"100 Greatest Symphonies"

[Fëanor]

...
Of course a "100 greatest list" is pointless for so many reasons... But, there is some validity in uncovering new composers, new works, new styles. I'd rather list 100 "great" symphonies, and would choose a maximum of two works per composer. For the sake of diversity. Which is just as pointless as any such list, I guess...

So many good ones, so little time...

Indeed.  I've really enjoyed the thread because it has mentioned some composers I haven't heard, (or heard of).  I never was hung up on the "greatest" terminology.

[mn dave]

"(Read 5866 times)"

Pointless?

[Dundonnell]

5871 now

Totally...of course But diverting fun for those who engaged in it

[Lilas Pastia]

5871 now

Totally...of course But diverting fun for those who engaged in it

That would make it a divertimento, then !

[Catison]

Read 6091 times

Who has time for that?

[Dundonnell]

That would make it a divertimento, then !

or a Divertissement?

[Dundonnell]

Who has time for that?

Well I doubt if it is one person

[Catison]

Well I doubt if it is one person

I'm just telling you the directions the forum gives me.  How should I have time to read a thread that many times?

[The new erato]

I just go around to reading this, sorry for the delay.  What a marvelous list -- I've got some listening ahead of me. 

Anyway I would be suspicious of the Schumann 4th in the 1941 version.

[Haffner]

1. Symphony No. 9 in D minor "Choral" – Ludwig Van Beethoven

  2. Symphony No. 5 in C minor – Ludwig Van Beethoven

  3. Symphony No. 3 in E flat major "Eroica" – Ludwig Van Beethoven

  4. Symphony No. 6 in B minor "Pathetique" – Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

  5. Symphony No. 41 in C major "Jupiter" – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  6. Symphony No. 9 in E minor "From The New World" – Antonin Dvorak

  7. Symphony No. 6 in F major "Pastorale" – Ludwig Van Beethoven

  8. Symphony No. 40 in G minor – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  9. Symphony No. 4 in E minor – Johannes Brahms

10. Symphony No. 9 in C major "The Great" – Franz Schubert

11. Symphonie Fantastique – Hector Berlioz

12. Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished" – Franz Schubert

13. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor – Gustav Mahler

14. Symphony No. 2 in D major – Jean Sibelius

15. Symphony No. 7 in A major – Ludwig Van Beethoven

16. Symphony No. 2 in C minor "Resurrection" – Gustav Mahler

17. Symphony No. 10 in E minor – Dmitri Shostakovich

18. Symphony No. 5 in D minor – Dmitri Shostakovich

19. Symphony No. 3 in F major – Johannes Brahms

20. Symphony No. 39 in E flat major – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

21. Symphony No. 7 in E major "Lyric" – Anton Bruckner

22. Symphony No. 4 in F minor – Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

23. Symphony No. 1 in C minor – Johannes Brahms

24. Symphony No. 9 in D major – Gustav Mahler

25. Symphony No. 4 in E flat major "Romantic" – Anton Bruckner

26. Symphony No. 4 in A major "Italian" – Felix Mendelssohn

27. Symphony No. 38 in D major "Prague" – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

28. Symphony No. 3 in C minor "Organ" – Camille Saint Saens

29. Symphony No. 94 in G major "Surprise" – Joseph Haydn

30. Symphony No. 101 in D major "The Clock" – Joseph Haydn

31. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major – Serge Prokofiev

32. Symphony No. 5 in E minor – Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

33. Symphony No. 104 in D major "London" – Joseph Haydn

34. Symphony No. 9 in D minor – Anton Bruckner

35. Symphony No. 5 in E flat major – Jean Sibelius

36. Mathis der Maler – Paul Hindemith

37. Symphony No. 1 in D major "Classical" – Serge Prokofiev

38. Symphony No. 8 in C minor – Anton Bruckner

39. Symphony No. 8 in G major – Antonin Dvorak

40. Symphony No. 7 in D minor – Antonin Dvorak

41. Symphony No. 2 in D major – Johannes Brahms

42. Symphony No. 3 in E flat major "Rhenish" – Robert Schumann

43. Symphony No. 2 in E minor – Sergei Rachmaninoff

44. Symphony No. 4 in B flat major – Ludwig Van Beethoven

45. Symphony in D minor – Cesar Franck

46. Symphony No. 100 in G major "Military" – Joseph Haydn

47. Symphony No. 4 in D major – Gustav Mahler

48. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major "Symphony Of A Thousand" – Gustav Mahler

49. Symphony No. 2 in G major "London" – Ralph Vaughan Williams

50. Symphony No. 1 "Titan" in D major – Gustav Mahler

51. Symphony No. 103 in E flat major "Drum Roll" – Joseph Haydn

52. Symphony No. 8 in F major – Ludwig Van Beethoven

53. Symphony No. 5 – Carl Nielsen

54. Symphony No. 5 in D major – Ralph Vaughan Williams

55. Symphony No. 3 in A minor "Scottish" – Felix Mendelssohn

56. Symphony No. 1 in F minor – Dmitri Shostakovich

57. Symphony No. 7 in C major – Jean Sibelius

58. Symphony No. 4 in F minor – Ralph Vaughan Williams

59. Symphony No. 1 in B flat major "Spring" – Robert Schumann

60. Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor "Farewell" – Joseph Haydn

61. Symphony No. 3 in D minor – Gustav Mahler

62. Symphony No. 92 in G major "Oxford" – Joseph Haydn

63. Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting" – Charles Ives

64. Symphony No. 35 in D major "Haffner" – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

65. Symphony No. 1 in E minor – Jean Sibelius

66. Symphony No. 4 in A minor – Jean Sibelius

67. Symphony No. 88 in G major – Joseph Haydn

68. Symphony No. 1 in A flat major – Edward Elgar

69. Symphony No. 6 in A minor "Tragic" – Gustav Mahler

70. Symphony No. 7 in E minor "Song of the Night" – Gustav Mahler

71. Symphony No. 4 – Charles Ives

72. Symphony No. 4 in D minor – Robert Schumann

73. Symphony No. 3 – Aaron Copland

74. Symphony No. 29 in A major – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

75. Symphony No. 4 "Inextinguishable" – Carl Nielsen

76. Symphony in Three Movements – Igor Stravinsky

77. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major – Franz Schubert

78. Symphony No. 36 in C major "Linzer" – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

79. Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor – William Walton

80. Turangalila Symphony – Oliver Messiaen

81. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major – Anton Bruckner

82. Symphony No. 3 for soprano or tenor & orchestra "Pastoral" – Ralph Vaughan Williams

83. Symphony No. 102 in B flat major – Joseph Haydn

84. Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" – Henryk Gorecki

85. Harold en Italie – Hector Berlioz

86. Symphony No. 2 – Charles Ives

87. Symphony No. 2 in C major – Robert Schumann

88. Faust Symphony – Franz Liszt

89. Symphony in C major – Georges Bizet

90. Symphony No. 3"Sinfonia Espansiva" – Carl Nielsen

91. Symphony No. 8 in C minor "Stalingrad" – Dmitri Shostakovich

92. Symphony No. 4 in C major "Poem of Ecstasy" – Alexander Scriabin

93. Symphony No. 2 in D major – Ludwig Van Beethoven

94. Symphony No. 1 in C major – Ludwig Van Beethoven

95. Symphony No. 2 in B minor – Alexander Borodin

96. Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major – Arnold Schoenberg

97. Symphony No. 6 in E minor – Ralph Vaughan Williams

98. Symphony No. 7 in C major "Leningrad" – Dmitri Shostakovich

99. Symphony No. 6 in D minor – Antonin Dvorak

100. Symphony No. 14 for soprano, bass, strings, and percussion – Dmitri Shostakovich

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-symp.html

The Bruckner 9 at 34. Now that's pretty stupid. Tchaikovsky's 6th is so high it
s kind of laughable. Mahler was pretty ill-served here as well. Oh well, it's all
opinion, right?

[ChamberNut]

The Bruckner 9 at 34. Now that's pretty stupid.

How about Bruckner's 8th?     Any Bruckner symphony could be in the Top 20 or near.  But, that is just one man's opinion.   0:)

[imperfection]

How about Bruckner's 8th?     Any Bruckner symphony could be in the Top 20 or near.  But, that is just one man's opinion.   0:)

For me, it takes up much more than that! My favourites are: 5th, 7th, 8th.

[Haffner]

How about Bruckner's 8th?     Any Bruckner symphony could be in the Top 20 or near.  But, that is just one man's opinion.   0:)

One that I completly agree with. The 7th should be way up there as well. I'm not sure what those people were thinking.

[mn dave]

A Chronology of the Symphony

[drogulus]

One that I completly agree with. The 7th should be way up there as well. I'm not sure what those people were thinking.

      I agree. I'd like to put the 6th up there, too. It's a little bit odd even by Brucknerian standards, though, so I guess it's just a favorite. 

[Haffner]

      I agree. I'd like to put the 6th up there, too. It's a little bit odd even by Brucknerian standards, though, so I guess it's just a favorite. 

I'd daresay all of Bruckner's symphonies have something going for them (including the Nullte).

[Fëanor]

A Chronology of the Symphony

Thanks for the reference! 

[The new erato]

A Chronology of the Symphony

Any chance of you making it readable by removing the confusing background?

[mn dave]

Thanks for the reference! 

You are welcome. Came across it in my webby wanderings.

[The new erato]

You are welcome. Came across it in my webby wanderings.

Thought it was your site. OK - copy and paste into a word document removed the background.,