Your Top Ten Symphonies

[btpaul674]

1. Vaughan Williams 8
2. Sibelius 7
3. Braga Santos 2
4. Norgard 3
5. Tubin 2
6. Rautavaara 5
7. Allan-Pettersson 7
8. Ruders 1
9. Atterburg 8
10. Bax 1

[quintett op.57]

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

Obviously, no composer could have as many works as Haydn mentioned in this thread !
so far:
102
104 (3 times)
6
96
77
101
98
85
22
82
63
But it seems he's still too neglected. Or maybe people don't know how to choose one.

[Lethevich]

Obviously, no composer could have as many works as Haydn mentioned in this thread !

[...]

But it seems he's still too neglected. Or maybe people don't know how to choose one.

Yep. If I could choose something like the Paris set as one choice, that would be high on the list, but he would rarely make my top 10 for single symphonies as I like too many (plus to some degree I find them a bit more interchangable than later composers).

[The new erato]

Obviously, no composer could have as many works as Haydn mentioned in this thread !
so far:
102
104 (3 times)
6
96
77
101
98
85
22
82
63
But it seems he's still too neglected. Or maybe people don't know how to choose one.

No 88? Perhaps my favorite!

[Lilas Pastia]

In rough chronological order:

Haydn 82
Beethoven 3
Schubert 2
Brahms 4
Bruckner 5
Bruckner 9
Elgar 1
Sibelius 5
Stravinsky: symphony in 3 movements
Pettersson 6

Just about every other mentioned in this thread can be counted a runner up!

[techniquest]

What a great thread. My list currently looks like this:

Mahler 2
Vaughan Williams 2 (London)
Prokofiev 5
Mahler 8
Shostakovich 11
Walton 1
Khachaturian 2
Rachmaninov 1
Nielsen 4
Beethoven 7

[greg]

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

ah, nice list

[greg]

What a great thread. My list currently looks like this:

Mahler 2
Vaughan Williams 2 (London)
Prokofiev 5
Mahler 8
Shostakovich 11
Walton 1
Khachaturian 2
Rachmaninov 1
Nielsen 4
Beethoven 7

this, too.
anything with Mahler and Prokofiev in the same list gets a big thumbs up Greg approval. 

[quintett op.57]

Khachaturian 2

The idea of buying a symphony by Katchaturian never came to my mind. 
What kind of work is it?

[George]

this, too.
anything with Mahler and Prokofiev in the same list gets a big thumbs up Greg approval. 

I can sleep sound tonight then, as mine has Mahler 6 and Prokofiev 1. 

[greg]

I can sleep sound tonight then, as mine has Mahler 6 and Prokofiev 1. 

i don't know, i might still appear in one of your nightmares.....
i'm gonna getcha! 

[techniquest]

The idea of buying a symphony by Katchaturian never came to my mind. 
What kind of work is it?

It is a standard 4-movement symphony (1. Andante maestoso; 2. Allegro risoluto; 3. Andante sostenuto; 4. Andante mosso - allegro sostenuto). It is subtitled "The Bell" because of the chime motif at the opening and close of the symphony. Although it has all the Khachaturian trade marks, it also has a depth of feeling and a maturity of writing not often recognised in his work. I have heard 4 recordings of the work: the Vienna Philharmonic under Khachaturian himself (vinyl LP); the Armenian Philharmonic under Tjeknavorian on ASV; the Armenian Philharmonic under Topchjan (live); and the Royal Scottish under Jarvi on Chandos which is by far the best in terms of both recording and reading.
Also worth digging out if you can find it is Khachaturians 1st symphony, an extraordinary debut symphony recorded on ASV by Armenian Phil / Tjeknavorian. The 3rd symphony "Simfoniya Poema" is the one people tend to remember Khachaturian by; the vast, noisy, overblown work for huge orchestra, organ and a load of extra trumpets (15 I think). If you are into that, the best recordings I know of are the BBC Philharmonic under Glushchenko on Chandos (available on a cheap Khachaturian 'introduction' compilation CD), and the Armenian Philharmonic under Tjeknavorian - coupled with the 1st, so a real treat! There was also a version on Melodiya by Russian forces and a debut-in-the-west recording made by Stokowski. Try them out - have fun and, if you are going to listen to the 3rd, keep the volume up!!

[The new erato]

I wouldn't  be surprised if the ASV Khatchaturian turned up on Brilliant, who currently seems to be recycling lots of older ASV stuff.

[Harry]

I wouldn't  be surprised if the ASV Khatchaturian turned up on Brilliant, who currently seems to be recycling lots of older ASV stuff.

I had a brief glimpse at what they are going to release, and there is indeed a lot of ASV/Chandos/CRD/Nimbus/Hyperion, etc.
It will be feasting and harvesting time.

[Maciek]

Time to chime in here. In alphabetical order:

Beethoven 7th
Brahms 4th
Bruckner 4th
Lutoslawski 4th
Schubert Unfinished
Schumann 4th
Shostakovich 8th
Sibelius 5th
Stravinsky Psalms
Szymanowski 4th

(Do I have something for 4th Symphonies or what. And there are some 4ths in the runner-up list as well!)

(Oh, and: sorry, Greg. )

[Lilas Pastia]

Strictly speaking, the Symphony of Psalms is not a symphony. Stravinsky said that "it is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing."

In another thread, Karl mentioned that Shostakovich was not sure how to call his 14th symphony, while the second cello concerto was actually started by the composer as his 14th symphony. This is the first time I heard about that (thanks Karl!). It proves there are many structural variants to the term. Other avatars can be found, such as the just mentioned Szymanowski 4th, Berlioz' Harold en Italie or Roméo et Juliette, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde(*) or Lalo's symphonie espagnole.

(*) Mahler purposefully avoided assigning it a numbered position among his works because it would have been his 9th; that 'fateful 9th' implication weighed heavily on his refusal to include it in his numbered symphonies. However, the composer's intention is clearly stated in the score: the work is described on the title-page as   Eine Symphonie für eine Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-) Stimme und Orchester (nach Hans Bethges "Die chinesische Flöte") ('A Symphony for One Tenor and One Alto (or Baritone) Voice and Orchestra').

[Maciek]

I know you're trying to coax me into choosing your favorite (in 3 movements), André. But even though I do like it my second choice would have still been Symphony in C. So let's just keep it Symphony of (symphonized) Psalms... 0:)

(BTW, the quote you're giving doesn't really make it less of a symphony, IMO.)

[Lilas Pastia]

Absolutely. The term symphony derives from the italian sinfonia, which originally meant 'sounding together', and could mean any kind of music played by a group of instruments.

for a fascinating article on the subject, there's this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony

[greg]

Time to chime in here. In alphabetical order:

Beethoven 7th
Brahms 4th
Bruckner 4th
Lutoslawski 4th
Schubert Unfinished
Schumann 4th
Shostakovich 8th
Sibelius 5th
Stravinsky Psalms
Szymanowski 4th

(Do I have something for 4th Symphonies or what. And there are some 4ths in the runner-up list as well!)

(Oh, and: sorry, Greg. )

well, you've got Stravinsky, Brahms and Bruckner in there, at least- so i'm not complaining 

[Maciek]

Then I'm happy.