2+ cb) / 2.1 (+cornet).1.euph / H / 2P / 5.4.4.3.2). Find out more about the piece and how to contact the creators. Stevens & Pound reimagine Holst's iconic Planets Suite - composing an additional movement which Holst chose to silence as "astrologically insignificant" - Earth. The piece platforms young climate activists from the international youth organisation Force of Nature giving key-note speeches accompanied by orchestral improvised soundscapes based on Holst's planetary characters such as Bringer of War or Bringer of Peace. The additional movement Earth - co-written with Force of Nature - stresses the urgency of listening to our planet and amplifying unheard voices in the conversation around the climate.
Antonio Vivaldi, reimagined by Simmy Singh and Delia Stevens - Seasons for Change (solo vln, solo perc, string orchestra, harpsichord). Listen to recordings on Sinfonia Cymru's website: contact Simmy Singh to request a score. Visionary Welsh violinist and musical activist Simmy Singh explores the Seasons as they are today, and channels her climate grief, hope and imagination alongside compelling percussionist Delia Stevens. "This reimagining of Four Seasons explores the world we live in today and how it is different from the one Vivaldi lived in."
John Luther Adams - Become River (orchestra: 2(pic).2.2.2/2.2.2.0/timp.2perc/str). Listen on YouTube, and view full score and buying/ordering links at WiseMusicClassical. "I now imagine this river and its related ocean, as part of a larger series of pieces encompassing desert, mountain, tundra and perhaps other landscapes and waterscapes."
Ludwig van Beethoven - ‘Pastorale’ Symphony Number 6 (orchestra: 2+picc.2.2.2 / 2.2.2.0 / timps / strings). Out of copyright, available from various publishers.
Benjamin Britten - Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (orchestra: 2(=picc).2.2(II=Ebcl).2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(2):gong/t.bells/xyl/cyms/BD/SD/tamb-harp-strings). Hire or buy from Boosey & Hawkes.
Claude Debussy - La Mer (orchestra: 2+picc.2+ca.2.3+cb / 4.3+2cnt.3.1 / timp, perc, 2hp / strings). Out of copyright, available from various publishers.
Michael Gordon - WEATHER (amplified string orchestra and electronics). Listen to recordings and view more details at Michael's website. Inspired by the chaotic scheme of weather patterns, I wondered how these might transfer musically, as if the past several hundred years of musical ideas were swirling around.
Frank Horvat - Magnificent Roots (string orchestra). More info about the piece including a recording: order the score at Frank's website ($140CA for score and parts). Toronto's historic Red Oak has provided sanctuary, protection, clean air, and heightened spirituality to those who has passed its way for centuries, despite being threatened by that very species it helped and nurtured. I feel we should pay homage and celebrate this tree’s achievements just as much as any humans who have graced this city, not only because of what it has contributed in the past, but all that it will contribute to our collective future.
Felix Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture (orchestra: 2.2.2.2 / 2.2.0.0 / timp / strings). Out of copyright, available from various publishers.
Olivier Messiaen - Oiseaux Exotiques (piano and small orchestra: 2.1.4(1 Eb, 2 Bb, 1 bass). 1 - 2 1 0 0 - perc(7)). More details and buy/hire from Universal Edition.
Anthony Ritchie - Underwater Music (orchestra - 2(I=picc).2.2.2 - 0.2.0.0 - 1perc - strings). Hear a recording, view samples and buy/hire score at SOUNZ. Focuses on creatures that live in the sea. 'Seahorses' and captures the gently undulating movements of these small creatures, 'Sting rays' and the music suggests the slowly flapping motion of the rays, and 'Dolphins' presents an energetic theme, with movement full of strong, upward sweeping gestures. A piccolo solo in the middle section derives from the opening, and portrays a baby dolphin. The work ends with a blow from the dolphin's spout.
Kaija Saariaho - Aile du songe, flute concerto (flute + orchestra: timp.3perc/cel.hp/str (7.6.5.4.4) - also available for reduced orchestra, flute + timp.2perc/cel.hp/str(4.3.3.2.2)). Details and how to order (both versions) at Chester Music. The flute is compared to a lone, high flying bird whose shadow forms different images played by the strings over the unchanged landscape of the harp, celesta and percussion. "Oiseau dansant" refers to an Aboriginal tale in which a virtuosic dancing bird teaches a whole village how to dance.
Richard Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (large orchestra, 125 players, see full orchestration.). Out of copyright, available from various publishers.
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 7 ‘The Antarctic’ (soprano solo, SSA chorus, & full orchestra and organ: 3 fl (III doubling picc.), 3 ob (III doubling cor anglais), 3 cl (III doubling bass cl.), 3 bsn (III doubling contra), 4 hn, 3 tpt, 3 tbn, tba, timp, perc, celesta, hp, pno, org). Available to hire from OUP.
Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons (solo violin, string orchestra, and continuo harpsichord). Out of copyright, available from various publishers.
If you have a piece you'd like to add to this list, please fill in the submission form.
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