Classical music: symphonies you enjoy.

[Sunhillow]

On the old PE there used to be some discussion about classical music, and I thought to revive that. The title has been chosen deliberately, for I do not only want to hear your favorite symphonies, but also symphonies that you've just discovered, that you think are underestimated, or series of symphonies that you've taken on as a challenge.

As for the last category, I've recently bought the Myaskovsky-box, containing all 27 (!) symphonies and some orchestral works with it. My experience so far is that none of them stands out, but all are at least interesting. It's a daunting task though, for each of the symphonies have Mahler-length. Also, Naxos started with a series of all the Weinberg-symphonies, also a great discovery. He has 22 symphonies, and 4 chamber-symphonies, some of which are in fact 'normal' symphonies. Coincidentally, Naxos also started a series for the Villa-Lobos symphonies, who are much better than I expected.

My all-time favorite symphony though is the mysterious 4th by Sibelius. Youtube has this stunning video of it, and the camera understands the mystery of it:



Other favorites of mine:

Brahms - 4th (especially the Kleiber-one)
Vaughan Williams - 5th
Shostakovich - 5th, closely followed by 8th, 10th and 4th
Beethoven - 3rd, Eroica.

Underestimated:
Shostakovich - 6th. A strange beast. Feels 'unfinished', but the first movement is so utterly brilliant.
Dvorak - all the symphonies below 7. My current favorite: 3th. Hauntingly beautiful.
Mahler - 3rd. Seldom mentioned as favorite, but I just like the themes and the children's choir.
Borodin - 1st. I like it (a little bit) more than the (more familiar) 2nd. Both are essential though.
Martinu - 3rd. But I could also pick another. I like the fact he always put a piano in his music (except for in his string quartets, duh).

[iguana]

given prog rock’s keyboard bias i am currently enjoying some french romantic organ symphonies. they fell out of flavour for some time due to an organ building movement back to “basics“ (so to speak), a rather pietist philosophy and a less megalomanic style of construction, composition and performance, but they are being gradually rediscovered and there is a lot of grand music to discover.

i am not too knowledgeable on the subject but jean marie widor’s symphonies #5 (with the famous toccata – “machine messiah”, anyone?) and #6 are a good starting point. camille saint-saens is another port of call. also, widor’s own students henri mulet, charles dubois, eugene gigout and leon boellmann have composed some breathtaking work.

[Yodelgoat]

I stick with the classics - Bach Beethoven Motzart my favorite by far being Rossini - Now that guy (not Motzart) knew how to put "too many notes" into a song.

[Rarebird]

All 3 symphonies by Johan de Meij.

[ChrisXymphonia]

All 3 symphonies by Johan de Meij.

Good call although I vastly prefer the original windband versions.

[Rarebird]

Good call although I vastly prefer the original windband versions.

I know the first one was originally written for windband, but alas it seems not to be available anymore
The third one never was written for windband, according to the booklet. I don't know if there is a windband version of the second one.

[gregory]

Britten Cello Symphony
Mahler 5th
Brahms 4th
Prokoffiev 1st
Honegger 5th
Vaughann-Williams 4th, 3d
Lutoslawski 4th
Ives 3d
Beethoven 7th

[helicase]

Górecki - 2nd (Copernican) & 3rd (Sorrowful Songs)
Most of the Shostakovich symphonies, notably 4, 5, 7, 10
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
Mahler - 1st
Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony

french romantic organ symphonies.

Dupré - Symphonie-Passion

[nsmith1002]

Shostakovich - 6th. A strange beast. Feels 'unfinished', but the first movement is so utterly brilliant.

It most certainly is unbalanced as that first movement is longer than the remaining two combined. And what an absolutely devastating Largo that first movement is. Probably my favorite slow movement of all his symphonic works.


A short list of my favorite symphonies (I'm limiting myself to just one symphony per composer):


Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) - Symphony No. 39 in G minor

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756 - 1792) - Symphony in C minor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) - Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183/173dB
The first movement of this is heard at the beginning of Miloš Forman's film Amadeus.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) - Symphony No. 7 in A major, OP. 92 (Carlos Kleiber's my favorite recording)

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) - Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished", D.759 (Kleiber's my favorite recording)

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 (Bruno Walter & Columbia Symphony Orchestra)

Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887) - Symphony No. 2 in B minor

Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904) - Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World", Op. 95 (Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

César Franck (1822 - 1890) - Symphony in D minor (Montreux & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) - Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52 (Järvi & Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra)
I love the above mentioned Sibelius Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63, but I'm going to champion this unloved stepchild of Sibelius' symphonies.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) - Symphony No. 11 in G minor "The Year 1905", Op. 103 (Stokowski & Houston Symphony Orchestra)
This is a very "cinematic" (for want of a better word) symphony depicting the events of "Bloody Sunday", January 22nd, 1905 when 22 unarmed protesters were murdered by the Czar's guards in St. Petersburg. The cor anglais solo of the symphony's final movement, in particular, is like seeing red blood flowing on white snow...

[LighthouseKeeper]

Some that haven't been mentioned and a little on the obscure side.

Tüür: Symphony #4, "Magma" - composer from Estonia, very imaginative.
Rautavaara: Symphony # 7 "Annunciations" - most prefer his other works Angel of Light or Cantus Articus.

[iguana]

Dupré - Symphonie-Passion

found some excerpts on youtube. this is mindblowing. dank u wel!

[Trane]

Not big in symphonies (though I like a few, namely Dvorak's New World), given the extended orchestra

I'm more into chamber music (quartet or quintet)..

It's maybe my Fripposaurian side

[Zeuhlmate]

Symphonies 'sensu strictu' or just orchestral works?

Stravinsky - Le Sacre (well its a ballet)
Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms
Stravinsky - Les Noces
Stravinsky - Symphony in Three Movements
Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé
Debussy - La mer
Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (too small to be a symphonie?)
Dvorak - New world
William Mathias - Lux eterna
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
Gustav Holst - the planets
Gorécki - Symphony nr 3.
Mahler's 2.

and many many others...Per Nørgaard, César Franck, Carl Nielsen, Martinu, Varese, Carl Orff ...

[Azol]

Not much love for Bruckner, eh?

[Progmatic]

One of my favourite classical tune ever

[helicase]

found some excerpts on youtube. this is mindblowing. dank u wel!

Glad you like it. Apparently most of Symphonie-Passion comes from an improvisation and Dupré only wrote it down afterwards. And according to some not until about three years later.

[Fracktured]

Bruckner
Dvorak
Beethoven
Vaughan Williams
Alwyn
Schubert
William Schuman
Schostokovich
Prokofiev
Sibelius
Robert Simpson
Mahler
and...
Beethoven (yeah I mentioned him twice because he was the greatest composer of all time.)

[Finn_McCool]

I'm glad to see Shostakovich 11 getting a mention. It is very evocative and creepy.

[No Pride]

Symphonies 'sensu strictu' or just orchestral works?

I was wondering that myself. But I'm going to assume the OP means orchestral works.

Stravinksky: The Firebird, The Rites of Spring, Petroushka
Brahms: Fourth Symphony, German Requiem
Debussy: La Mer, Suite Bergamasque, Afternoon of a Faun
Ravel: Daphnes et Chloe, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Le Tombeau de Couperin, La Valse
Respighi: The Pines of Rome
Hindemith: Mathis der Mahler, Symphonic Metamorphises
Dutilleux{ Symphony #2 (Le Double)
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos # 1 and 2
Rimsky Korsakoff: Scheherazade

[walt]

I've grown rather fond of Henri Dutilleux Symphony No.2.It has some redolence of Ravel and Debussy but with Dutilleux's own unique touch.

[No Pride]

I've grown rather fond of Henri Dutilleux Symphony No.2.It has some redolence of Ravel and Debussy but with Dutilleux's own unique touch.

Must be the French connection. But yeah, I think of him as a missing link between Impressionism and more modernistic classical sensibilities. I first discovered him through his one and only piano sonata, which I've always regarded as a fantastic piece. His earlier stuff was a bit more tonal and impressionistic; he got more "out" later.

[WJK59]

Some that haven't been mentioned and a little on the obscure side.

Tüür: Symphony #4, "Magma" - composer from Estonia, very imaginative.
Rautavaara: Symphony # 7 "Annunciations" - most prefer his other works Angel of Light or Cantus Articus.

Hmm - I don't have this one. I only have Chrystallisatio and Flux (which contains Symphony #3), both of which I'd recommend. Forgive me if I'm stating an already known fact, but before becoming better known in classical music circles, Erkki-Sven Tüür led the progressive rock band In Spe, and released back in the late 70s/early 80s, and released an excellent (albeit short) self-titled CD, in addition to Typewriter Concerto.
WK

[LighthouseKeeper]

Hmm - I don't have this one. I only have Chrystallisatio and Flux (which contains Symphony #3), both of which I'd recommend. Forgive me if I'm stating an already known fact, but before becoming better known in classical music circles, Erkki-Sven Tüür led the progressive rock band In Spe, and released back in the late 70s/early 80s, and released an excellent (albeit short) self-titled CD, in addition to Typewriter Concerto.
WK

I also have Flux and have heard others and I think Magma eclipses all, although I haven't heard Chrystallisatio. I think he is a very innovative composer who incorporates instrumentation of more modern music into the classical format.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_V4C1Gscw0

[Fracktured]

Gliere - Symphony no. 3 Ilya Muromets

[Facelift]

I'm going to assume that the OP meant "symphonies," and not just orchestral pieces, since I've never encountered anyone who listens to a lot of classical music who interchangeably used the terms.

I'm not going with "best" or even "favorite," but simply my estimate of the ones I've played the most over the last 10 years.

They'd probably be:

Beethoven 6/7/8
Ives 2/3
Messiaen - Turangalila
Shostakovich 5/10
Mahler 6
Haydn 100
Schubert 8/9