Le Cygne (The Swan)

Le Cygne

(The Swan)

Beautiful cello solo with lyrical melody. 

The second last movement of the Carnival of Animals Suite (1886) by Saint-Saens. 

Popular as a stand-alone piece.

Transcribed into many different versions with different instrumentation.

Wiki link here. 

Spring Festival Overture

(This post is part of a series in conjunction with Chinese New Year 2017)

Spring Festival Overture

Energetic overture of the Spring Festival Suite for Orchestra.
Composed by Li Huanzhi.

Popular during Chinese New Year.

Catchy pentatonic melodies played at an exciting pace.
Interesting harmonization and chord substitution.
Wiki entry here.