Favourite symphonies 1,2,3 etc...

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 09:23:32 AM

I'm sure that I've done this before but probably not for years.

Added later: John (MI) did this in 2017 so apologies but have a go,if you want to. I should have checked before.

Ok this idea came to me when I was swimming in the local pool today as part of my new health regime (too much information). Anyway, I like to swim 30 lengths at least (I'd like you to think that it is an Olympic-size pool but it isn't!) I try not to lose count of how many lengths I have swum and therefore think of a relevant symphony for each length, as the name of a composer is more likely to stick in my mind than a random number. I try to think of a symphony by a different composer for each length (sad, isn't it

) Of course, once I get beyond fifteen lengths my options are limited to Miaskovsky, Hovhannes, and Havergal Brian, in regard to works that I regularly listen to. Anyway, after that extended introduction here we go. You have to choose your favourite symphony No 1, No 2 etc up to 10 without repeating a composer. This is 'favourite' rather than 'greatest' list but I've tried to choose works which I rate very highly:

Symphony No.1: Walton
Symphony No.2: Vaughan Williams 'A London Symphony' (1920 version)
Symphony No.3: Kinsella Symphony No.3 'Joie de Vivre'
Symphony No.4: Braga Santos
Symphony No.5: Scherbachov
Symphony No.6: Miaskovsky
Symphony No.7: Moyzes
Symphony No.8: Vagn Holmboe 'Boreale'
Symphony No.9: Bruckner
Symphony No.10:Tubin (or Havergal Brian)

Iota · October 12, 2019, 10:44:01 AM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 12, 2019, 09:23:32 AMYou have to choose your favourite symphony No 1, No 2 etc up to 10 without repeating a composer.

Bit unfair on Mozart and Haydn.

Not sure I really belong here with my narrow knowledge of symphonies compared to many here. On top of which some of my favourite 'symphonies' don't have numbers (Stravinsky, Britten etc), hence my somewhat cliched list.

Anyway, off the top of my head (which is maybe where I should have left them), the following occur -

Symphony No.1: Brahms
Symphony No.2: Rachmaninov ( not sayin it's great and the moment's only right once every 2 or 3 years, but when it is my affection for it is almost unbound.)
Symphony No.3: Vaughan Williams
Symphony No.4: Martinu
Symphony No.5: Beethoven
Symphony No.6: Prokofiev
Symphony No.7: Sibelius
Symphony No.8: Bruckner
Symphony No.9: Mahler
Symphony No.10: Shostakovich

Christo · October 12, 2019, 11:39:44 AM

Yes, we played this game before, but let's give it another swing:

Symphony No. 1: Brian
Symphony No. 2: Ben-Haim
Symphony No. 3: Bate
Symphony No. 4: Braga Santos
Symphony No. 5: Nielsen
Symphony No. 6: Tubin
Symphony No. 7: Kinsella
Symphony No. 8: Holmboe 'Boreale'
Symphony No. 9: Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 10: Shostakovich (will hear it under Petrenko in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, coming Monday)

San Antone · October 12, 2019, 12:00:21 PM

I am not a huge symphony fan but probably can come up with ten favorites. I will try to use each composer just once:

1. Brahms
2. Bernstein
3. Copland
4. Shostakovich
5. Mahler
6. Wellesz
7. Beethoven
8. Frankel
9. Schubert
10. Weinberg

Florestan · October 12, 2019, 12:04:25 PM

Never played it before.

Otomh, up to the fatidic 9

No. 1: Tchaikovsky (runners-up Mahler, Kalinnikov)
No. 2: Rachmaninoff (runners-up Brahms, Schubert)
No. 3: Mahler (runners-up Mendelssohn, Schubert)
No. 4: Mendelssohn (runners-up Beethoven, Schubert)
No. 5: Tchaikovsky (runners-up Beethoven, Schubert)
No. 6: Beethoven (runners-up Tchaikovsky, Schubert)
No. 7: Beethoven (runners-up Dvorak, Shostakovich)
No. 8: Schubert (runners-up Beethoven, Dvorak)
No. 9: Schubert (no runners-up, not even close, sorry!)

JBS · October 12, 2019, 12:23:40 PM

0 Bruckner
1 Shostakovich
2 Mahler
3 Beethoven
4 Shostakovich
5 Mahler
6 Tchaikovsky
7 Beethoven
8 RVW
9 Mahler

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 02:22:11 PM

Quote from: Iota on October 12, 2019, 10:44:01 AM
Bit unfair on Mozart and Haydn.

Not sure I really belong here with my narrow knowledge of symphonies compared to many here. On top of which some of my favourite 'symphonies' don't have numbers (Stravinsky, Britten etc), hence my somewhat cliched list.

Anyway, off the top of my head (which is maybe where I should have left them), the following occur -

Symphony No.1: Brahms
Symphony No.2: Rachmaninov ( not sayin it's great and the moment's only right once every 2 or 3 years, but when it is my affection for it is almost unbound.)
Symphony No.3: Vaughan Williams
Symphony No.4: Martinu
Symphony No.5: Beethoven
Symphony No.6: Prokofiev
Symphony No.7: Sibelius
Symphony No.8: Bruckner
Symphony No.9: Mahler
Symphony No.10: Shostakovich

Thanks for indulging me anyway. I agree with many of your choices, especially Martinu's inspiriting 4th Symphony. Rachmaninov's Second Symphony was my mother's favourite symphony so I definitely have a soft spot for that one. I thought of the Prokofiev as well - my favourite of all his scores and one of the great 20th century symphonies IMO.

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 02:24:23 PM

Quote from: Christo on October 12, 2019, 11:39:44 AM
Yes, we played this game before, but let's give it another swing:

Symphony No. 1: Brian
Symphony No. 2: Ben-Haim
Symphony No. 3: Bate
Symphony No. 4: Braga Santos
Symphony No. 5: Nielsen
Symphony No. 6: Tubin
Symphony No. 7: Kinsella
Symphony No. 8: Holmboe 'Boreale'
Symphony No. 9: Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 10: Shostakovich (will hear it under Petrenko in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, coming Monday)

Agree with all of these choices (no surprise there

). Great that you're hearing Petrenko in the Shostakovich. The VW is one of my favourites of his cycle.

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 02:27:21 PM

Quote from: Florestan on October 12, 2019, 12:04:25 PM
Never played it before.

Otomh, up to the fatidic 9

No. 1: Tchaikovsky (runners-up Mahler, Kalinnikov)
No. 2: Rachmaninoff (runners-up Brahms, Schubert)
No. 3: Mahler (runners-up Mendelssohn, Schubert)
No. 4: Mendelssohn (runners-up Beethoven, Schubert)
No. 5: Tchaikovsky (runners-up Beethoven, Schubert)
No. 6: Beethoven (runners-up Tchaikovsky, Schubert)
No. 7: Beethoven (runners-up Dvorak, Shostakovich)
No. 8: Schubert (runners-up Beethoven, Dvorak)
No. 9: Schubert (no runners-up, not even close, sorry!)

Thanks but you're only allowed to mention a composer once

. I was lucky enough to hear Mahler's Third in concert a while back which was a great experience.

Thanks for all responses which I've enjoyed reading

Florestan · October 12, 2019, 02:43:42 PM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 12, 2019, 02:27:21 PM
Thanks but you're only allowed to mention a composer once .

Then I'm out of here.

j winter · October 12, 2019, 02:59:44 PM

Brahms 1
Sibelius 2
Schubert 3
Tchaikovsky 4
Prokofiev 5
Mahler 6
Beethoven 7
Bruckner 8
Dvorak 9
Shostakovich 10
Haydn 11-34, 37, 42-104
Mozart 35, 36, 38-41

Alek Hidell · October 12, 2019, 03:22:46 PM

Hmm.

1 Brahms
2 Rachmaninov
3 RVW
4 Braga Santos
5 Beethoven
6 Mahler
7 Sibelius
8 Bruckner
9 Dvořák
10 Shostakovich

Limiting it to one composer, of course, makes it exponentially more difficult. In truth, Mahler should also occupy the third spot - and where's Schubert? He's haunting the 8-9 spots, if not actually occupying them. C'est la vie.

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 03:24:46 PM

Quote from: Alek Hidell on October 12, 2019, 03:22:46 PM
Hmm.

1 Brahms
2 Rachmaninov
3 RVW
4 Braga Santos
5 Beethoven
6 Mahler
7 Sibelius
8 Bruckner
9 Dvořák
10 Shostakovich

Limiting it to one composer, of course, makes it exponentially more difficult. In truth, Mahler should also occupy the third spot - and where's Schubert? He's haunting the 8-9 spots, if not actually occupying them. C'est la vie.

Good to see another vote for Braga Santos.

Sergeant Rock · October 12, 2019, 03:37:54 PM

Brian 1
Ives 2
Nielsen 3
Brahms 4
Sibelius 5
Mahler 6
Lloyd 7
Vaughan Williams 8
Bruckner 9
Miaskovsky 10
Rubbra 11
Milhaud 12
Langgaard 13
Pettersson 14
Shostakovich 15

SymphonicAddict · October 12, 2019, 06:56:33 PM

Leaving some very-known examples out (Brahms, Dvorak, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, VW, Bruckner, Prokofiev et al), just for the sake of diversity:

Raid 1
Tubin 2
Alwyn 3
Nielsen 4
Arnold 5
Langgaard 6
Beethoven 7
Shostakovich 8
Mahler 9
Weinberg 10
Pettersson 11
...
Myaskovsky 24
...
Mozart 39
...
Haydn 83

List B (based on recent discoveries and re-discoveries):

Kielland 1
Lajtha 2
Lutoslawski 3
Villa-Lobos 4
Rubbra 5
Glazunov 6
Sulek 7
Rautavaara 8
Saeverud 9
Aho 10

vandermolen · October 12, 2019, 11:51:33 PM

Quote from: SymphonicAddict on October 12, 2019, 06:56:33 PM
Leaving some very-known examples out (Brahms, Dvorak, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, VW, Bruckner, Prokofiev et al), just for the sake of diversity:

Raid 1
Tubin 2
Alwyn 3
Nielsen 4
Arnold 5
Langgaard 6
Beethoven 7
Shostakovich 8
Mahler 9
Weinberg 10
Pettersson 11
...
Myaskovsky 24
...
Mozart 39
...
Haydn 83

List B (based on recent discoveries and re-discoveries):

Kielland 1
Lajtha 2
Lutoslawski 3
Villa-Lobos 4
Rubbra 5
Glazunov 6
Sulek 7
Rautavaara 8
Saeverud 9
Aho 10

Two very interesting lists Cesar. I love the Raid, Tubin, Alwyn start to your selection. Myaskovsky's 24th Symphony is one of the high points of his cycle.

If I were to go beyond 10 I'd select

11: Shostakovich
12: George Lloyd
13: Myaskovsky (a work I've only recently come to appreciate, especially in the new Naxos recording.) I'm now repeating composers so I'd better stop.

Biffo · October 13, 2019, 02:40:21 AM

Here we go, pretty boring selection -

No 1 - Berlioz
No 2 - Vaughan Williams
No 3 - Beethoven
No 4 - Brahms
No 5 - Nielsen
No 6 - Tchaikovsky
No 7 - Sibelius
No 8 - Dvorak
No 9 - Mahler
No 10 - Shostakovich

Papy Oli · October 13, 2019, 03:20:41 AM

1 - Walton
2 - Vaughan Williams
3 - Beethoven
4 - Brahms
5 - Rubbra
6 - Brian
7 - Lloyd
8 - Bruckner
9 - Arnold
10 - Mahler

71 dB · October 13, 2019, 03:39:37 AM

1 -
2 - Elgar
3 - Saint-Saëns,
4 - Nielsen
5 -

These are too difficult for me, sorry...

Wanderer · October 13, 2019, 04:03:53 AM

This never gets boring.

1 Brahms
2 Schumann
3 Beethoven
4 Nielsen
5 Mendelssohn
6 Vaughan Williams
7 Sibelius
8 Mahler
9 Schubert
10 Shostakovich

unnumbered: Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie

No Bruckner?! That's why alternate lists are for:

1 Elgar
2 Schmidt
3 Schumann
4 Brahms
5 Sibelius
6 Beethoven
7 Vaughan Williams
8 Schubert
9 Bruckner
10 Mahler

unnumbered: Debussy La mer

And a third, just for the heck of it:

1 Brian
2 Mendelssohn
3 Sibelius
4 Brahms
5 Bruckner
6 Tchaikovsky
7 Beethoven
8 Schubert
9 Vaughan Williams
10 Mahler

unnumbered: Berlioz Symphonie fantastique