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5 Favourite Symphonies?


firsty_ferret

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I've recently begun listening to more symphonic work and i was curious as to what everyone on YC found to be their top 5 favourite symphonies?

Appologies if this has already been covered in a thread

My favourites thus far are:

1. Symphony 7 - Ralph Vaughan Williams

2. Symphony 3 - Felix Mendelssohn

3. Symphony 6 - Jean Sibelius

4. Symphony 4 - Havergal Brian

5. Symphony 7 - Ludwig van Beethoven

Oscar

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I'll list my top five, in no particular order:

Barber: Symphony No. 1

Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 (That police whistle in the 2nd movement still haunts me to this day...)

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 (5?); "From the New World" (Beautiful music...and also very screamo, for classical. Fiery!)

Piston: Symphony No. 6

Rouse: Symphony No. 1

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My top 5, in no particular order, with the exception that Sib 7 is No. 1:

1. Barber, Symphony No. 2

2. Sibelius, Symphony No. 7

3. Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3

4. Berio, Sinfonia

5. Messiaen, Turangalila-Symphonie

Honorable Mentions: Webern, Symphonie, Bruckner, Symphony No. 9, Carter, Symphony No. 1, Janacek, Sinfonietta

I need to listen to Ustvolskaya's Symphony No. 5. Something I've been procrastinating on...

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1. Sibelius: Symphony No. 3

2. Elgar: Symphony No. 2

3. Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony

4. Brahms: Symphony No. 2

5. Sibelius: Kullervo Symphony

Honourable Mentions; Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony; Mahler: Symphony No.7; Thomas Ades: Tevot (a symphony in all but name)

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I'm afraid I have more than 5 "favorites" but I think in these ones:

1 Shostakovich - Symphony No. 11

2 Mahler - Symphony No.6

3 Mahler - Symphony No.7

4 Bruckner - Symphony No.9

5 Beethoven - Symphony No.9

Also Gorecki, Honegger and others...

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1. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalila Symphonie

2. Robert Simpson - Symphony No. 9 (GO LISTEN TO THIS, NOW.)

3. Henri Dutilleux - Symphony No. 2

4. Witold Lutoslawski - Symphony No. 3

5. Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 13

Honorable mentions: Penderecki - Symphony No. 8, Mahler - Symphony No. 10

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1. 2nd Symphony - J. Sibelius

2. 6th Symphony - G. Mahler

3. 9th Symphony - L. V. Beethoven

4. 45th ("Farewell") and 94th ("Surprise") - J. Haydn

5. 1st ("Classical") - S. Prokofiev

I know that they're all very famous, but that's my top 5... if it had been "Major orchestral works" and not "symphonies" I'd have more interesting things to mention...

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many favorites (I know its impossible :D but I cannot choose)

I usually listen a period the complete symphonies of one composer and after a while another, so all symphonies kind of mix up in my head...

Shostakovich 10 (and 1 and 4 are funny, 5 and 6 are great. The war-triology (7-9) is superb, 11 and 12 are slow but massive. 13 is the first I heard of him, opening is huge!)

Prokofiev 5 (1 is funny, 2 and 3 are crazy :D ; 4 is relaxed 5 till 7 are great too...)

Brahms 1 and 3 (2 is okay... 4 too, it used to be a fav, still a beauty, but heard it too often)

Tschaikofksy's Manfred symphony , and 5th and 6th, in fact all are good, 2 and 3 oh... (anyone said him already?)

Mahler only the 6th (maybe 1 and 2 also...)

I like to mention the symphonietta by Poulenc, and the 2nd by Khrennikov as honorary mentions

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  • 2 months later...

In no particular order:

Beethoven's 9th

Beethoven's 10th (Unfinished)

Mahler's 8th

Mahler's 9th

Mahler's 10th (Unfinished)

Rachmaninoff's 1st

Rachmaninoff's 3rd

My 7 favs. That's 5 if you don't include the two unfinished ones. :P

A few notes about the two unfinished symphonies: Beethoven's 10th was realized from mainly a few sketches. Mahler's 10th was more complete though, even though it had to be realized.

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  • 7 months later...
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