The Most Underestimated Symphony

[Octo_Russ]

What is the most underestimated Symphony?.

You know, the one that should be famous and well known, but languishes in obscurity, and why?.

I have had a great tendency to concentrate on the core repertoire, so my discoveries of lesser known works aren't as great as they should be, so this question should create a nice shopping list of possible Symphonies to get into.

OK, so here's mine, Bax's Third!, not exactly obscure, and yet it's such an incredible work, there should be dozens of recordings of it, all the major Conductors should have seriously thought about recording it, and yet...

So what's yours?.

[drogulus]

     The 2 symphonies for organ and orchestra by Alexandre Guilmant are really excellent and should be better known.

[some guy]

Roberto Gerhard's Collages.

Not that nos. 1, 2, and 4 aren't also very nice. They are.

[DavidW]

I guess the question is "by whom?"

By the general public: Beethoven's 5th since it exists in their mind as a simple motif.
By radio listeners: Shostakovich's 8th for being too dark and broody for background consumption.
By gmg: ah c'mon do you guys underestimate anything?

[Gurn Blanston]

I guess the question is "by whom?"

By the general public: Beethoven's 5th since it exists in their mind as a simple motif.
By radio listeners: Shostakovich's 8th for being too dark and broody for background consumption.
By gmg: ah c'mon do you guys underestimate anything?

Not to the degree it deserves...


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Now playing:
Quatuor Terpsycordes - D 810 Quartet in d for Strings 2nd mvmt - Andante con moto

Speaking of which, this is some bitchin' Schubert, underestimated IMO...

[hornteacher]

I wouldn't call them obscure but three symphonies that are grossly overshadowed by other works are:

Dvorak's 5th
Beethoven's 4th
Schubert's 5th

[Lethevich]

One which has great credentials to be played more often than it currently is (which is basically not at all): Dopper's 7th.

It is constructed so successfully that if any of the four movements were part of another less-known symphony, they would be considered a highlight. Together they're great, and the work has everything - tight form, nice melodies, an atmospheric, folky scherzo, beautiful adagio with pseudo (early) Sibelian tones and a hilariously "I shall out-do all that has come before" finale which make the whole thing one of the biggest potential audience-pleasers. Bantock's Celtic and Hebridean symphonies have similar potential to really be enjoyed by people, but the works probably offer too many challenges for any concert breakthrough. The music itself is naive, but so is things like the Planets, and that is fine stuff too.

Tubin's 4th is "known", but really generally only as part of a recorded cycle with only niche interest. This symphony in particular though can stand alongside early Sibelius, RVW and so on, which get played so much more it is ridiculous. Brian's 7th. I am not joking Enescu's symphonies occupy a strange zone in which the composer is somewhat known and respected, but the music is unknown. I agree with mention of Gerhard - my ears are inexperienced to this idiom, but his style reminded me somewhat of some Varèse, who has no problem in being a popular figure. Hornteacher is also right to point out that early Dvořák is morbidly underrated. Symphonies 2-5 (I think the 6th has "broken through" in the past few decades) are super.

It took some effort not to just list favourites that I know few others would like - often for good reason Composers like Atterberg and Holmboe in particular pose problems. They write music on a very high level of achivement, but no piece really stands out to say "pick me!" like Tubin manages to achieve in his 4th.

[greg]

Well, I'd pick Atterberg's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 8th.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

If I had to pick only one, I'd go with the one-and-only symphony by Jan Vorisek, which is better than most of Schubert's, and about as good as the first two Beethovens.

[Grazioso]

Oh, boy, where to begin?  I collect symphony cycles and have been fortunate to "discover" some real winners off the beaten path.

One that immediately springs to mind is Pettersson's 7th, which, it's true, has its adherents among lovers of obscure 20th century orchestral works, but to the general classical music public is probably rarely heard (of). To me, this work is everything a contemporary symphony should be: grand in scale, serious in intent, emotionally gripping (some would say draining because of its intense gloom), challenging yet accessible, tuneful, and subtly constructed with great craftsmanship. Of the two widely available recordings, I prefer



Of others, I could easily see (hear?) Atterberg's 3, 4, or 6 entering the core repertoire and enjoying wide appeal on concert programs, thanks to their great tunefulness and carefully modulated drama. Plus they sound close to film music, which is the baseline for orchestral music for most folks these days.

Lots of great ones from the Classical and early Romantic era. Two worthy of mention are Vanhal g2, which can stand alongside the Sturm und Drang masterpieces of Haydn, and Kalliwoda's 5th, which is worthy of inclusion amongst the symphonies of LvB, Schubert, Schumann, and Mendelssohn.

I could go on... 

PS Back to the original post, I couldn't agree more about Bax--a great treasure of early 20th-century music, though admittedly not to everyone's taste.

[Superhorn]

    It's a shame that so few conductors ever programs the Sibelius 3rd symphony at concerts. I've always been very fond of this work. It's probably the sunniest and most optimistic of the Sibelius symphonies , and  is illustrative of the composer's description of his music as "pure fresh water" as constrasted with the "musical cocktails" his contemporaries were producing. 
  It's a bright,fresh and invigorating symphony which deserves to be heard more often.
  However,there a quite a few excellent recordings of it by such eminent Sibelians as
  Paavo Berglund, Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Vladimir Ashkenazy and others.

[Drasko]

Kurt Weill's 2nd.

[Sergeant Rock]

Franz Schmidt's symphonies, at least outside of Austria and Slovakia (his birthplace), go unheard. Anyone who likes Brahms, Dvorak, Bruckner, Schubert or Strauss should have no problem appreciating Schmidt. His First makes a glorious noise and I can not imagine an audience not enjoying themselves.

Sarge

[jhar26]

Hugo Alfvén's Nos.2 and 4.

[Brahmsian]

Bruckner's 5th.  Entirely deserving of the same praise as the 7th, 8th, 9th and 4th.

OK, not the most underestimated symphony, but it came to mind.

I agree with the others who saying early Dvorak.  Love his 4th symphony!

[Bogey]

William Boyce, Symphony No. 1.  Absolutely gorgeous.

[MDL]

One that immediately springs to mind is Pettersson's 7th, which, it's true, has its adherents among lovers of obscure 20th century orchestral works, but to the general classical music public is probably rarely heard (of). To me, this work is everything a contemporary symphony should be: grand in scale, serious in intent, emotionally gripping (some would say draining because of its intense gloom), challenging yet accessible, tuneful, and subtly constructed with great craftsmanship. Of the two widely available recordings, I prefer

I love that symphony; Segerstam's is the one recording I haven't heard. I prefer Dorati's to the CPO.

[Gabriel]

If I had to pick only one, I'd go with the one-and-only symphony by Jan Vorisek, which is better than most of Schubert's, and about as good as the first two Beethovens.

I thought of the same symphony when I saw the title of this thread. However, I'd say that the comparison with Beethoven's first two symphonies is difficult, because Vorísek's was composed twenty years later.

But it is undoubtedly one of the greatest symphonic creations of the 1820s. The Andante sounds to me as a peculiar mixture of Mozart and Dvorák, and the Scherzo has a vital and a bit perverse energy that is quite unique.

[Christo]

Ten beautiful, not widely known (perhaps even underestimated, who can tell?) symphonies that I happen to love - and you might not know yet :

Matthijs Vermeulen - Symphony No. 2 `Prélude à la nouvelle journée' (1919)
Léon Orthel – Symphony No. 2 `Piccola Sinfonia' (1940)
Eugene Goossens – Symphony No. 1 (1940)
Ludvig Irgens Jensen – Sinfonia in Re (1943)
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs – Symphony No. 3 `Westmorland' *) (1944)
Kaljo Raid – Symphony No. 1 (1944)
Joly Braga Santos – Symphony No. 3 (1949)
Ulvi Cemâl Erkin – Symphony No. 2 (1951)
Lennox Berkeley – Symphony No. 2 (1958)
Arnold Cooke – Symphony No. 3 (1967)

                      *) BTW, the constituency voted 60 % Lib.Dem., last Thursday

[petrarch]

If I had to choose one, it would have to be Dieter Schnebel's massive Sinfonie X.