Thread: Favorite Percussion Solo/Soli

The discussion in the percussion thread has been pretty quiet lately, so why not liven it up a little. As the title states, what are some of the best percussion solos you have heard in a classical piece? These can be solo's by one performer or a soli consisting of more than one instrument.

For me, the soli directly before the final canon in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, the quiet timpani solo a few minutes into the first mv't of Mahler's 5th (a nice recapitulation of the trumpet solo at the beginning), and the percussion soli at the end of the 4th mv't of Shostakovich's 15th symphony.










NOTE: I do realize that this is another installment in the heated TC "Favorite/Best" series, so I would like to emphasize this is about favorites and not best's.

šostakovič 1st, timps...

Originally Posted by tutto

šostakovič 1st, timps...

Oho, š and č! May I ask where you are from?

I love the timps in Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, in Nielsen's 4th, of course, and in Shostakovich's 2nd Violin Concerto, the 3rd movement. Not to forget the scherzo of Walton's Symphony No.1, too.
Also at the and of Shozzy's 2nd Cello Concerto, there's a game of various percussion instruments.

Of course famous "timpani duel" in the 4th movement of Nielsen's fourth. And timpani in the 3rd movement of Sibelius's 1st symphony.

Originally Posted by confuoco

And timpani in the 3rd movement of Sibelius's 1st symphony.

Oh, that always makes me shiver! I love it when the timpani take over a melody. I don't know, it's somehow exciting.

Has anyone heard Taras Bulba by Janáček? There's a solo timpani part in the final part of the triptych ('Prophecy and death of Taras Bulba'): several loud hits, like a hammer, in a rallentando and then total silence before a distant call of horns.

Now that you mentioned Sibelius, another timpani part (not really a solo) comes to mind. I've always found the timpani roll leading into the main theme in the second half of finale of his 2nd symphony to be amazing. Only a couple recordings I've heard actually pull it off, though.

Interesting how some recordings mute the timpani totally, and some sound as though they were recorded separately, like in a solistic concerto. For example, I've got 2 versions of Walton's Symphony No.1, one is Ashkenazy and the Royal PhO (1991), and the other Litton with the Bournemouth SO (1995). The Litton recording has faboulous timpani, and the Ashkenazy one is dreadful in that part - I mean, after you've heard Litton's timpani.

Stravinsky rite of spring: Bass drum, tam tam, guiro trio

Shostakovich 15: percussion end the symphony, celesta and glock. finish off the symphony by completing an A Major chord

Barber third essay: begins with percussion ensemble of timpani, bass drum, tam tam, metal sheet, piano, and gongs

Shostakovich 1: awesome timpani solo in the middle of the 4th movement

Bernstein West side story: a mad percussion ensemble of bongos, cowbells, drum set, congas, castanets, tom toms, wood block, temple blocks, and much more ahaha

Tan Dun Paper concerto for paper percussion and orchestra: large paper screens, paper cymbals, thick paper sheets, cardboard thundersheets, thin waxed-paper bags, paper strips, tracing paper, paper spinphones, paper head drums, paper cardboard tube drum, paper thunder tube, paper umbrella, paper box drums, and Chinese folding paper fan

MAHLER 6: DONT FORGET THE HAMMER

At the risk of sounding obvious, my favorite percussion solo parts are Beethoven's 9th, Scherzo where the timpani take over the melody for three short notes. People must have fainted at the premier.

Also Wagner's long stretch for solo anvils in - whatever it is, that big opera about a ring and dwarves and giants and stuff, you know. (Dang! Can't remember stuff and necroposting too.)