Your Favorite 15 (sequential) Symphonies

[vandermolen]

Jeffery, you violated the rule: "Your favorite 15 Symphonies... but they have to be 1 through 15 and one symphony per composer, only."

You are quite right - so here goes version No 2!

1 Walton
2 Sibelius
3 Copland
4 Langgaard
5 Weinberg
6 Vaughan Williams
7 Rubbra
8 Havergal Brian
9 Bruckner
10 Tubin
11 Ivanovs
12 Miaskovsky
13 Vagn Holmboe
14 Hovhaness
15 Shostakovich

[jlaurson]

Yes but it is 'your favourite' composers rather than greatest - so I included my favourites.

Yes, I hear you. And I encourage to make it about favorites, not generic 'greatest'.

I'm just surprised, I guess, that anyone would hear X rather than Y.

Myself, for example, I love plenty obscure composers. I'm a huge fan and reasonably effective advocate of Hans Rott's Symphony. But would I chose it over Brahms'? Or Schumann's? Or not have any Beethoven at all? But now that you've corrected your list to conform -- unusual choices and all -- you'll get your merit badge upgraded. 

[Karl Henning]

Does a complimentary mousepad come with the upgrade?

[Papy Oli]

my list so far would probably go like this - pretty standard I guess...

1. Schönberg's Kammersymphonie (or prokofiev's if the kammer one is stretching it)
2. Mahler's Resurrection
3. Gorecki's symphony of Sorrow
4. Brahms
5. Shostakovitch
6. Bruckner (or Tchaikovsky as a very recent contender)
7. Vaughan-Williams' Antartica
8. Schubert's unfinished
9. Beethoven
10.
11.Pettersson

[vandermolen]

Yes, I hear you. And I encourage to make it about favorites, not generic 'greatest'.

I'm just surprised, I guess, that anyone would hear X rather than Y.

Myself, for example, I love plenty obscure composers. I'm a huge fan and reasonably effective advocate of Hans Rott's Symphony. But would I chose it over Brahms'? Or Schumann's? Or not have any Beethoven at all? But now that you've corrected your list to conform -- unusual choices and all -- you'll get your merit badge upgraded. 

Thank you - point taken.  But I still want you to admire my refined and obscure choices hehehe.   

I like the Rott Symphony too. Just consider yourself fortunate that I did not include Klaus Egge on my list even though I love his First Symphony (which is a bit like the Walton).

[knight66]

1Elgar
2Mahler
3Beethoven
4Brahms
5Bruckner
6Tchaikovsky
7Beethoven
8Dvorak
9 Mahler
10 Shostakovich

Mike

[vandermolen]

1Elgar
2Mahler
3Beethoven
4Brahms
5Bruckner
6Tchaikovsky
7Beethoven
8Dvorak
9 Mahler
10 Shostakovich

Mike

If the list was 'greatest' I think that I would agree with every one of your choices.

[knight66]

Lots of dilemmas. I also wanted Sibelius 2nd, Brahms 1, Bruckner 9 etc. I was listening to Martinu no5 and 6 today and we really ought to have space for those.....and I ignored Prokofiev....getting into a lather here, just as well it is merely a list on the net! Phew.

Mike

[vandermolen]

Lots of dilemmas. I also wanted Sibelius 2nd, Brahms 1, Bruckner 9 etc. I was listening to Martinu no5 and 6 today and we really ought to have space for those.....and I ignored Prokofiev....getting into a lather here, just as well it is merely a list on the net! Phew.

Mike

I agree with you here as well - especially re Sibelius and Bruckner. I think that Martinu Symphony No 4 (especially in Turnovsky's performance) might feature in my alternative list. Oddly enough it was only recently that I have come to love Sibelius's 2nd Symphony, having heard the Vanska BIS CD.

Jeffrey

[knight66]

Elgarian has just inspired me to buy the Rozhdestvensky set of Sibelius symphonies. Only a month ago I was reunited with the Barbirolli versions, not heard since I sold my vinals over 20 years ago. It has been like coming home! They may well not be mainstream, but it was how I learned the music. I will remind myself of the Martinu 4th later today.....can't hear that one in my head, yet.

Mike

[North Star]

1. Schumann
2. Prokofiev
3. Brahms
4. Nielsen
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Tchaikovsky
7. Sibelius
8. Schubert
9. Beethoven
10. Mahler
11. Langgaard
12. Haydn
13. Shostakovich

[Karl Henning]

No mousepad for Karl.

♫ He works hard for the mousepad . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Hm, still a work-in-progress . . .

1. Schnittke
2. Rakhmaninov
3. Sinfonia espansiva Nielsen
4. Beethoven
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Sibelius
7. Dvořák
8. Mennin
9. Le fosse ardeatine Wm Schuman
10. Shostakovich
11.
12. Holmboe
13. Undertro (Belief in Wonders) Langgaard
14. Ararat Hovhaness
15. Haydn

[Karl Henning]

Could conceivably wrap that up with a listen to the Brian Eleventh . . . .

[Madiel]

All this thread is doing is showing me I don't own enough symphonies... And reminding me of quite a few of the names of composers I want to collect more of... and also making me realise I don't know some of the symphonies I already have as well as I'd like.

Also, no fair that the reasonable number of Mozart and Haydn ones that I *do* own don't come into play. Sniff.

[Madiel]

ADDENDUM: In fact, I appear to only own symphonies by 14 composers... and that's including Liszt's Dante and Faust (heard twice and zero times, respectively) and Janacek's Sinfonietta.  With Haydn and Mozart excluded, I think I'm sunk.

*storms off the field, vowing to return a better player*

[ibanezmonster]

7 Rubbra

Just started listening to this. 5 minutes in, not bad at all. Somewhat Brucknerian.
Actually, this is the first of Rubbra I've listened to.  Might have to check out more...

[Opus106]

ADDENDUM: In fact, I appear to only own symphonies by 14 composers... and that's including Liszt's Dante and Faust (heard twice and zero times, respectively) and Janacek's Sinfonietta.  With Haydn and Mozart excluded, I think I'm sunk.

*storms off the field, vowing to return a better player*

I think I may have less (number of composers), including Mozart and Haydn and not counting some of those early-mid 18th century hacks with their pretty keyboard tinkling in the background.

[jlaurson]

- - - - - original post, continuously edited - - - - -

ve always made this list up in my head; never put it down on 'ether'.

Here's the deal:

Your favorite 15 Symphonies... but they have to be 1 through 15 and one symphony per composer, only.

Edit: OK... I realize that 15 Symphonies is too ambitious. Let's cut it to 11...

So you might like Vaughan Williams 1, Beethoven 2, Mahler 3, and Bruckner 4... but you might not want to make those choices if you also don't want to miss out on Schumann or Brahms.
Get the picture? It makes sense to stack  the composers that wrote plenty Symphonies (i.e. DSCH, even if you like his 7th best) later, to keep room for great composers that wrote fewer symphonies. Schubert counts in the old fashioned way (1-6, 8, 9).

Perhaps easiest by naming multiple candidates for each, then whittling it down. At least that's how I'll construct this. Piece by piece.

1-15	1-11	1-11 Evolution
1.) ......... / Brahms 2.) Mendelssohn / Sibelius / ... 3.) Schumann / ... 4.) Brahms / Nielsen? / Mendelssohn? 5.) Sibelius / Schubert / Nielsen 6.) Dvorak / Bruckner / Mahler 7.) Beethoven / Dvorak / Sibelius 8.) Bruckner / Haydn / 9.) Schubert / Mahler 10.) Diamond? / Mahler 11.) 12.) 13.) 14.) 15.) DSCH	1.) ......... / Brahms 2.) Mendelssohn 3.) Schumann / ... 4.) Brahms / Nielsen? / Beethoven? 5.) Schubert 6.) Dvorak 7.) Sibelius 8.) Bruckner 9.) ...Beethoven? 10.) Mahler 11.) DSCH	1.) Brahms 2.) Mendelssohn 3.) Nielsen? Schumann / ... 4.) Beethoven 5.) Schubert 6.) Dvorak 7.) Sibelius 8.) Bruckner 9.) ... 10.) Mahler 11.) DSCH

I suppose if I give 9 to Beethoven -- although I actually prefer 4 and 7, I can give 4 to Schumann and make it a more conventional list...
Is there a 10th that beats Mahler? Even if I just take the two movements? Which of the below must I include?

knowingly ignored so far: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Hovhaness, Simpson, Myaskovsky?, Schuman, Barber

not figured out which one, if any: Langgaard, Rubbra, Sallinen, Vaughan Williams, Aho, Schnittke, Arnold, Bax, Brian, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Michael Haydn, Milhaud, Petterson, Honegger, Villa-Lobos, Holmboe, Glass, Elgar?, Weinberg,  Rautavaara, Tubin, Walton, Hartmann, Rott, Martinů...

-----------------------

Lots of dilemmas. I also wanted Sibelius 2nd, Brahms 1, Bruckner 9 etc. I was listening to Martinu no5 and 6 today and we really ought to have space for those.....and I ignored Prokofiev....getting into a lather here, just as well it is merely a list on the net! Phew.

Mike

I think that's exactly what has always fascinated me about this list: The dilemmas (and how they make you think about music and choices).

It's the FavoriteSymphony-List-of-Pain, in a way. Perhaps I should slightly modify the deal from "Pick your favorite" to "You Can't Listen to Any Symphonies Outside This List Anymore: Go Pick".

I can also quite easily detect my biases in such a list... in this case a bias against Russian symphonic repertoire. Ugh... the idea of listening to Tchaikovsky symphonies instead of Sibelius seems like something Dante devised for seal-cub-clubbers.

ADDENDUM: In fact, I appear to only own symphonies by 14 composers... and that's including Liszt's Dante and Faust (heard twice and zero times, respectively) and Janacek's Sinfonietta.  With Haydn and Mozart excluded, I think I'm sunk.

*storms off the field, vowing to return a better player*

Then this list has done well, if it sends you on an exploratory binge.

True, I wouldn't include any Mozart in a list from 1-15... but there is Haydn I contemplated. Number-wise, it's inconvenient, though... the highlights among the early Symphonies are 7-9 -- the spurious "Daytime" trilogy... and that's of course also territory rich with some of the greatest great romantic symphonies.... Dvorak Schubert Bruckner Beethoven... and yet, for my sanity, I would probably or should include Haydn.

[springrite]

Hm, still a work-in-progress . . .

1. Schnittke
2. Rakhmaninov
3. Sinfonia espansiva Nielsen
4. Beethoven
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Sibelius
7. Dvořák
8. Mennin
9. Le fosse ardeatine Wm Schuman
10. Shostakovich
11.
12. Holmboe
13. Undertro (Belief in Wonders) Langgaard
14. Ararat Hovhaness
15. Haydn

I do like this list...