Here is an mp3 of my orchestration of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 4th String Quartet, 3rd movement. Here is a link to my score. It was originally scored for 2 violins, viola and cello, in my orchestration, the instrumentation is:

• 2 flutes
• 2 oboes
• 2 clarinets
• 2 bassoons
• 2 trumpets
• 2 trombones
• tuba
• timpani
• snare
• marimba

the recording is from a juilliard orchestra who sightread the piece twice, the recording is actually their second time through. I was happy with the results and definitely learned a lot, there are some things I thought worked very very well, like the solo clarinet part, and some things that I would have changed, such as backing up the flutes more with the oboes, especially in fast passages.because this is my blog and I’m allowed, I will add a personal note. I did this orchestration at a time when I was working 12-15 hour days at work, and much of it was done when I was very, very tired. I would have liked to have taken a day off to work on this and had uninterrupted time to write, but life isn’t like that. It’s my belief that we create despite our circumstances, rather than because of them. I will remember this the next time I think to myself I don’t have time for something important to me.