12 favourite symphonies

[vaneramos]

Others have been compiling lists of their most frequently played MP3s, something I can't provide. Instead, here is a list of my favourite symphonies, something I've been contemplating for several months. I know the absence of Mozart and Haydn from this list is inexcusable (and yes I do like them), but my tastes lie firmly in gushy Romanticism, and hell this is my journal. Here they are. Starting with the best:

1. Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major
   This has been my favourite piece of music since I was about 12. I would turn off all the lights and lie in the dark listening to it. It voyages through sunny hillsides and dark winter nights, progressing toward a majestic and haunting apotheosis, uncanny really.


2. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major
   Incredibly serene. During periods of my life subject to insomnia, I would play this at bedtime; as the final ethereal hush of strings gradually resolved, I would lose consciousness.
   
3. Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major
   Clearly there's a pattern here. D Major is one of the sunniest keys, and this is one of my favourite feel-good pieces. The ending is sheer jubilation.
   
4. Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World"
   It's hard to choose from 7, 8 and 9, but this is an essential part of my personal history, the piece that introduced me to symphonic music. I received a recording from my brother when I was about 8, and the heroic theme of the fourth movement was one of the first tunes that ever got stuck in my head. Besides, the Adagio is a masterpiece.
   
5. Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor
   Big orchestral sound, yum. The Adagio features one of the most poignant and unforgettable of all Romantic melodies.
   
6. Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C minor
   Okay, I love music the same as I like sex: long, passionate and slow. At the heart of this symphony is the Daddy of all Adagios, 25 minutes. Add the dramatic outer movements and we have 80 minutes of tempestuous lovemaking.
   
7. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
   This is actually a symphonic suite, and features a solo violin representing the voice of Scheherazade. It tells the story of a king who married a virgin every day, sending the previous day's wife to be beheaded. Scheherazade persuaded him to let her live if she could tell a good enough story to keep him in suspense. She carried this on for one thousand and one nights, and in the end the king spared her. This is a masterpiece of descriptive music.
   
8. Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in C Major, the "Great"
   More feel-good music, this could have been the inspiration for the Energizer Bunny.
   
9. Mahler: Symphony No. 6
   Now for something completely different, a symphony of heroic proportions that ends in utter despair. But along the way, the slow movement takes us to a sublime mountain retreat.
   
10. Tchaikovsky: Manfred
    I like all six numbered symphonies, but the last three famous ones were overplayed when I was growing up. I first encountered Manfred as the ravishing, heart-wrenching title music of the BBC production of Anna Karenina, but didn't get to know and the entire composition until years later. This is another symphonic poem like Scheherazade.
    
11. Strauss: Ein Alpensinfonie
    One continuous movement relating a day in the life of a mountain, as a climber sets out at daybreak, reaching the top in time for a lightning storm, and returning safely home. It's brilliant.
    
12. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
    I include Ludwig grudgingly. Like the Tchaikovsky symphonies, Beethoven's 5th, 6th and 9th were overplayed at my house. My parents weren't much interested in chamber or vocal music, so the symphonies got extremely tired. I discoverd No. 7 on my own. This has one of my favourite grand finales, those groaning basses under rising turbulence.

Well that took long enough. I'll have to post my favourite concertos another time.

Comments

[blt4success66.livejournal.com]

First of all, I didn't take the time to read all of your journal but I did manage to come to your journal by way of lowfatmuffin. I hope that you don't mind but I added you because in just a few short words, you reminded me that I am (and my journal IS the story of) a shallow and most vain person and I have forgotten to indulge what was a once and most desired cultured life. I once was a music major and easily entranced by the classics.

Secondly, while some would choose to argue the point, Beethoven was a transitional composer, at best, from the Classic to Romantic period. Actually, his 9th Symphony was the completion of that transition even though he was deaf by the time it was completed and performed.

One point of interest about old Beethoven was that his most popular and successful symphonies were the odd numbered ones. Don't ask me why, it just happened.

Inexcusable or not, don't apologize for your Romantic leadings. For me, Classicism is my favorite. If I'm listening to Minnesota Public Radio, I can usually place a piece in the correct period. If I really listen and analyze it, I can usually name the composer, provided I've heard enough of that particular composer's work. I guess all those "drop the needle" tests did pay off in school.

Blessings!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for stopping by, and welcome.

I've heard similar points about the Beethoven odd-numbered symphonies before, although apart from the 7th I would like have listed the 4th or 6th. I like the good-humoured Beethoven.

Call it transitional or highly original, I think he was a great composer; it's just that I prefer the fuller sound of the late 19th Century orchestra. It could be argued that Beethoven paved the way for that development.

[blt4success66.livejournal.com]

And that is why when you talk about masters of the Classical age, there is no doubt that our good masters, Mozart & Haydn are truly classical.

Beethoven is grouped into the Classical age but when you look at the lush sounds that seem to be packed into his 9th symphony, you have a master that has transcended both periods.

I agree with your point about the 19th Century Romantics. Rules seemed to be thrown out and even when we enter the 20th Century, those bounds of musical composition continue to be stretched.

Ah, my blood is pumping now. I must get back to school soon!

[rsc.livejournal.com]

One need never apologize for one's tastes...


Even when they're wrong. :-)

It's hard for me to imagine placing Vaughn Williams, Bruckner, or Rachmaninoff ahead of Mozart, but such differences are what makes life interesting.

Then again, I tend not to do "top 10" lists because there are probably more than ten symphonies tied for first.

Most striking to me is your choice of Mahler symphony. The 6th is a wonderful piece in many ways, but the despair it expresses is so overwhelming that I can't face the idea of listening to it frequently. I'd probably go for the 2nd or Das Lied von der Erde.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Around the time of Herbert von Karajan's death, CBC did a program featuring many of his recordings. I learned that his three favourite symphonies were the ones that ended in utter despair: the Brahms Fourth, the Sibelius Fourth and the Mahler Sixth. It was the first time I ever heard the Andante performed. For this list I considered Mahler 1 and 2 as well, but this Andante is still my favourite Mahler movement.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I might quibble with that characterization of the Brahms -- sombre as the end of the 4th is, I don't hear "utter despair" in it, or indeed in any Brahms that I can think of.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, the word used was probably desolation rather than despair. It fits the Sibelius better, too.

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

We would SO get along!!!!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Oh good! :-)

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

Just get us 12-cd changer thingy and we'd be golden with that list!!!

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Good list!

I'd change the Vaughan-Williams to the 5th or 6th with its whispered ending.

I'd choose the Mahler 3rd.

I'd replace the Brahms with the Mozart 40th.

I'd add the Sibelius 5th and 7th to your choice of the 2nd.

I'd replace Bruckner with a Shostokovitch or maybe the Stravinsky symphony in 3 movements, ( Bruckner being a bit amorphous for me...I prefer something a bit astringent ).

I'd go for the terribly familiar but wonderful 5th or 6th for the Tchaikovsky.

The concertos are even more varied and fun, and a form I prefer to the symphony. ( well, maybe excluding the Beethoven 7th, which I adore ).

I'm looking foreward to that concerto post.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Ooops, I meant Vaughan Williams' 5th! I shouldn't do things like this at 2 o'clock in the morning. Of course the 2nd is nice, too, but it's the 5th that is so incredibly serene.

It would be fair to say I prefer concertos, too. In fact when I did the concerto list, I couldn't restrict myself to 10, which was why I decided to allow myself two more symphonies.

It will be interesting to see how this list will change in a few years. I doubt my first three choices will ever change, but the others, maybe.

[kenhighcountry.livejournal.com]

Although I might (personally) quibble with this one or that one, by and large it's a list I'm comfortable with.
But, for me, Mahler's 1st, schmaltzy as it is in part, was the first symphony to grab me and hold me, and it will always be on my top ten list.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That symphony played a similar role in my life. I was raised on a steady diet of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Most later Romanticism seemed incomprehensible to me. But after I heard the Sibelius 2nd and Mahler 1st, I was hooked.

[f8n-begorra.livejournal.com]

A wonderful selection. Now I can't ewait to hear about your preferred performances for each piece..?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

For the Bruckner 8th and Mahler 6th, definitely Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Unfortunately I am not a big enough audiophile to make recommendations for the rest. But here are the recordings I own, some of which I have chosen by preference over others, and some by default:

Sibelius 2nd: Neemi Järvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Vaughan Williams 5th: Adrian Boult, London Philharmonic
Brahms 2nd: Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic
Dvorak 9th: Rafael Kubelik, Berlin Philharmonic
Rachmaninoff 2nd: André Previn, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Bruckner 8th: Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic
Rimsky-Korsakov Sheherazade: Charles Dutoit, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Schubert 8th: George Szell, Cleveland Orchestra
Mahler 6th: Claudio Abbado, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Tchaikovsky Manfred: Yuri Simonov, London Symphony Orchestra
Strauss Alpensinfonie: Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic
Beethoven 7th: Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic

[stephe.livejournal.com]

Very nice list. I tend to prefer the Mahler 3 to 6 (for early childhood reasons) and Bruckner 6 to 8, but they're all good.

I had the chance to play the Schubert 8 with the Vermont Youth Orchestra many years ago. It's as fun to play as it is to hear. Maybe more so.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

What instrument did you play?

[stephe.livejournal.com]

Bassoon. Which means that I really got a chance to let rip in pieces like Schubert's C-Major during the loud, full-orchestral pasages.

[halation.livejournal.com]

oh oh oh

but where is mahler's 8th!

:-)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, I hardly know it. Did I make a comment about that symphony in your journal a little while ago? I might have done, but I must have been thinking of Bruckner's 8th.

I'm pleased to say I do have it in my library. I probably listened to it once or twice and then forgot about it. I went through a period of depression when I could not stand listening to music. Now I'm having fun rediscovering my collection.

Anyway, I'm listening to Mahler's 8th right now.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Although I know most of the Mahler symphonies quite well, I've never heard the 8th. I should fix that.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

He returns to the grand cantata sound, with eight soloists.

[handlebear.livejournal.com]

What an interesting and varied taste you have! Some of your choices would be on my list.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in hearing your favourites sometime, too. :-)