Your favourite percussion moments

[André]

Puccini: Turandot. The xylophone part is sinister, spooky (first Act, 'Popolo di Pekino').

Berlioz: Requiem, Dies irae and Lacrymosa sections. The 16 timpani of course, but also the 10 pairs of cymbals and 4 tam-tams.

Shostakovich: symphony n 14. The usual timpani, bass drum, cymbals and triangle are omitted and instead we get wood block, castanets, whip, soprano, alto and tenor tom-toms, xylophone, tubular bells, vibraphone, and celesta.

Shostakovich symphony no 15, the coda of the finale, for strings and percussion instruments.

[LKB]

( Continuing... )

Rejoice in the Lamb,  Britten

Symphony no. 11, Shostakovich

En Saga, Sibelius

Symphonie Fantastique, Berlioz

Symphony No. 2, Mahler

[eoghan]

Messiaen and Shostakovich rightly well represented already in this thread. I'd add: the opening of Messiaen's Saint-Francois (I'm not sure how xylophones it is playing all together, but I think it's seven or eight). Also the end of a piece I put in another thread earlier - the ending of Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto. There's a sort of gentle disco-house beat accompanying the cello in the last bars.