Top Ten Symphonies

[Dave2002]

Tonight:

Beethoven 3
Brahms 3
Bruckner 8
Mahler 2
Schumann 3
Mozart 39
Tchaikovsky 6
Haydn 104
Sibelius 7
Schubert 9

Tomorrow the numbers will all be different, but maybe the composers will be the same! Unless of course Nielsen sneaks in.

[antongould]

Were our census to end now then we have Mahler 2 and Bruckner 8 as joint leaders with Mahler pulling in more votes than Beethoven. But a smallish statistical sample.

[Suffolkcoastal]

This is very hard, the symphony being my special area of interest. I think I'd struggle trying to find what to leave out in my top 100 let alone top 10! Anyway here goes, I've decided to keep it to one symphony per composer to try and add variety.

Roy Harris No 7 (close run thing with No 6)
W Schumann No 3
Vaughan Williams No 5 (just ahead of Nos 3 & 9)
Elgar No 2
Sibelius No 4 (close run thing with No 3)
Copland No 3
Martinu No 1
Tubin No 4
Bax No 3 (tough choice between nos 2, 3 & 6)
Lilburn No 2

My sincere apologies to many of my other favourite symphonists (including: Hanson, Piston, Diamond, Mennin, R Simpson, Arnold, Parry, Stanford, Rubbra, Nielsen, Holmboe, Rautavaara, Koppel, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Miaskovsky, Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Kalliwoda, Beethoven, F J Haydn, Bruckner, Dvorak) for missing them out.

Can we do a top 100 instead

[Tapiola]

Hindemith Symphonie Mathis Der Mahler

I almost included Mathis in my list from last night. Inevitably, by this morning my list has changed.

I''d also forgotten about Nielsen 5, Harris 3, Brahms 4 ...

[Tapiola]

[COLOR="blue"]two special favourites of mine Mahler 6 and Shostakovich 15

When I saw your list, Caliban, at first glance it could have been my own, though it was very difficult deciding between Shostakovich 13, 14 and 15.

Yes, a top 100 please.

[makropulos]

I think this is rather an enjoyable chart, but an impossible one too! But here are ten of my favourite symphonies, in chronological order- bearing in mind that the list could be 10 times this length...:

Mozart 41
Beethoven 7
Schumann 2
Brahms 3
Mahler 2
Suk Asrael
Elgar 2
Vaughan Williams 5
Walton 1
Copland 3

Oh dear. Looking through those, I can't leave it at that. Another ten:

Mozart Haffner
Vorisek Symphony in D
Schubert 5
Beethoven 9
Brahms 2
Dvorak 7
Mahler 6
Sibelius 1
Hindemith Mathis
Prokofiev 5

and so on...

[vinteuil]

1 Johann Baptist Vanhal: Symphony in C major 'Sinfonia comista'
2 Leopold Kozeluch: Symphony in Bb major 'l'irresoluto'
3 Anton Eberl: Symphony in d minor op 34
4 Charles-Valentin Alkan: Symphony for solo piano, op 39
5 JS Bach: Sinfonia 15, BWV 801
6 JC Bach: Symphony for Double Orchestra in Eb major, op 18 no 1
7 WF Bach: Symphony in D major, Fk 64
8 Hector Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Symphonie dramatique, op17
9 César Franck, Symphony in d minor
10 François-Joseph Gossec: Symphonie à grand orchestre 'la Chasse'

[antongould]

Can we do a top 100 instead

To Suffolkcoastal and others - if we let this short version "run" I promise to start a Top 100 thread for the long winter evenings!
Thanks again for the varied and interesting responses thus far!

[Nick Armstrong]

When I saw your list, Caliban, at first glance it could have been my own, though it was very difficult deciding between Shostakovich 13, 14 and 15.

Well for me there is no contest between those DSCH symphonies. The first movement of 15 is the piece that got me into classical music at the age of 15 or so, and I still think it's dazzling, along with the final movement and that magical conclusion

[Ferretfancy]

Here's this moment's ten, tomorrow's could be different, there are so many.

Haydn 102
Mozart 39
Schubert 9
Brahms 3
Dvorak 7
Rachmaninov 3
Sibelius 6
Vaughan Williams 3
Stravinsky Symphony in 3 mvts.
Shostakovich 8

[aeolium]

Mozart 38
Haydn 88
Haydn 102
Beethoven 3
Schubert 9
Schumann 2
Bruckner 7
Dvorak 7
Mahler 3
Nielsen 4

[mathias broucek]

Using one-per-composer:

Beethoven 5
Berwald Singuliere
Brahms 4
Bruckner 8
Dvorak 8
Mahler 2
Mozart 41
Schubert 9
Shostakovich 5
RVW 5

[umslopogaas]

What a sacriligous task! I've just had to cross out Mozart so I can squeeze in Shostakovich, it really shouldnt be allowed. But, here goes. As others seem to have defied the rules and admitted their list is not in strict order of preference, same goes for me. This is just the order in which they popped into my head:

Messiaen Turangalila symphony
Schubert 9
Sibelius 5 (or any other)
Mahler 2 (and others)
Bruckner 8
Haydn any from the nineties or hundreds
Stravinsky symphony in three movements
Hindemith Harmonie die Welt
Ives 4
Shostakovich 10 (and others)

Sigh, no room for Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky. I'm not sorry to freeze out the last two, but the first three caused some pangs of disquiet.

Several on the list are works that I got to know at the start of my listening career, back in the late nineteen sixties, often from deleted mono LPs (cheap for a poor student) or purchases I couldnt afford, but couldnt resist either: Karajan's DG Sibelius 5, Ozawa's Turangalila on RCA, Ormandy's Shostakovich 10 on CBS ... we ought really to have a separate thread for this. Mahler 2 from Solti on Decca! Ah ...

[Ferretfancy]

There seems to be a question here. should we list symphonies that are indisputably great as the criterion, or should we try to choose the ones that in some way or other break new ground?
As an example, Sibelius 6 has a quality that I find in no other, perhaps not in structure, but in feeling. On the other hand, the later Dvorak symphonies, great as they are, are relatively conventional. It might narrow the choice if we chose works which shifted the symphonic viewpoint by a change of form or content.

[Nick Armstrong]

There seems to be a question here. should we list symphonies that are indisputably great as the criterion, or should we try to choose the ones that in some way or other break new ground?
As an example, Sibelius 6 has a quality that I find in no other, perhaps not in structure, but in feeling. On the other hand, the later Dvorak symphonies, great as they are, are relatively conventional. It might narrow the choice if we chose works which shifted the symphonic viewpoint by a change of form or content.

I don't think it's that complicated is it? It's just about listing one's favourite symphonies!

The criteria to judge that will vary from person to person.