Longest symphony in the world - standard repertoire - RODIN'S BUST

by the way, Havergal Brian's 1st symphony "Gothic" beats out the Mahler 3rd by around 10 minutes.

The Mahler 3rd does not clock in at 2 hrs, but at 1 hour 40 minutes, while the Brien opus clocks in at 1hr50.


Poor Gus.

But Brian's Githic is not standard repertoire.

Hi Justin,

I appreciate that you have respect that we stick to standard repertoire!

Regards,

Fred

Length probably has a lot of influence over whether a symphony makes it into the standard repertoire or not. The longer it gets, the less accessible the work becomes, and the less 'convenient' for orchestras to programme.

Originally Posted by Si...

Length probably has a lot of influence over whether a symphony makes it into the standard repertoire or not. The longer it gets, the less accessible the work becomes, and the less 'convenient' for orchestras to programme.

Hi Si,

You've got a point there! Of course long symphonies like Mahler's third requires a lot of resources.

Short or long, exciting or boring! I think one can say that Mahler achieved both in writing long exciting symphonies. That's my opinion!

Thanks for interesting point of view!

Fred

I just bought tickets to Mahler 8 next June!!!! AHHH!!!!

Originally Posted by SSC

And now he's a dead man!

You'll soon be dead as well, ..everyone dies...

How was the concert, Justin?

I have the 8th symphony on dvd with Leonard Bernstein, but I have never seen the 8th performed live!

By the way, found an entertaining clip from a known film, Ken Russels's biography of Mahler. It's a charicature of when Gustav converted to Catholicism!

Originally Posted by Fredrik

How was the concert, Justin?

I have the 8th symphony on dvd with Leonard Bernstein, but I have never seen the 8th performed live!

By the way, found an entertaining clip from a known film, Ken Russels's biography of Mahler. It's a charicature of when Gustav converted to Catholicism!

Haha. The concert's not until June 2009. But I'll let you know. I have the same DVD with Vienna and Bernstein.

Yes, Leonard Bernstein's version of the 8th is unbeatable! Solti's version is not bad either!

Sometimes when I go to concerts I get dissapointed, because the dvd that I have at home is so much better than what I hear at live concerts.

Must be tough for the orchestras of today to compete with the elite heroes on dvd.