Favorite Symphony by a 1-Symphony Composer

[Daverz]

Vorisek gets my vote in absence of the Bliss Colour Symphony and the Dukas Symphony in C.  And the Lalo is a delightful work.

No one seems to have remembered Cherubini or Grieg.

Looking on Wikipedia, some other one symphony composers of note:

Karlowicz
Hamilton Harty
Ildebrando Pizzetti
Arthur Benjamin
Bernard Herrmann
George Barati
Norman Dello Joio
Irving Fine
Julian Orbon
Michael Torke

[Sergeant Rock]

Bernard Herrmann

The Herrmann would be Mrs. Rock's choice.

Sarge

[some guy]

Frankenstein Symphony by Francis Dhomont

[Bulldog]

Franck gets my vote with Chausson a close second.

[Daverz]

My personal vote goes to that lovable anachronism, Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra.

I'm very fond of the Shapero.  It really needs a modern recording.  Bernstein's is mono, and Previn's is a little boxy sounding.

[Brahmsian]

Franck gets my vote with Chausson a close second.

Ditto.  Franck, and Chausson a close second.

[Scarpia]

No one seems to have remembered Cherubini or Grieg.

Grieg wrote a symphony?  I assumed that Cherubini wrote a few dozen at least.

[Daverz]

Grieg wrote a symphony?  I assumed that Cherubini wrote a few dozen at least.

Grieg supressed it.  Which hasn't stopped anyone from recording it, of course.

Cherubini's lone symphony is very good, one of the more memorable Classical symphonies not by Mozart, Haydn, or Beethoven.

[PaulR]

i accidentally voted for "other" because on first glance, I failed to see Franck.  But, at least as of now, Franck's Symphony in D minor is my favorite.   

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I'm a little surprised at the results. I expected Franck to run away with it, since he's standard rep and well known, unlike the others. Instead, Korngold edges him.

[Lethevich]

I'm a little surprised at the results. I expected Franck to run away with it, since he's standard rep and well known, unlike the others. Instead, Korngold edges him.

One thing I've noticed about the standard rep is that some of the LP favourites (such as the Franck) seem to be very gradually dropping in popularity nowdays. Other works I tend to see on LP a lot and slightly less so nowadays are Rossini/Respighi's Boutique Fantastique, various pieces by Chausson, and possibly Borodin's 2nd and Rimsky's Scheherazade.

Not saying that these pieces aren't still popular, but they appear to have found wider currency in the past.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I've thought so too, especially with reference to the Borodin 2nd, which seems to have dropped off the map of live performance.

[val]

My choice was Webern, but I must say that Chausson's Symphonie is a very beautiful work.

[val]

And I remember now, there is the great Symphony of Paul Dukas, probably the best French Symphony after Berlioz.

[Grazioso]

Another one-off: Resphigi's Sinfonia Drammatica

[Brahmsian]

Question:  Is R. Strauss' 'Eine Alpensinfonie' consider a symphonic/tone poem, or a symphony?

If it was and was his only symphony, then I'd change my vote to 'Other' for that work.

[vandermolen]

From the list I'd have voted for Moeran, Korngold and Rott (never heard Shapero's). As for others mentioned, a supporting vote for Arthur Benjamin and Bernard Herrmann - others include symphonies by Hurum, Dyson and Clifford's 'Symphony 1940'.

[Scarpia]

Question:  Is R. Strauss' 'Eine Alpensinfonie' consider a symphonic/tone poem, or a symphony?

If it was and was his only symphony, then I'd change my vote to 'Other' for that work.

If Alpine is a symphony so is the Sinfonia Domestica.

[Grazioso]

Question:  Is R. Strauss' 'Eine Alpensinfonie' consider a symphonic/tone poem, or a symphony?

If it was and was his only symphony, then I'd change my vote to 'Other' for that work.

If Alpine is a symphony so is the Sinfonia Domestica.

He wrote two conventional symphonies in his teens, as well, in D minor and F minor.

[Brahmsian]

If Alpine is a symphony so is the Sinfonia Domestica.

Ah yes, true enough.  Yuck, that is the one piece of Strauss' tone/symphonic poem output that I just cannot stomach, the Sinfonia Domestica.    I pretty much love all his other orchestral works.