When symphony orchestras and the like perform rock music, how are the individual guitar, bass, and keyboard parts arranged? Is it always to the same instruments every time (e.g. electric guitar => violins; keyboards => horns)? Or would the arragement depend on the “feel” of any one particular song?
Let me bring up some examples of what I am not talking about:
a) Orchestral accompaniment to a rock-and-roll performance. Not performances like the “Moody Blues with Your Local Symphony Orchestra”; nor performances like Aerosmith’s “Dream On” video or Guns ‘n’ Roses’s “November Rain” video.
b) Traditional rock instrumentation accomanying an orchestra. I am not thinking of performances like those of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
c) Rock groups performing classical pieces. I’m not thinking of works like Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”.
…
What I’m asking about is this: how does a traditionally-outfitted symphony orchestra render rock music? I understand this would mean no piano and no guitars of any kind. Maybe a “pops” orchestra can include those instruments … but I thought not.
Are some rock songs virtually off-limits to orchestral interpretation because they just wouldn’t sound right? For example, take a song like Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher”. The drum intro would be no problem, but how would Eddie Van Halen’s subsequent guitar work be rendered? Or a song like Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good”, which depends on a “whiney” guitar sound?
Lastly, what memorable rock-to-orchestra “conversions” have you all heard in the past, if any? Here’s a few that I think would be intriguing (just not sure how they’d be arranged for orchestra):
The Eagles’ “Hotel California”
The Sweet’s “Love is Like Oxygen”
The Beatles’ “Something” (bet that’s been done)
Jethro Tull’s “Teacher” (with a flute part built right in)
Styx’s “Lady”