Greatest 20th Century Symphonies

[drogulus]

Only just noticed this thread - i have great trouble in defining greatest as opposed to favourite in fact dont think i can define greatest so will do favourite instead
Shostakovich Symphony 8 - my favourite symphony of all i think because of the atmosphere
Vaughan Williams Symphony 5 - i find if virtually impossible to split his 3 4 5 6 all totally different but 5 is so beautiful it wins in a photo finish 
Sibelius Symphony 4 - like being lost in a cocoon of shadows - mood music supreme......

     I think favorite requires no objectivity, whereas greatest carries the implication that one considers a works place in music generally. That's one way of doing it, anyway.

     Rather than choose among works by these composers I'd say that each wrote several symphonies that belong here. A particular great/favorite of mine is the Vaughan Williams 5th in the magical performance by Barbirolli with the Philharmonia.

[vandermolen]

Do you have a CD recommendation, Jeffery? The Melodiya recording with Khachaturian conducting his Second is being released next month according to JPC.

Sarge

Sarge,

This is my favourite because of the recording (and it is a fine performance too - the opening is wonderfully intimidating). Jpc sent me a 5 euro voucher as I bought something from them before and that new CD of Khachaturian conducting his own Second Symphony on Melodiya looks tempting. However, I have him conducting this on an old Russian Disc CD and wonder if it is the same performance. You would not go wrong with the classic Decca version either (the ASV, I agree, is not so good).

Jeffrey

[Mirror Image]

My favorite 20th Century symphonies? Here are my top 10 in no particular order:

1. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
2. Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
3. Chavez: Sinfonia India (Symphony No. 2)
4. Tubin: Symphony No. 4
5. Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
6. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10
7. Bliss: A Colour Symphony
8. Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
9. Bantock: Celtic Symphony
10. Honegger: Symphony No. 2

[ttle18]

Hello,
Ah, 20th-century symphonies, one of my lifetime passions 
This would be the clearest (!) picture of what I find most essential in the field: http://ttle.perso.neuf.fr/Symphonies/cercles-sy-20s.pdf.

Now, if I had to advise an open-minded newcomer, my suggestion of the day might be the following. Let us start with Northern Europe & the Baltic states.

Sibelius: No. 7 - how material rich enough to fill a 90-minute symphony can be fully expressed within less than 25 minutes and lose none of its grandeur. Has the most wonderful, seamless transitions in any symphony.

C. Nielsen: No. 5 - rhythmic audacity, harmonic series anticipating Messiaen, sublime choral-like parts (especially in the 2nd movement), the dramatic, visionary masterpiece of a great humanist.

Stenhammar: No. 2 - outwardly more traditional than either Sibelius or Nielsen, who were his friends, but with boundless depth, dozens of repeated hearings cannot exhaust this score. Wonderful slow part in the footsteps of Beethoven's 7th.

Rosenberg: No. 4 - more of an oratorio but with intensely symphonic writing. Miraculous oboe solo. Written in 1940, a real work of love and light amidst darkness.

Valen: No. 3 - melancholy, solitary music, demands concentration but the rewards are there, fervent music, perfect melodic lines, counterpoint with a beating heart.

Tubin: No. 8 - one feels more of the craftsman here than in Holmboe, and what beautiful craft that is. No. 8 is less striking than No. 6 but reaches the apex of mystery, nightly sparks, formal elegance. Tubin was a master of endings and this has one of the most magical of all.

Holmboe: No. 11 - less spectacular than No. 8 but maybe even more perfect: mesmerizing beauty blending melody, harmony and timbres, smotth and penetrating light, with the author's ever impressive formal mastery.

Pettersson: No. 13 - as another poster said, one could hesitate with Dante-like No. 9, another giant one-movement symphony. I shall go for the 13th because of its wonderful lyrical islands, the vibrant, almost childlike emotion which can also be found in the 2nd violin concerto.

Kenins: No. 6 - also one of the best Canadian symphonies, a pristine example of Kenins's recreation of the old patterns, here a Bach fugue. The veiled, ghostly textures of the central part are heartbreaking.

Nørgård: No. 3 - demonstrates how triads and harmonic infinity series can actually generate the most complex structures. A scintillating work which really makes you "touch" the celestial spheres, marvellous without being simplistic or even comfortable.

Balakauskas: No. 5 - best synthesis to date of his orchestral universe, a sensual blend of the vivid, daring colours of his more modernist years (e.g. Symphony No. 2) and the more expansive, serene lyricism of his more recent works.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Hello Thanh-Tam Le,

good post and an impressive PDF that is! You raised my interest in some composers again; I'm listening to Holmboe 11 now. Kenins seems to be a very rare case!

Michael

[some guy]

So, when you people have listed all the symphonies of the 20th Century, this thread will die...

Amazing that no one picked up on this trenchant remark.

Here's another: No one of these people will ever have listened to all of the symphonies of the 20th century. (Not even all of us together.)

And I know that there have been attempts (though no really serious ones on this thread) to get a handle on this vexing matter of "greatness." And everyone is probably burnt out on it. But I think if we don't get a grip on it, we're doomed to the ceaseless revolving of great/favorite and to the endless squabbles that are so endemic to online discussion forums.

But hey. Some people like revolving ceaselessly and squabbling without end, amen.

So I'll just add Francis Dhomont's Frankenstein Symphony to the mix and perhaps Z'ev's symphony no. 2.* And let's see. Terterian's symphonies nos. 7 and 8, why not?

*from 2006. Is that a problem?

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

And I know that there have been attempts (though no really serious ones on this thread) to get a handle on this vexing matter of "greatness." And everyone is probably burnt out on it. But I think if we don't get a grip on it, we're doomed to the ceaseless revolving of great/favorite and to the endless squabbles that are so endemic to online discussion forums.

Not a problem at all. We all know a lot of"greatness" is often just about "currently favourite" on the information senders side and "collecting useful input" at the receivers side.
Furthermore, I often get sick reading about greatness in classical music. Reviews are full of terms like "incredible", "wonderful", "has never been done as masterly before" etc. etc. - Maybe because we're enthusiasts. We only know exaggeration, black and white

[some guy]

Not a problem at all.

In the sense that there's no "solution" to it, I agree that it's not a "problem." Which is why I referred to it as a "matter." And since it handicaps most of our discussions (the "input" is all about the sender, not about the music, so only "useful" for adding to our knowledge of the sender), I for one would like to see the matter thoroughly and dispassionately* thought out.

*Hahahaha! I make joke!!

(Oh, and just by the way, I of course realize that information about the sender can eventually be used to draw conclusions about the ostensible topic. But what a round-about and laborious method. And at it's best only guesswork. Not that language really allows anything much more than guesswork. But still!)

[abidoful]

Interesting to think this over. 20th century symphonism isn't my forte except for Sibelius and such works as Rahmaninov 2nd and the Madetoja symphonies, as well as few Mahlers. But now we are talking about greatest, not favorite and that leaves those Mahlers and Madetojas and the Rach old second out. And, what is more I have to limit myself to three!

Luckily favorite and greatest conviniently coincide in Sibelius. 
Strong candidates to pick from the Sibelius cycle are, in different ways the Fourth,the Fifth and the Seventh. I go for a classical choise and pick;

- Sibelius: Symphony 4
- Shostakovich: the Fifth (I do not feel affinity towards Shosta and I even do not know hos symphonies but I had to pick him)
- Anton Webern: Symphony (I have no idea of this work, but had to go for it)

Had to struggle a bit between Sibelius and Nielsen, but being a Finn I hope you understand my choise

Shostakovich is a great symphonist but I have more affinity to Prokofiev.
But to be fair Shosta is greater in that field.

Szymanowski isn't really a symphonist, though he has great music also in that genre.
Skrjabin reminds of Szymanowski as a symphonist, both IMO wrote only three symphonies since Szymanowskis Fourth is really a piano concerto and Skrjabins "fourth" and "fifth" are more of a symphonic poems and not really symphonies.

Could have included Lutoslawski, Meriläinen (interesting late 20th Finnish composer) or Rautavaara also but I went for these three.