Johann Strauss II

The waltz composer, and the catalogue is enormous because almost everything he wrote has been arranged for almost everything else. Over five hundred dance pieces, plus the operettas.

The Blue Danube and Tales from the Vienna Woods exist as orchestral scores, piano solos, piano duets, simplified teaching versions and arrangements for every ensemble that has ever asked. They are not interchangeable and the listing does not always distinguish them: a two-page "Blue Danube" is a fragment of a ten-minute piece.

The piano solo versions of the great waltzes are harder than they sound, because the orchestral texture has to be held by two hands. The four-hand arrangements are more idiomatic and, for two amateurs, considerably more fun.