Your Top Ten Symphonies

[71 dB]

I watched Blade Runner yesterday and discovered who db 71 was - is your user name from that movie?

I haven't seen Blade Runner for a long time and I don't remember such a character in the movie. My username comes from the fact that I was born in 1971 and I am an acoustics engineer, hence dB (decibel). Small d, capital B (comes from the name Alexander Graham Bell).

71 dB is a typical sound pressure level for audible speak.

[The new erato]

db 71 was a code identifier for a genetic manipulator discovered on some snake skin found by Harrison Ford - had always thought your signature had with deci Bells to do, but when I saw it I thought I had to ask.

[BachQ]

Today's 10

Bruckner 9
Brahms 4
Mozart 41
Beethoven 7
Mahler 2
Mahler 3
Mahler 6
Marhler 9
Pettersson 7
Dvorak 7

[Bonehelm]

Beethoven 9
Beethoven 7
Beethoven 5
Beethoven 3
Tchaikovsky 6
Tchaikovsky 5
Mozart 40
Mozart 41
Hadyn 94
Mahler 2

In roughly that order...

[bhodges]

Today's 10 (in no particular order).  The Bruckner and Mahler Eighths would probably be on the list every day, but otherwise, all are up for grabs.  Alas, today: no Schnittke, Lutoslawski, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius...and just last Sunday I heard the Mozart Jupiter with Levine and the MET Orchestra in a performance that made me think I need to hear this more often.

Bruckner: 8
Mahler: 8
Mahler: 6
Mahler: 2
Shostakovich: 6
Prokofiev: 3
Berio: Sinfonia
Brahms: 4
Dvorak: 6
Beethoven: 9

--Bruce

[Bunny]

In no particular order:

Beethoven: 9, 3
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, 6
Mozart: 40, 41
Brahms: 1
Haydn: La Reine
Dvorak: 9
Schubert: 9
Sibelius: Kullervo

[karlhenning]

Sibelius: Kullervo

Hah! That's really a sort-of-oratorio! 

[Danny]

I can't believe I forgot Tchaikovksy's Fifth!  And Beethoven's Ninth!  Hmmmmm............

11) Beethoven No 9
12) Tchaikovsky No 5
13) Mahler No 1
14) Prokofiev 'Classical'
15) Bruckner No 4

[Danny]

And Sibelius!  Aaaaaaaaaaarggggggh!

16) Sibelius Fourth
17) Sibelius Second
18) Beethoven Sixth
19) Mahler No. 9
20) Mendelssohn Italian

[JoshLilly]

...
Wagner C Maj
...

Dang, amazing to actually see someone loves this symphony as much as I do. I've even talked to Wagner fans who weren't even aware of its existence. I think it's one of the best symphonies I've heard in my entire life. I might even include it on my top 10 list at this time, if I were able to force myself to make one.

Sorry about the semi-derailment, but that's an unusual and delightful discovery to me, for someone to list this work.


EDIT: Someone asked in astonishment how someone could put F.J. Haydn's 6th on such a list. Allow me to divert some of that stunned wonder my way.  My favourite symphony of his.

[Harry]

Is a top thousand possibly.
So much choice.

[Nunc Dimittis]

This week's top ten

Mozart 40
Vaughan Williams 6
Pettersson 7
Bax 3
Walton 1
Diamond 2
Mennin 7
Shostakovich 8
Stravinsky Sym. in 3 mvts.
Sibelius 5

[Christo]

Today, but only at this hour, the Top Ten are (in alphabetical order:)

Andriessen 3
Beethoven 3
Brian 1 ('Gothic')
Braga Santos 4
Holmboe 8
Nielsen 5
Shostakovich 15
Tubin 6
Vaughan Williams 6
Vermeulen 2

[gomro]

At present the top ten are:

Hanson 3rd
Shostakovich 5th
Yoshimatsu 4th
Yashiro
Messiaen "Turangalila"
Gerhard 3rd "Collages"
Wuorinen "Two Part Symphony"
Akutagawa "Allora"
Beethoven 9th
Vaughan Williams 7th "Antartica"

That could change at any moment.

[Xenophanes]

I'll go for the ones I have listened to most lately, not claim that they are all the greatest.  Preferences and circumstances play a part as well. Mostly no particular order.

1) Beethoven 9 -- well, we performed this on May 12, so I had to listen to 4th movement a lot. 

2) Beethoven 6 -- I just love it.

3) Rachmaninoff 2

4) Mozart 35 -- the Haffner is a really wonderful work.

5) Mozart 41

6) Schubert 9

7) Sibelius 5

Haydn 22 -- Hey! It's the Philosopher.

9) Brahms 4 (or maybe 1)

10) Haydn 82 "L'ours"

[Papy Oli]

My favorites :

1 - Mahler 2
2 - Mahler 1
3 - Schubert 8
4 - Brahms 4
5 - Mahler 6
6 - Mahler 5
7 - Beethoven 9
8 - Dvorak 9
9 - Gorecki 3
10 - the next ones i'll discover

[S709]

10. Haydn's No. 6

Indeed "Le Matin" is beautiful.

Boyce No. 1

That is a gem!

Haydn 22 -- Hey! It's the Philosopher.
10) Haydn 82 "L'ours"

Those are wonderful. I love the conclusion of "L'ours" and the opening of "Der Philosoph" especially.


Mine, done by randomly choosing which 'first comes to mind' and then arranging (which is pretty hard):

1. Gustav Mahler: No. 5
2. Gustav Mahler: No. 9
3. Gustav Mahler: No. 6
4. Franz Joseph Haydn: No. 63 "La Roxelane"
5. Gloria Coates: No. 14 "Symphony in Microtones"
6. Dmitri Shostakovich: No. 8
7. Allan Pettersson: No. 8
8. Malcolm Arnold: No. 7
9. Alfred Schnittke: No. 4
10. Allan Pettersson: No. 14


... and if I may be indulgent, the ones that didn't make the top 10 list:

Franz Joseph Haydn: No. 88
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: No. 18
Allan Pettersson: No. 6
Witold Lutoslawski: No. 3
Allan Pettersson: No. 7
Allan Pettersson: No. 13
Ludwig van Beethoven: No. 7
Anton Bruckner: No. 4
Jean Sibelius: No. 6
Ralph Vaughan Williams: No. 5
Franz Joseph Haydn: No. 80
Dmitri Shostakovich: No. 11
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: No. 5
Allan Pettersson: No. 9
Kalevi Aho: No. 7 "Insect Symphony"
Takashi Yoshimatsu: No. 4
Gavriil Nikolayevich Popov: No. 1

... and well I could list a lot more of Haydn's which I love.

[Bogey]

My username comes from the fact that I was born in 1971 and I am an acoustics engineer, hence dB (decibel). Small d, capital B (comes from the name Alexander Graham Bell).

71 dB is a typical sound pressure level for audible speak.

That's awesome....very cool.

[George]

That's awesome....very cool.

I think so as well. 

[71 dB]

Thanks Bogey & George!