Favourite symphony no. 3

[Jay F]

Surprising results. I like Mahler's 3rd so much more than his 9th, and I voted for Mahler in this poll. I think of Beethoven's 9th as being his greatest symphony, and I like it more than his 3rd, yet he's kicking Mahler's ass so far in this poll. I thought it would be the opposite, with the winners being Mahler's 3rd and Beethoven's 9th.

[amw]

Brahms & Beethoven sit at the top of the heap

Stravinsky, Gerhard, Nielsen, Myaskovsky, Carter (Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei), Harris & Berwald are the second tier

Schumann, Schubert, Sibelius, Hartmann, Sessions, Hindemith (Symphonia serena), Dvořák, Martinů, Vaughan Williams, Mendelssohn, etc (many), make up the third tier

There is a fourth tier consisting of works I am largely neutral to, and then a fifth circle of hell reserved for Scriabin, Gorecki and Rachmaninov

(NB I have not heard the Bruckner, Mahler or Tchaikovsky ones)

[Ken B]

There is a fourth tier consisting of works I am largely neutral to, and then a fifth circle of hell reserved for  ... Gorecki

That's where I go on chilly days. It's warm, wonderful, and toasty here. I think the Kord version is best.

[Jo498]

Are the Stravinsky symphonies usually treated as numbered? I have never seen numbers for them. Should we nominate Berlioz' Romeo & Juliette as his third (or whatever it would be). And Bruckners "3rd" would be between his 5th and 9th out of almost 20 or so, depending on the version...

(I have to re-check RWV 3rd, I thought this was one of those pastoral bores, but maybe I misremember)

[Karl Henning]

Are the Stravinsky symphonies usually treated as numbered?

No.

As to Berlioz, I should go back to Barzun, but I seem to recall his enumerating his symphonies in his correspondence.  It seems a bit odd to us, now, since each work has unique forces ... but the composer felt he was taking after LvB's example.

[amw]

Are the Stravinsky symphonies usually treated as numbered? I have never seen numbers for them.

No, they're not. And there's some uncertainty over whether Symphonies of Wind Instruments counts. I am using the broadest possible definition of third symphony >.>

(I have to re-check RWV 3rd, I thought this was one of those pastoral bores, but maybe I misremember)

Yes, that describes it pretty well. If the first thirty seconds aren't your thing, skip the remaining 31 minutes.

If you don't mind the style, stick through it. Its pastoral surface is a disguise for an understated elegy for the dead of WWI. A cow looking over a gate in Flanders Fields. Except for one climax in the finale it avoids all theatrics and histrionics, simply but effectively conveying the sense of memory and nostalgia: then they were here, now they are gone. RVW served in a logistical role in WWI and lost several of his closest friends, so it's not hard to read this interpretation into the Pastoral.

Then when you've started to hear it this way, re-listen to the 5th, which becomes one of the most affecting WWII symphonies. The greater passion and eloquence of its mis-titled Romance (more of a Threnody) is understandable in the context of the darkest year of the War, with Nazi victory seeming a certainty, and its long (very long) coda over a D pedal point is astonishingly clear-eyed in its evasion of all triumph or tragedy, after a finale that first proposed victory and then slid into insecurity and the possibility of defeat: "whatever happens, it won't bring them back." We don't get another finale like this until Shostakovich's 8th.

You probably have to be an RVW fan in the first place to be sympathetic to these interpretations, otherwise the two symphonies will just bore you stupid. They're my favourites by him though.

[Jay F]

(NB I have not heard the Mahler)

Why not? May I send you a copy?

[amw]

Why not? May I send you a copy?

No need, I have Qobuz. Thanks

I am not yet sympathetic to Mahler's music. What I've heard so far (symphonies 1, 6, 7, 9 & Das Lied + songs) has not been of much interest, though I do like some of the Wunderhorn and Rückert-Lieder.

[Jo498]

I don't know any RVW well, although I have had the complete symphonies since 2006 or so. Many years before that, probably in the mid/late 1990s I borrowed a disc with two of his symphonies from a friend, I think it was 3+5 and I was bored to death and didn't bother with the composer for years. Only after I heard some other pieces like the Tallis variations, the phantasy quintet and the 4th or 8th symphonies I took a little interest. But I am still not really a fan.

I like the Roussel 3rd (again I piece I forgot about, maybe because I have never heard his 1 or 2) and also Stravinsky's "in C". To me those "neutral, technical" titles like "Symphony in C" or "Symphony in three movements" (my favorite) seem to express a distancing from the austro-germano-slavic tradition of weighty numbered symphonies.

[J.A.W.]

The Eroica would be my favourite, because of its importance and because I love it Second would be Mahler, third Brahms.

[ritter]

The Eroica would be my favourite, because of its importance and because I love it Second would be Mahler, third Brahms.

Same here, except that Brahms would fall off my list, replaced by Enesco...

[vandermolen]

Aaron Copland: Symphony 3. Can't believe this has not been mentioned.

Also

Honegger
VW
Elgar (reconstructed)
Hovhaness
Miaskovsky
Daniel Asia
DAVID DIAMOND ( a masterpiece )
William Schuman
William Alwyn
Eduard TUBIN
Prokofiev
BAX (his greatest symphony)

[Drasko]

1. Brahms
2. Sibelius
3. Martinu
4. Bruckner

[Dax]

Szymanowski - am I on my own?

Honourable mention for Honegger.

[not edward]

Beethoven stands alone at the top for me, but if it weren't for him I'd have a really rough time sorting out Berwald, Brahms, Honegger, Lutoslawski, Norgard and Tippett. (I think Norgard would win.)

[Cato]

KARL AMADEUS HARTMANN composed a Third Symphony! 

Yes, Prokofiev's name belongs in the list also!

Szymanowski - am I on my own?

No!  Also an all-around fave!

Honourable mention for Honegger.

Probably the best of his 5! 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Sibelius
Bruckner
Brahms

[Moonfish]

LvB

[Mirror Image]

Torn between so many choices but I think I'll have to go with ol' Ralph here, so his Pastoral gets my vote.

[Bruckner is God]

As much as I love the Eroica, I will have to say Mahler's 3rd. I have heard it live tons of times and it never fails to move me to tears.