Your top 3 symphonists

[Popov]

http://www.youtube.com/v/yBuPFkFbu-4 http://www.youtube.com/v/OzT_75Rb52o
http://www.youtube.com/v/UZ6_SOag3pE http://www.youtube.com/v/Mb6y00ind3g

Incidentally Popov loved Shostakovich's 9th.

Discard Martinu if you want, but I couldn't leave him out! If this was a top 5 I would choose Nielsen too.

[Guido]

Feldman
Bach
Finzi

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Feldman
Bach
Finzi

Unusual. 


Mine:
Beethoven
Mahler
Brian

[Brian]

Unusual. 


Mine:
Beethoven
Mahler
Brian

Wow, thanks.  0:)
Okay, I'm sorry, but this kind of joke must have occured to me at least 150 times on GMG and I've been such a good boy about not using it. So this is me cashing in my didn't-crack-a-bad-joke points to finally crack one. I promise no more Brian jokes until after the Gothic performance. Or at the interval, if I dislike it.

[Guido]

Unusual. 


Mine:
Beethoven
Mahler
Brian

I was being flippant. Nothing profound in the frippery!

[Mirror Image]

I guess looking back on my previous answer I might have answered pretty hastily. Three is an odd number and a number I'm uncomfortable with especially concerning my top symphonists, let's make bring the number up to 6 --- a nice even number:

In no particular order:

Bruckner
Vaughan Williams
Sibelius
Nielsen
Mahler
Shostakovich

Honorable mentions: Tchaikovsky, Miaskovsky, Borodin, Martinu, Dvorak, Piston, Ives, Milhaud, Langgaard, Rautavaara, Copland, Barber, Chavez, Rubbra, Alwyn, Arnold, Roussel, Honegger, Brahms, Schmidt, and Parry.

[Brian]

My current answer (for personal faves):
- Beethoven
- Sibelius
- Half the Shostakovich cycle (5-11) plus half the Dvorak cycle (2, 6-8)

Is that last answer cheating?

[Brahmsian]

My current answer (for personal faves):
- Beethoven
- Sibelius
- Half the Shostakovich cycle (5-11) plus half the Dvorak cycle (2, 6-8)

Is that last answer cheating?

Yes, but cheating is perfectly allowed and accepted on GMG, and in fact, it is encouraged!! 

[Guido]

My favourites are actually probably Sibelius, Hartmann and Ives.

[Mirror Image]

My favourites are actually probably Sibelius, Hartmann and Ives.

Ives is SO underrated as symphonist. I love Ives so much. I may be mistaken, but I think he just gets no respect around here. Some of my first Ives recordings came from Bernstein and MTT. These two conductors helped me understand his genius.

[Luke]

Happy to report that I think you are mistaken on this one - I've seen nothing but respect and love for Ives on this board, and some posters - Joe B, when he was here, Guido, of course, to mention just two - who have a terrific and profound passion for him and deep knowledge of his music. And that's as it should be!

[Mirror Image]

Happy to report that I think you are mistaken on this one - I've seen nothing but respect and love for Ives on this board, and some posters - Joe B, when he was here, Guido, of course, to mention just two - who have a terrific and profound passion for him and deep knowledge of his music. And that's as it should be!

This is good to know Luke (). There are always a bunch who really have a deep passion for the composer in question. Good to see that Ives' music has touched people and continues to do so.

[Brian]

Yesterday, I listened for the first time to Ives' symphonies 1-3 and was really impressed. The combination of respect for elders and mischievous independent spirit in No 1, the all-around terrific No 2 with its genius ending, and the Third with a really surprising direct emotional appeal. Can't wait to hear them again.

[Luke]

This is good to know Luke (). There are always a bunch who really have a deep passion for the composer in question. Good to see that Ives' music has touched people and continues to do so.

Ives does this for me, too, I should add, though less of his output reaches my heart than it does for Guido etc. At his best, though, he finds extraordinary places no one else even knew where there. For me the Concord Sonata stands alone, head and shoulders above everything else he wrote, even the Fourth Symphony - not exactly a contentious choice, maybe (it's a recognised out and out masterpiece of the greatest importance), but I suspect one that not everyone will share. But there we are!

And yes, it's Luke, under an old name, trying to avoid log-in hell, but still having to log in quite frequently....

[karlhenning]

Whose recordings of the Concord do you prefer, Luke?

[Luke]

Bear in mind that I only have about 6, I think, the surprise package for me, over some bigger names or ones with a more obvious Ivesian pedigree, is Alexei Lubimov. His recording has a lot of punch, and a lot of profile - nothing gets lost, lots that I don't hear elsewhere is audible here, and yet he also  finds more poetry than many others, to my ears. Love that recording!

[karlhenning]

Thanks, Luke! Will gladly give him a try.

[Guido]

Yesterday, I listened for the first time to Ives' symphonies 1-3 and was really impressed. The combination of respect for elders and mischievous independent spirit in No 1, the all-around terrific No 2 with its genius ending, and the Third with a really surprising direct emotional appeal. Can't wait to hear them again.

Just wait until you hear no.4! It's the greatest of the Symphonies and weird as it may sound for such a wild piece, the logical conclusion of them. Between three and four comes the superb Holiday's Symphony too - not superb as a symphony per se - but as a set of four orchestral movements it is astonishing.

And of course Luke is right - lot's of respect for Ives around here, not least from Luke, but also he is one of my all time favourites - just touches me so deeply, so profoundly and I'm always amazed by his works which is how it should be with your favourites.

[karlhenning]

Just wait until you hear no.4! It's the greatest of the Symphonies and weird as it may sound for such a wild piece, the logical conclusion of them.

I ought to refresh my acquaintance with nos. 1-3, but yes, my sense is that the Fourth is a significant step ahead.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I love all four of the Ives symphonies, too, with the Fourth taking pride of place - i have always considered it the symphonic equivalent of Joyce's 'Finnegans Wake': simultaneity of all kinds of music here, and of languages there.