Greatest Sibelius Symphony

[TheGSMoeller]

You can pick up to three symphonies.

[Mirror Image]

Oh dear, I wonder if the moderators could put this in the polling section of the forum?

[Mirror Image]

Cool poll, Greg and a very easy answer for me: the 4th, 6th, and 7th. There's just nothing like them.

[TheGSMoeller]

Cool poll, Greg and a very easy answer for me: the 4th, 6th, and 7th. There's just nothing like them.

Nice choices, John...
...of course I feel you couldn't really go wrong with any three, they are all very good...I chose the 2nd, 5th & 6th.

[TheGSMoeller]

Oh dear, I wonder if the moderators could put this in the polling section of the forum?

And my bad, I didn't even realize there was a polling section.

[springrite]

5, 7, 3.

[Lethevich]

Forcing me to be objective, brr! I voted only 2 and 5 because I couldn't decide between 4 and 7 - both are monumental in their own way.

But in terms of personal favourites mine will always be 3 and 6.

[TheGSMoeller]

http://www.youtube.com/v/nkzrSZKA4cM

Just for stopping by and voting, I give you this beauty. 

[some guy]

You can pick up to three symphonies.

Hahahaha!

I can pick up to seven numbered Sibelius symphonies, eight counting Kullervo. And I do.

Easy.

I can even pick up to nine, if I want. Two symphonies with the same number. Nine it is.

[TheGSMoeller]

I can pick up to seven numbered Sibelius symphonies, eight counting Kullervo. And I do.

I can even pick up to nine, if I want. Two symphonies with the same number. Nine it is.

...and that's what you can choose from.

[Mirror Image]

Nice choices, John...
...of course I feel you couldn't really go wrong with any three, they are all very good...I chose the 2nd, 5th & 6th.

Yes, they all have a character of their own, but the 4th, 6th, and 7th has had such a powerful hold over me that I couldn't choose from the other four. I do like the 2nd and 5th a lot as well, but, as you said, they all express something unique and are all different sound-worlds unto themselves.

[Mirror Image]

The heartbreaking beauty of the 7th:

http://www.youtube.com/v/JCIKfMm5RaA

[springrite]

Now, if only we could count Tapiola as a symphony...

[Conor71]

Good poll!  - 1, 5 and 6!

[North Star]

4th, 5th & 7th

[mszczuj]

1,2,3.

[mc ukrneal]

http://www.youtube.com/v/nkzrSZKA4cM

Just for stopping by and voting, I give you this beauty. 

I hope you don't mind, but I am going to use this thread to try and gain a bit of insight into Sibelius. If Bruckner and Prokofiev came naturally to me, I had to work a bit with Shostakovich and Mahler. But Sibelius is a bit of a mystery to me. I enjoy some of his tone poems and I have thoroughly enjoyed his piano works. But his symphonies are still quite far away for me. When I listen to this clip above, I am not trasnported anywhere, but am more often than not confused.

What is going on here? The structure seems all over the place. Strings like bees, than that is abandoned and we are somewhere else. There is a moment about 3/4 of the way through when the trumpets have an achingly beautiful melody, but this doesn't go anywhere either (though I believe it was repeated, so maybe I need to go back and listen again) and the impact of that beauty seems lost to me. The good news is, I don't dislike the music. I just cannot see what it is trying to say. Is this more of a pastoral symphony (like Beethoven 5) - should i approach it from that angle (is that why they revealed the landscape behind, which I also didn't understand unless it is indeed a pastoral)? And then an odd ending. I like odd endings, and rather enjoyed this one, but I cannot see how it connects to anything in the symphony. I actually have #5, so could listen the whole way through (with Karajan on EMI). I would be interested to hear what others are hearing and perceiving here.

Later I will listen to the clip of #7, which I don't have and have never heard.

[Sergeant Rock]

Greatest I don't know, but favorites: 4, 5, 6


Sarge

[Drasko]

Same as above, don't really care about the greatest, the ones I like: 3, 6, 7.

[eyeresist]

Strings like bees

Obviously there is a problem.