Bohemian Rhapsody- Orchestral cover

it's been a while since I posted here, here's my attempt at covering Bohemian Rhapsody 😁

Bohemian_Rhapsody orchestra.pdf

Hi Tunndy,

I notice your glissando lines have gone a bit haywire in Bars 54-55.

Also in Bars 23 and 41 Violin II, you should flip the direction of the note stalks to make it clear what's going on there.

Same in Bar 61 Violin I.

Bar 55: some rests need deleting in the harp and Violin I. 
Same in Bar 66 Bass Drum, and Bar 69 various instruments.

Plus a few more places where you have unnecessary rests.

Bar 74: voices need tidying.

Other than that good job!

Also liked your recent Liszt orchestration of "La Campanella".

Hello @Tunndy!

You have picked the perhaps most covered or orchestrated rock/pop song ever, the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, which I consider to be a huge challenge. Everyone who hears the piece knows it and has its own expectations in the sense of „does it sound like the original“.

I had the chance two years ago to attend a live performance of an orchestra and choir, and I was impressed how realistic that was performed - very close to Queen’s original sound.

But that's also the problem when everyone is sensitized to noticing every little “mistake” or deviation from the original: you're faced with the challenge of bringing your own personal touch or interpretation to it.

And that's exactly what you've done very well. The longer I listen to your orchestration, the more I notice some beautiful interpretations that really make it “your” piece. I particularly liked the ending, from bar 103 onwards!

However, I could imagine that this personal interpretation could go even further. Therefore, as an inspiration, I have linked a YouTube video of David Bennet who reinterprets Bohemian Rhapsody in different modes or scales, which I find very fascinating.

Thank you for sharing, I very enjoyed it!

Great work.
There are brilliant parts and some very original arrangements.
However, I think that at times it is too literal with respect to the original song, which isn't bad, it's just a matter of taste.
The introduction is very good, distributing the melody between the strings and the winds.
I think the first verse forgets this dialogue a little and relies heavily on the strings, which then move to another level but continue to carry the melody.
There are some tessituras that I think are unnecessarily out of place, if they are even possible to play effectively (double basses in 29 and 30).
There are also several instances where the strings split into several notes and it is unclear whether they are double-triple stops or divisi.
I also find it strange to see the piccolo and flute in unison, with the former in a very low register.
In conclusion, I see a huge amount of work that sounds good. But orchestrating is not easy, and the orchestra you have chosen is quite large.

Hi there, Tunndy!

Long time no see!

You have made a wonderful effort into this orchestration, and have an intricacy I am not in the mood of describing, because it is unbelievably intricate.

I like the harp solo-ish part very much, and also the section right after that! There are both very smart.

By the ending the polyrhythms are also very good.

Compared to the previous attempts of orchestration, you have improved a lot. I see you have taken some of the advice from people or, at least beings such as me or @PeterthePapercomPoser.

On 2/25/2026 at 1:35 AM, Alex Weidmann said:

Hi Tunndy,

I notice your glissando lines have gone a bit haywire in Bars 54-55.

Also in Bars 23 and 41 Violin II, you should flip the direction of the note stalks to make it clear what's going on there.

Same in Bar 61 Violin I.

Bar 55: some rests need deleting in the harp and Violin I. 
Same in Bar 66 Bass Drum, and Bar 69 various instruments.

Plus a few more places where you have unnecessary rests.

Bar 74: voices need tidying.

Other than that good job!

Also liked your recent Liszt orchestration of "La Campanella".

totally fair points, I might fix it in the future 
thank you so much! 
funny people here follow after my youtube 
I'm now kind of regretting I didn't bother making that piece playble though

On 2/26/2026 at 12:46 AM, Wieland Handke said:

Hello @Tunndy!

You have picked the perhaps most covered or orchestrated rock/pop song ever, the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, which I consider to be a huge challenge. Everyone who hears the piece knows it and has its own expectations in the sense of „does it sound like the original“.

I had the chance two years ago to attend a live performance of an orchestra and choir, and I was impressed how realistic that was performed - very close to Queen’s original sound.

But that's also the problem when everyone is sensitized to noticing every little “mistake” or deviation from the original: you're faced with the challenge of bringing your own personal touch or interpretation to it.

And that's exactly what you've done very well. The longer I listen to your orchestration, the more I notice some beautiful interpretations that really make it “your” piece. I particularly liked the ending, from bar 103 onwards!

However, I could imagine that this personal interpretation could go even further. Therefore, as an inspiration, I have linked a YouTube video of David Bennet who reinterprets Bohemian Rhapsody in different modes or scales, which I find very fascinating.

to be frank I actively avoided making this piece too diffrent from the original, as I share the proccess of creating my piece on youtube, and people really want to hear something the recognize instently. 
I appreciate the kind words a lot though, thank you so much.

On 2/27/2026 at 8:30 PM, Luis Hernández said:

Great work.
There are brilliant parts and some very original arrangements.
However, I think that at times it is too literal with respect to the original song, which isn't bad, it's just a matter of taste.
The introduction is very good, distributing the melody between the strings and the winds.
I think the first verse forgets this dialogue a little and relies heavily on the strings, which then move to another level but continue to carry the melody.
There are some tessituras that I think are unnecessarily out of place, if they are even possible to play effectively (double basses in 29 and 30).
There are also several instances where the strings split into several notes and it is unclear whether they are double-triple stops or divisi.
I also find it strange to see the piccolo and flute in unison, with the former in a very low register.
In conclusion, I see a huge amount of work that sounds good. But orchestrating is not easy, and the orchestra you have chosen is quite large.

oh great points
I didn't notice most of that 
and yeah I tend to lean quite a lot to the string section
thank you so much for the reply

On 2/27/2026 at 9:19 PM, TristanTheTristan said:

Hi there, Tunndy!

Long time no see!

You have made a wonderful effort into this orchestration, and have an intricacy I am not in the mood of describing, because it is unbelievably intricate.

I like the harp solo-ish part very much, and also the section right after that! There are both very smart.

By the ending the polyrhythms are also very good.

Compared to the previous attempts of orchestration, you have improved a lot. I see you have taken some of the advice from people or, at least beings such as me or @PeterthePapercomPoser.

Hello Tristan :3
thank you so much for the compliments. 
I would say though, I think I wasn't as bad in orchestration as you thought I was back than. I just really did not care about the quality of the pieces that I made in my youtube videos, so I would resort to copy pasting most of the time.
with that being said, this is definitely a piece I could not compose last time we've talked

have a great day