Favourite Symphony.

[zheer]

   Ok what are your favourite symphony, sadly looking through my CD collection i've collected many classical piano music but very little orchestral music. However Brahms 4th symphony along with Rachmaninoffs 2nd symphoney are my Favourite.
    So if you would be so kind as to give a list of symphonic work worth listining or purchasing, it would be much appreciated.

[elspeth]

Beethoven 7... I love all his symphonies, but no 7 is my favourite. It's a wonderful piece and great fun to play too.

I also have a soft spot for Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique... the imagery is rather macabre but well worth it!

[berrt]

my favorites are Beethoven 6, 7+8

[wotgoplunk]

I like Symphonie Fantastique as well.

However, my current favourite, overplayed as it is, is Mozart's 40th in G minor. I love the theme and have been humming it all day

[zheer]

However, my current favourite, overplayed as it is, is Mozart's 40th in G minor. I love the theme and have been humming it all day

   True, when you hear it for the first time it is as though you have heard it all you life.

[pianowolfi]

Rach 2. A world of its own to me.

[ahinton]

Rach 2. A world of its own to me.

And a wonderful symphony and a wonderful world it is, too - yet how can one possibly talk about a "favourite symphony"? The whole idea is simply ludicrous! If someone asked me to cite my "favourite" 250 symphonies, that might make more sense to me - but how can one possibly respond seriously to the challenge of citing just one when there are so many tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of them out there?...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

everyone has somewhat of a favorite, though - in terms of orchestration?  i mean- when i found out that the kimmel center was performing poulenc's organ symphony - i just got out my purse.  it takes an awful lot for me to do that lately.  hearing symphonies live give you a much better example of what they can sound like.  unfortunately, very few can afford to sit at a concert every weekend.  we go to about three concerts per year (maybe one more - including pianists). 

i think helene grimaud is scheduled to play the 'emperor' concerto (sorry - i kno w- it's not a symphony) at the kennedy center.  i don't know if it's going to be broadcast - but maybe?

anyways - i think unique orchestration does it for me.  rimsky-korsakov, poulenc (open sounds and organ sounds), and mahler's symphony of a thousand is playing next spring.  everyone says 'go to it.'  symphony and chorale combinations are quite interesting.  for calmness - dvorak.  didn't he compose the 'rheinish symphony.'  wait.  that was schumann. well, i like the rheinish and the new world.  trite as they may be.

[ahinton]

everyone has somewhat of a favorite, though - in terms of orchestration?  i mean- when i found out that the kimmel center was performing poulenc's organ symphony

Poulenc's what?

i think helene grimaud is scheduled to play the 'emperor' concerto (sorry - i kno w- it's not a symphony)

I'm glad you know that THAT isn't a symphony!

anyways - i think unique orchestration does it for me.  rimsky-korsakov, poulenc (open sounds and organ sounds), and mahler's symphony of a thousand is playing next spring.  everyone says 'go to it.'  symphony and chorale combinations are quite interesting.  for calmness - dvorak.  didn't he compose the 'rheinish symphony.'  wait.  that was schumann. well, i like the rheinish and the new world.  trite as they may be.

Here you go again - type first, think afterwards! Tony D for "calmness"? - what are you talking about. And anyway, isn't the Rheinland part of the New World (order) in any case? - you know, as in the new holy Roman empire that you write about so often? And can you please tell us precisely what is trite about those two composers' symphonies in no more than two thousand words?

Best,

Alistair

[retrouvailles]

I think she means Poulenc's Concerto for organ, timpani, and strings. He doesn't have an organ symphony.

But yeah, I have to agree with Alistair. I can give a long list of favorite symphonies (perhaps broken up into periods), but not one single one.

And can you please tell us precisely what is trite about those two composers' symphonies in no more than two thousand words?

Hah.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Beethoven 7
Liszt Faust Symphony (the handling of thematic material is very interesting)
Rachmaninov 3

though my alltime favourite orchestral work, which doesn't really quialify, is the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances.

[pianovirus]

If someone asked me to cite my "favourite" 250 symphonies, that might make more sense to me - but how can one possibly respond seriously to the challenge of citing just one when there are so many tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of them out there?...

I completely agree, but still it's fun to hear others' current preferences!
In the last weeks I have "rediscovered" Mendelssohn's Italian symphony in my CD shelf, and I'm listening to it all the time I'm not playing piano (ok, rather limited time remaining...). I cannot understand how Mendelssohn could not be happy with this work.

[ahinton]

I think she means Poulenc's Concerto for organ, timpani, and strings. He doesn't have an organ symphony.

I'm sure she does - and I know he doesn't...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

hmm. i thought i read organ symphony on the program.  forgive me.  you're probably right, alistair.  anyways - the organ will make up for whatever parts of the orchestra are missing, right?

about the 'trite' part...i didn't mean musically trite.  just music that's been around for a while.

[mikey6]

atm, prolly VW 5 or Elgar 2 - something about listening to English music in England that jells rather well.

[pita bread]

BEETHOVEN NINE

[Kassaa]

BEETHOVEN NINE

Seconded.

[dnephi]

And a wonderful symphony and a wonderful world it is, too - yet how can one possibly talk about a "favourite symphony"? The whole idea is simply ludicrous! If someone asked me to cite my "favourite" 250 symphonies, that might make more sense to me - but how can one possibly respond seriously to the challenge of citing just one when there are so many tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of them out there?...

Best,

Alistair

Why stop at 250?

Easier still would be asking: which of the Beethoven-Liszt Symphonies do you think survived transplantation best?

[soliloquy]

Today... Schnittke Symphony No. 8

[thalberg]

My favorite is Beethoven 9, then 3.

Also love Mozart 40, 41.

If you're looking for a less obvious but still high quality symphony, take a look at the Franck D minor.

[goldentone]

To add to the list: 

Mendelssohn's Scottish is superb.  My favorite is Solti, CSO.  Italian is great as well.

You'll have to listen to Mahler, too.  2, 3, 5, 6 are my favorites.

[etudes]

Beethoven 7th symphony
Brahms’s Fourth Symphony
 
ahaha edit...randomly forgot Tchaikovsky 6th

[pianowolfi]

I love also Bruckner's 4th and 8th. And Mozart No 38 and 41. And Schubert's "Unfinished" of course. And Dvorak No 9.

[sharon_f]

Jumping in late, I'm pretty sure pianistimo meant the Organ Symphony by Saint-Seans, which is an incredible work indeed.

Some others, not already mentioned, that I love:

Haydn: all of the London symphonies.
Bizet: Symphony in C (Talk about themes getting stuck in your head! Everytime I hear it the second subject in the finale stays around for days.)
Schubert #3 in D major
Tchaik 5 and finally
Messiaen's "Turangalila" Symphony. (Not really structurally a symphony, but more of a cross between a symphony, suite and concerto but boy does it have some incredible moments.)

[mike_lang]

niner

[nasalstein]

mozart 29th A-major    very smooth, healthy piece.
rachmaninoff 3rd        less massive than his previous  symphonies. at times, it sounds as if he wanted to go back and see his homeland russia... though he knew he would not make it...
and today, i listened to kleiber's beethoven 7th.....     soooooo  powerfull!!!!

[lisztisforkids]

Shostakovich's 8th and Beethoven's 7th

[rc]

The finale to Beethovens 7th makes me want to run.

I went a long time before I heard his 3rd though I'd heard about the dedication for a while.  When I finally did hear it, it blew me away.  That slow movement - wow.

Yeah, it'd be easier to list 250 symphonies.  I easily have more orchestral recordings than piano.  I tend to explore the piano music enough to find what I like, then just learn it rather than buy a recording.

[burstroman]

the 3-part sinfonia of bach in f minor

[wotgoplunk]

Messiaen's "Turangalila" Symphony. (Not really structurally a symphony, but more of a cross between a symphony, suite and concerto but boy does it have some incredible moments.)

The Turangalila was ruined for me by Futurama.

[retrouvailles]

Haha, good one. The Turangalîla is probably my all time favorite, if it counts as a true symphony. The orchestration and piano writing in that piece cannot be matched.

[mephisto]

The Turangalila was ruined for me by Futurama.

Did Futurama parodise the Turangalila symphony?

[opus57]

There are a lot of Symphonies I like, but I think Beethovens 8th and Dvoraks 8th "From the new world" are these ones I listened the most until now...

Greetings

[retrouvailles]

Did Futurama parodise the Turangalila symphony?

No, but one of the character's names is Turanga Leela.

[richard black]

Like many who've posted above I have no one favourite symphony but I have great fondness, among several already cited, for Panufnik's 3rd. And Pettersson's 7th. And Nielsen's 4th, Sibelius's 7th, Hovhaness's 2nd (of 63).... and, good grief, Mozart! Numbers 34-41 inclusive (yes I know there's no 37) for a start - not to mention plenty of Haydn's. Bruckner's 3rd to 9th, Mahler's, er, all of them, Shostakovich 15 (and most of the other 14).

[pianogeek_cz]

Wow, only one Shostakovich so far?
Lemme add another Shosty. Babi Jar. Number 13, I think.