Berlioz, Puccini and Bartók knew better than others (IMO) how to play with and blend new orchestral colours. If you are intrested in the most thick-woven, richest and fullest sound, go for Brahms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yagan Kiely
You will do well to forget Beethoven. His harmonics and melodic inventions seems to cast shadow on his study of orchestration. He can't Orchestrate to save his life: his violin concerto is a piano concerto; he has no idea how to write a woodwind chord (the voicing is, again, is magically as if he composed it on the piano and forgot how other instruments sound different!). He is a great composer (around 75% of the time), but a terrible orchestrator.
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His pieces aren't written for today's instruments. He wrote for classical oboes, wooden flutes, pre-Heckel bassoons, brass with much narrower bore, non-metallic strings etc.
In his wind music (chamber), he knows how they work. The same goes for Mozart (period instrument 'Gran Partita' recording from Harmonia Mundi heavily recommended, it gives a hint to the sound intended for the symphonies).