Must have symphonic cycles of late 19th/20th century...

[rw1883]

I'm working my way through the Simpson cycle on Hyperion so this question came to mind...(not including the cycles of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bruckner and others who passed away in the late 1800's). 

The obvious: Mahler, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Elgar, Nielsen, Rachmaninoff...

The not-so obvious: Pettersson, Henze, Hartmann, Schmidt, Penderecki, Sumera, Holmboe, Simpson, Tubin, Aho, Braga Santos, Peterson-Berger, Arnold, Bax, Rubbra, Magnard, Dutilleux, Milhaud, Honegger, Ives, Schuman, Lutoslawski, Rautavaara, Sallinen, Myaskovsky, Martinu...

Of course I have a few favorites in there, and there may be plenty of not-so must haves for some, but I'm very interested in other cycles I've overlooked that are worth hearing.  Any suggestions would be very helpful and thank you in advance.

Paul

[Bonehelm]

I'm working my way through the Simpson cycle on Hyperion so this question came to mind...(not including the cycles of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bruckner and others who passed away in the late 1800's). 

The obvious: Mahler, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Elgar, Nielsen, Rachmaninoff...

The not-so obvious: Pettersson, Henze, Hartmann, Schmidt, Penderecki, Sumera, Holmboe, Simpson, Tubin, Aho, Braga Santos, Peterson-Berger, Arnold, Bax, Rubbra, Magnard, Dutilleux, Milhaud, Honegger, Ives, Schuman, Lutoslawski, Rautavaara, Sallinen, Myaskovsky, Martinu...

Of course I have a few favorites in there, and there may be plenty of not-so must haves for some, but I'm very interested in other cycles I've overlooked that are worth hearing.  Any suggestions would be very helpful and thank you in advance.

Paul

?? funny

You pretty much listed everything worth listening IMO...and just a suggestion, if you do get Mahler, make sure you get either Karajan/Kubelik/Bertini/Abbado/Chailly. 

[12tone.]

That chandos box of Rubbra symphonies looked interesting.  Anyone know much about Rubbra?  How would you explain him?

[Harry]

That chandos box of Rubbra symphonies looked interesting.  Anyone know much about Rubbra?  How would you explain him?

I have them, and its impossible to explain Rubbra, at least for me, he is a bit otherworldly.
That's the best I can come up with really.

[techniquest]

A Mahler cycle is, of course, a must-have (unless you don't like Mahler of course - or prefer to buy individual recordings). I have three: Tennstedt, Chailly and the Slovenian box.
Probably the least obvious cycles I have are the Isang Yun set of symphonies on CPO, and the Humphrey Searle symphonies also on CPO. Not necessarily 'must-have's' but certainly great listening! I have had the Gerhard symphonies set with Perez and the Tenerife SO on order with HMV for months- maybe one day, huh?

[Grazioso]

Under "not so obvious but excellent" file Madetoja, a Finnish contemporary of Sibelius:

[BachQ]

The not-so obvious: Pettersson, Henze, Hartmann, Schmidt, Penderecki, Sumera, Holmboe, Simpson, Tubin, Aho, Braga Santos, Peterson-Berger, Arnold, Bax, Rubbra, Magnard, Dutilleux, Milhaud, Honegger, Ives, Schuman, Lutoslawski, Rautavaara, Sallinen, Myaskovsky, Martinu...

Paul,

That's a very good start!

[not edward]

I'd probably toss in Diamond and Schnittke (though I don't think a lot of the Diamond symphonies are available). A good list, though.

[canninator]

Well there are loads but I think you should consider Alwyn, Villa-Lobos, and Alfven. It might be worth you checking out Furtwangler's output, Scriabin, and of course Stravinsky and Britten wrote pieces that are loosely "symphonies".

[Hector]

I have them, and its impossible to explain Rubbra, at least for me, he is a bit otherworldly.
That's the best I can come up with really.

That's about right.

I'd avoid the Hickox box and get one of the recently reissued Lyritas. Try a later symphony, first.

I'd add Roussel, easily one of the greatest symphonists of the last century, Enescu, Atterberg and Alwyn.

Roussel's greatest symphony can be found on Naxos as can all of Alwyn's, Atterberg may be found on special offer, still, from CPO, and the Enescu specialist, Lawrence Foster, has recorded all three with 'Vox Maris' for EMI (two for the price of one?).

[Sergeant Rock]

I'd add Atterberg...

Yes, Atterberg. Hector beat me to the draw but I second his recommendation:



If you enjoy late Romantic symphonies, Bruckner particularly, you'll probably like Richard Wetz's three retro-symphonies. Composed between 1916 and 1922, their style looks back half a century.

Other symphonies worth hearing: Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony and Symphony in B flat; Stenhammar's two symphonies (the G minor is one of my favorite symphonies).

Sarge

[karlhenning]

Toch!

Don't make Cato come out here and bust posteriors!  0:)

[Kullervo]

I'm working my way through the Simpson cycle on Hyperion so this question came to mind...(not including the cycles of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bruckner and others who passed away in the late 1800's). 

The obvious: Mahler, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Elgar, Nielsen, Rachmaninoff...

The not-so obvious: Pettersson, Henze, Hartmann, Schmidt, Penderecki, Sumera, Holmboe, Simpson, Tubin, Aho, Braga Santos, Peterson-Berger, Arnold, Bax, Rubbra, Magnard, Dutilleux, Milhaud, Honegger, Ives, Schuman, Lutoslawski, Rautavaara, Sallinen, Myaskovsky, Martinu...

Of course I have a few favorites in there, and there may be plenty of not-so must haves for some, but I'm very interested in other cycles I've overlooked that are worth hearing.  Any suggestions would be very helpful and thank you in advance.

Paul

Hey, this looks like my list (save for the Sumera, Penderecki and Rautavaara).

[quintett op.57]

maybe Saint-Saëns, I don't know the earlier ones

[Sergeant Rock]

maybe Saint-Saëns, I don't know the earlier ones

Good call. It should have been obvious to all of us. Saint-Saens symphonies, even the early ones, are delightful.

Sarge

[S709]

Well, you have listed a ton already Let's see if I can add some.

There's a few not yet named: all the symphonies of Einar Englund are worth hearing; Matthijs Vermeulen is often praised on the forum, though I haven't heard him myself yet -- do a search for Vermeulen to find the relevant posts.

Now here are a few strong recommendations:

The symphonies of Israeli composer Josef Tal are turbulent and memorable works; available on CPO.

The Mieczyslaw Weinberg (Moishei Vainberg) symphonies contain some truly great music (like No. 4, No. 6 based on Jewish folk music somewhat, and especially the war-themed No. 18). Chandos is slowly releasing these (I think 3 volumes are out), but for now a lot are only to be found on out-of-print Olympia discs (or file-sharing programs).
There are 20 Weinberg symphonies I believe, and also 4 Chamber Symphonies.

Another cycle definitely worth investigating is by Janis Ivanovs (21 symphonies). A number of these are available on Naxos, but a bunch were only released on rare Campion Records discs (reviewed on MusicWeb)... I have a lot of them as CDRs trasnferred from ancient LPs. Ivanovs at his best can be really dramatic and powerful. Symphonies 5 and 20 on Naxos might be a good place to start.

You said 20th century, but if you don't mind 20th/21st century then: the symphonies of Gloria Coates are fascinating and unique and in the case of the 14th for example, very moving (the work is microtonal and made up of Coates' 'trademark glissandi' but injects in a strange, hauntingly otherworldly way almost-tonal themes into each of the 3 movements).

The symphonies of Per Nørgård are highly recommended too; nos. 3, 4 and 6 especially. His earlier 2 symphonies are Holmboe-like, so check out those too if you like Vagn.

Another few names I'll add without explanation: Pehr Hendrik Nordgren (often fairly dark), Karl Ignaz Weigl (no. 5 "Apocalyptic" is the only one I know), Ib Nørholm, Andrei Eshpai, Fartein Valen, Avet Terterian, Henri Sauguet.

And some personal favorites that may be unknown: Ragnar Søderlind and Antanas Rekasius. I really wish these were more easily available.. but they really are great symphonies. Rekasius especially should be more well-known - his work is so unconventional and yet very accessible and exciting - somewhat like a mix of Malcolm Arnold and Schnittke.

And finally... there are many American symphonies worth hearing, particularly those by Geroge Rochberg, Roger Sessions, Peter Mennin, Roy Harris, Ned Rorem, Paul Creston, Walter Piston and Howard Hanson. And probably more, but this came to mind now.

[not edward]

Oh, I forgot a couple of fine, if distinctly unconventional, symphonies:
Kancheli (tonal, alternating near-silent stasis and violent outbursts), Ustvolskaya (ritualistic, incantatory, tonal/atonal distinctions mostly irrelevant).

[Kullervo]

Hehe, of course Chris comes in for the obscure stuff. 
I noticed you left out Nørgård's 5th. I listened to it once and have been too afraid to listen again. 

[S709]

I forgot Kancheli and Ustvolskaya too... those are fascinating.

I should listen to Nørgård 5 again it has been a while.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is a radio broadcast of Rekasius Symphony no. 7 :

http://www.sendspace.com/file/dvow92

[S709]

Another cycle I forgot to mention is by Alexander Lazarevich Lokshin -- 11 symphonies, one using settings of Shakespeare, the others all interesting in their own way -- anyhow they can actually be heard here:  http://www.lokshin.org/en.htm. Dmitri Shostakovich thought very highly of Lokshin.

Saying that reminds me of another: Mikhail Nosyrev. His symphonies are rather Romantic yet were written under the Stalinist regime! Very much worth investigating too. (On Olympia only, I think).