Favourite Top Ten Symphonies ... with a difference

[longears]

One reason I visit this forum is to be alerted to music or recordings that might interest me.  Some lists help me learn who shares my tastes, so their recommendations of the unfamiliar will likely carry more weight than others.  They also show me whose taste does not coincide with my own, so I know to discount their recommendations. Sometimes lists change my mind about posters as I learn their tastes are more catholic than I'd thought.  And lists by those whose taste I already admire trigger interest in unfamiliar composers, works, and recordings.

Lists can also be entertaining.  Mark's recent list threads, like this one, are a case in point.  And lists sometimes cause me to re-examine my preferences, which do change over time and with exposure.  For instance, I'm unlikely to have held Prokofiev's 2nd symphony in such high esteem had I not heard a smashing performance by Gergiev and the Kirov at Mondavi a few years ago.

Others, of course, do not have to share my enjoyment of lists.  If I thought they sucked on principle, as some posters here claim, I would simply avoid them as not worth my time.

[greg]

Not suggesting this year's BBC Proms performance was the greatest, but why not grab it for free anyhow?

Mahler - Symphony No. 10

cool, thanks!
and i see the Sinfonia da Requiem thrown in, too. What a bonus for me, i don't have it on CD but i've heard it a long long time ago and liked it

[Lethevich]

cool, thanks!
and i see the Sinfonia da Requiem thrown in, too. What a bonus for me, i don't have it on CD but i've heard it a long long time ago and liked it

The Britten symphony should appeal to anyone who likes the Mahler 10 And probably Mahler fans in general

[Mark]

cool, thanks!
and i see the Sinfonia da Requiem thrown in, too. What a bonus for me, i don't have it on CD but i've heard it a long long time ago and liked it

No sweat. I wasn't gonna leave out a gem like the Britten.

[BachQ]

The fact that I'm not an idiot stops me from doing that.

[BachQ]

We have done this before, and it's still a bad idea for listmania.

This concept for the list artificially disfavors symphonies that are not numbered from 1-10.  And it also tends to focus the posters on a handful of composers that wrote the modest Beethoven-ian number of symphonies.  For instance nobody in their right mind would put Mozart or Haydn on the list because their first ten symphonies were not great.  Nobody would put Stravinsky on the list because his symphonies are not numbered.

You want to make list making refreshing, interesting?  That's impossible because lists are boring.  We are talking about PASSIONATE MUSIC DAMNIT!  You don't categorize, list it, inventory it... YOU EXPERIENCE IT!!!  Stop treating your listening like a damned stamp collection!

David, you would have been far more persuasive had you presented your reasons and arguments in list format ........

[Mark]

David, you would have been far more persuasive had you presented your reasons and arguments in list format ........

[Don]

Lists are a harmless diversion, nothing to get into a stew about.

[Renfield]

Lists are a harmless diversion, nothing to get into a stew about.

Again, Don covered me. "It's a game."

[Lilas Pastia]

T The only reason I've ever bought a CD is because I want to listen to it. It has no other purpose.


Sarge

True, but lately I find much to my chagrin that I accumulate more than I have time to listen to. The intent is there, it's the capacity that fails me . I blame all those downloads for that situation (those I buy and those I receive). There's so much out there that demands to be known, but I'd have to be retired and a widower to have the time. Woe is me...

[quintett op.57]

That is not to say that they stop liking music!   No that is just to say that they driven by the compulsion to build and admire their collection more than they are driven to just simply listen to music.

Soon I'll sell my CD player in order have more space for my CDs

[quintett op.57]

No, I can't believe this thread will modify the behaviour of any reader, David.
But one thing is true in wat you've said : Haydn's symphonies, for example, need to be promoted.

Only 17 voters in 2 days in my London Symphonies poll, this is a very week number. It proves that Haydn (and probably the whole classical period) is not sexy at all for the classical fans. He would be much more popular if everyone had a serious listening at his works.

[Mark]

He would be much more popular if everyone had a serious listening at his works.

There are so many, though. It's actually rather overwheming, the prospect of opening that Dorati/Decca box and selecting a disc. I never know where to start.

[quintett op.57]

maybe it's not the good solution to buy a complete set.
It's less expensive, but were you 100 times happier when bought it?

I myself haven't listened to each of my Bernstein London boxset, my largest haydn set. 12 is too much. I always go back to my favourites.
Our dear Josef often composed cycles of six works, it's probably the best figure for a set. He was a clever man.

[ChamberNut]

Sorry to dig up an old thread. 

Here is my list:

1 - Brahms - Symphony No. 1

2 - Schumann - Symphony No. 2

3 - Beethoven - Symphony No. 3

4 - Brahms - Symphony No. 4

5 - Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 5

6 - Beethoven - Symphony No. 6

7 - Beethoven - Symphony No. 7

8 - Bruckner - Symphony No. 8

9 - Beethoven - Symphony No. 9

*10+ - Mozart - Symphony No. 40 

[Israfel the Black]

1. Mahler's First
2. Sibelius' Second
3. Bruckner's Third
4. Tchaikovsky's Fourth
5. Beethoven's Fifth
6. Tchaikovsky's Sixth
7. Sibelius' Seventh
8. Bruckner's Eighth
9. Bruckner's Ninth
10. Shostakovich's Tenth

[Handel]

It will be easy for me....

1- Beethoven

2- Beethoven

3- Beethoven

4- Beethoven

5- Beethoven

6- Haydn

7- Beethoven

8- Schubert

9- Schubert

10 - Haydn (or maybe Mozart, I should listen to it before.  )

[Don]

No, I can't believe this thread will modify the behaviour of any reader, David.
But one thing is true in wat you've said : Haydn's symphonies, for example, need to be promoted.

More promotion for Haydn's symphonies.  Why?  Everyone knows he wrote over 100 of them and the discography is huge.

[Handel]

On this I have a question. How hard it is for a 19th century music lover, who is served with many great symphonies, to really appreciate Haydn's symphonies (let say the London Symphonies) without undermining them (with or without conscience)? I'm asking this on a positive way. I remember to have read that Berlioz was non impressed with them because of norm Beethoven raised with his symphonies.

[jwinter]

What the hey, I'll pitch in, since it's already bumped:

1) Brahms
2) Sibelius
3) Mahler
4) Bruckner
5) Beethoven
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Beethoven
Bruckner
9) [sounds of scuffling, a chair is thrown, police sirens echo in the night] Bruckner
10) Shostakovich