Your favorite orchestration/string arrangement...

[Vinny_G]

Epica, Cry for the Moon. Orchestral and choir arrangements by Mark Jansen, Coen Janssen & Robert Hunecke-Rizzo.

 

[Zooberwerx]

"Long & Winding Road" and "Sounds of Silence". If what I've read is correct, both were afterthoughts and added after-the-fact.

Riis

 

[The Owl]

Amazing orchestration by Jimmy Haskell

 

[Michedelic]

Two more that came to mind...
This was Phil Spector’s epic crowning achievement, his masterpiece of the entire wall of sound era, but its relative failure broke him, and even though he carried on eventually, he never recovered...


An overlooked gem from their second album..

 

[Rickengeezer]

Seen a few PH songs suggested, but surprisingly not this one:

 

[Spupilup]

Todd Rundgren’s orchestration on XTC’s Skylarking is very different than anything else ever done by the group. Rolling Stone listed it as one of the top 100 albums of the 1980’s. Rundgren and Partridge nearly came to blows in the course of the collaboration but one would have to admit the results are nothing short of spectacular.

 

[b/o 402]

Does re-arranging for orchestra after the fact count? Because this piece is something of a masterpiece:

 

[Vinny_G]

Sam Brown - Stop! (string arrangements by Kevin Malpass & Sam Brown)

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

Sam Brown - Stop! (string arrangements by Kevin Malpass & Sam Brown)

Great song. Played it once with my band as an instrumental with a leading sax, accompanying a striptease-based sketch. The bass part was quite hard to memorize.

 

[Michedelic]

"Long & Winding Road" and "Sounds of Silence". If what I've read is correct, both were afterthoughts and added after-the-fact.

Riis

There were strings on “Sounds of Silence”? The only thing added was the rock rhythm section. The tune, in acoustic form, appeared on Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m., their first album which stiffed. Simon had taken off for England, but producer Tom Wilson, who had also been helping Dylan’s transition to electric, believed in the song, and inspired by the Byrds’ success, added the overdubs to make it contemporary and radio friendly. Simon, a half world away, was unaware of all this, and was surprised when Garfunkle got ahold of him to tell him they had a hit.

 

[Biggbass]

 

[Zooberwerx]

There were strings on “Sounds of Silence”? The only thing added was the rock rhythm section. The tune, in acoustic form, appeared on Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m., their first album which stiffed. Simon had taken off for England, but producer Tom Wilson, who had also been helping Dylan’s transition to electric, believed in the song, and inspired by the Byrds’ success, added the overdubs to make it contemporary and radio friendly. Simon, a half world away, was unaware of all this, and was surprised when Garfunkle got ahold of him to tell him they had a hit.

I was leaning more toward "orchestration" or instrumentation added after the fact. That is an interesting back story...now I've got to watch "The Graduate".

Riis

 

[Vinny_G]

Barclay James Harvest | Fifties Child
Orchestration arranged by Pip Williams and performed by the New World Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Katz.



Barclay James Harvest | Ring of Changes
Recorded live at Galaxie, Amnéville, France on 6th April 2006.

 

[Lagado]

Not much to it but it does lend it a Clock Work Orange aspect, Alex's love of Beetoven.



From 4.00, the Theremin and the strings:

 

[Lagado]

^*Clockwork, it's all the excitement...

 

[Lagado]

 

[Lagado]

"The French horn in 'I Go to Sleep'…" Hynde recalled, "It's those little embellishments that capture my attention."

Indeed. It was a nice idea to put that on it.



The original:

 

[Lagado]

The Medici String Sextet arranged by David Lawson.

 

[Vinny_G]

Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles (2002)
Strings arrangement by Ron Fair, bass playing by Leland Sklar

 

[Michedelic]

Two from the era of “The Beatles are doing it, why can’t we?”...