Johann Strauss MP3 Recordings

Percussion Arrangements Free to Download

Original Strauss MP3s - 5 Dances and a March :

Johan Strauss Jnr was discouraged from taking up a career in music by his father but he persisted. He was a contemporary of Brahms with whom he was great friends. There is some controversy over the arrangements of his music played by orchestras today because he only left piano transcriptions.

We have reverse engineered the orchestral arrangements in this selection simplifying them by reducing the number of different instruments while making the translation to New World percussion and wind instruments with synthesizers to crisp, sparkling effect to bring out the dynamic qualities of this music. For example the harp and pan carina transport the Blue danube out of central Europe into the Andes and the Champagne Polka could be danced in Acapulco. The marimba replaces the pizzicato violins in the Pizzicato Polka, while the steel drums make up the orchestra, taking us back to the Caribbean for the Radetzky March:

Other composers

Why not compare these remixes with some by Chopin, Offenbach, Paganini and Schumann - the impact of this approach on music of particular composers can be quite distinctive.