5 Favourite Shostakovich Symphonies - poll

Started by Brahmsian, July 21, 2011, 11:32:30 AM

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What are your (can pick up to 5) favourite Shostakovich symphonies, currently?

1 in F minor, Op.10
2 in B major, Op.14
3 in E flat major, Op.20
4 in C minor, Op.43
5 in D minor, Op.47
6 in B minor, Op.54
7 in C major, Op.60 'Leningrad'
8 in C minor, Op.65
9 in E flat major, Op.70
10 in E minor, Op.93
11 in G minor, Op.103 'The Year 1905'
12 in D minor, Op.112 'The Year 1917 - To the memory of Lenin'
13 in B flat minor, Op.113 'Babi Yar'
14 - Op.135
15 in A major, Op.141
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kishnevi

#20
July 21, 2011, 03:38:49 PM
4 7 8 10 11
second tier for me would be 1 5 6 9 14
third tier 2 3 12 13 15-- 2 and 3 are interesting failures in my book, and 12, 13, and 15 don't move me in the way his other symphonies do.

springrite

#21
July 21, 2011, 03:42:08 PM Last Edit: July 21, 2011, 03:45:48 PM by springrite
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on July 21, 2011, 03:38:49 PM
4 7 8 10 11
second tier for me would be 1 5 6 9 14
third tier 2 3 12 13 15-- 2 and 3 are interesting failures in my book, and 12, 13, and 15 don't move me in the way his other symphonies do.

Why not move #9 into your top 5, downgrade one of the top 5, and put #9 out of its misery of being along side #2 and #3 and the only ones not picked. #9 deserve better than this. I really do like this symphony. In many ways it reminds me of Beethoven's 8th.

I am willing to do so and replace my vote for #4 with #9...
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

DavidW

#22
July 21, 2011, 04:02:17 PM
I've used my extra vote for the 9th, it is no longer a sad sack of poop! ;D

springrite

#23
July 21, 2011, 04:05:56 PM
Quote from: DavidW on July 21, 2011, 04:02:17 PM
I've used my extra vote for the 9th, it is no longer a sad sack of poop! ;D

I may not have correctly identified the winners, but I have surely identified the losers correctly! Ha!
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

PaulR

#24
July 21, 2011, 04:09:23 PM
Quote from: DavidW on July 21, 2011, 04:02:17 PM
I've used my extra vote for the 9th, it is no longer a sad sack of poop! ;D
If there was an extra option, I might have picked it, or I might have picked 8.  I do like the symphony.  It's definitely not what I expected coming after the 7th and 8th, which I think is partly why I like it.  Bad word to describe it, but I really do like the quirkyness of the 9th.  So if there were two extra votes, It'd be one :D

DavidW

#25
July 21, 2011, 04:18:06 PM
The 8th is devasting, I love it.  The most emotionally powerful, draining, dark, sardonic work since the Mahler 9th.

kishnevi

#26
July 21, 2011, 04:49:13 PM
Think of it this way--the problem with the 9th is Shostakovich wrote so many good ones.   But how many composers  would be seriously in need of picking their five best symphonies?  Haydn, Mozart...who else? The other problem is that a good many recordings of the 9th seem to couple it with the 5th, so it comes in as filler when it deserves to be heard in its own right.

Dancing Divertimentian

#27
July 21, 2011, 05:03:20 PM
The 15th has the coolest ending so I put in a vote for that one. Otherwise the 4th is tops for me, followed by the 5th, 10th, and 14th.


Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

eyeresist

#28
July 21, 2011, 06:06:03 PM
I vote 9! I love the way it mixes sardonic "light" music with Shost's usual miserablism, more successfully than 6.

It turned out to be pretty easy to pick my faves: 1, 5, 7, 9, 10.

If I was allowed one more vote, I would have picked 2.

Mirror Image

#29
July 21, 2011, 07:36:57 PM
4, 5, 8, 10, and 11 for me. All of these are just outstanding in my estimate.

TheGSMoeller

#30
July 21, 2011, 08:20:43 PM
I've always considered DSCH's 15th to be a great piece, then I saw it performed live and I was blown away, I now consider it my personal favorite symphony of his. Such an interesting structure, and one of the greatest endings.

Top is 15, and then in random order, 5, 10, 11, & 14.

Mirror Image

#31
July 21, 2011, 08:24:42 PM
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on July 21, 2011, 08:20:43 PM
I've always considered DSCH's 15th to be a great piece, then I saw it performed live and I was blown away, I now consider it my personal favorite symphony of his. Such an interesting structure, and one of the greatest endings.

Top is 15, and then in random order, 5, 10, 11, & 14.

The more I listen to the 11th, the better I like it. It does take a little time to develop, but, man, the second and fourth movements are just so damn intense. But that third movement Adagio is quite beautiful.

Brahmsian

#32
July 21, 2011, 08:27:48 PM
After 21 votes, I noticed I'm the only one who voted for the 12th.   :D

Still no votes for No. 2 and No. 3

eyeresist

#33
July 21, 2011, 08:35:25 PM
Quote from: ChamberNut on July 21, 2011, 08:27:48 PM
After 21 votes, I noticed I'm the only one who voted for the 12th.   :D

Still no votes for No. 2 and No. 3

Like I said, given one more vote this would have changed. But then this poll is asking about favourites, and a symphony can still be good without being in your top five.

Brahmsian

#34
July 21, 2011, 08:46:01 PM
Quote from: eyeresist on July 21, 2011, 08:35:25 PM
Like I said, given one more vote this would have changed. But then this poll is asking about favourites, and a symphony can still be good without being in your top five.

Oh, absolutely.

Octo_Russ

#35
July 21, 2011, 09:13:51 PM
Hey i voted for the 12th!

The Symphonies in order for me are 5, 10, 4, 12 & 7, the 12th is a great little number, surprised why more people don't find it one of their favourites, i just can't get my head around the 9th, it sounds more like a Suite of individual pieces than a Symphony, i want to get to know Symphonies 8 & 11 better, so much of Shostakovich is still unknown to me.
I'm a Musical Octopus, I Love to get a Tentacle in every Genre of Music. http://octoruss.blogspot.com/

eyeresist

#36
July 21, 2011, 09:46:34 PM
Quote from: Octo_Russ on July 21, 2011, 09:13:51 PM
Hey i voted for the 12th!

The Symphonies in order for me are 5, 10, 4, 12 & 7, the 12th is a great little number, surprised why more people don't find it one of their favourites, i just can't get my head around the 9th, it sounds more like a Suite of individual pieces than a Symphony,

Hi Russ, what do you think about my comments on the 12th, regarding the second half of the finale?

Re the 9th, I think the disparity between the movements is part of the point.

vandermolen

#37
July 22, 2011, 12:33:09 AM
Quote from: ChamberNut on July 21, 2011, 12:47:23 PM
Yes, I could have set the vote at 12, but that wouldn't make it very interesting.  :D

Sorry - I meant the 'Leningrad Symphony' rather than 7 choices! Next time I suggest the best fifteen and a half  ;D
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#39
July 22, 2011, 05:27:36 AM
Quote from: eyeresist on July 22, 2011, 12:36:21 AM
What's the half?

There was certainly a report when he died that Shostakovich was working on a 16th Symphony - but I've not heard this mentioned since.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).
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