Thread: Best Beethoven symphonies

Hi.
Beethoven, it seems, will never be a name forgotten. His name remains highly revered in the world of classical music all over the world. His contributions to the symphony have influenced the many composers following his death.
i am very happy to see this forum.

Thank you .

nuimos.

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1- 9th Symphony
2- 3rd Symphony
3- 7th Symphony
4- 5th Symphony
5- 6th Symphony
6- 8th Symphony
7- 1st Symphony
8- 4th Symphony
9- 2nd Symphony

I love them all anyway.

The best symphony of the master would be the the 8th. A very charming piece and well put together. Here are the runner ups.

3
4
6
1
2
7
5
9 ( His most overrated work.)

Strangely given the 9ths huge popularity it was the one that i needed a while to appreciate most - but now i feel it is too much of a leviathan to put underneath the rest as it is seems overwhelmingly to be a master work even after a great deal of suspicion and scrutiny on my part previously-

in order my preferences are -

9
7
8
5
6
4

rest im indifferent to.

1- no 8
2- no 9
3- no 6
4- no 3

5
7 (yeah, those Kleiber recordings are sooo awesome!)
9/6 (tied :P)
3
8

Hi

I'm new to classical music but already a great admirer of Beethoven. My list:

7.
Especially the 1. and 2. movement. Some of the best music i've ever heard

5.
Especially the 1. movement (no surprise here ).

3.
Falls far behind the other two, but i still enjoy it very much

9.
My opinion: The work of a complete madman. Monstrous and insane.

6.
I'm not a great fan of programm music, but since this ist half a symphonie and only half a programm piece, it works for me

4.
Nothing special - for Beethoven

8.
Stand's in the Shadow of the 7. and 9.

2.
Solid, but nothing special.

1.
Not heard so far

All my recordings, except the 9., are played by the New York Philharmonic under Bernstein (the 60's recordings from the "Bernstein Century" on Sony Classical). The 9. is played by the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan (DGG, from the early 60's).

I bought a Box set of Daniel Barenboim conducting the symphonies so now I have changed my list a little

9. Weller (John Tomlinson in the O freunde of the 4th movement was in my opinion the best. I would kill to hear Samuel Ramey do this)
7. Barenboim
6. Weller
5. Barenboim
3. Solti
8. Barenboim
4. Weller
2. Barenboim
1. Barenboim

The uncompleted 10th symphony goes out to Walter Weller because it is the only box set I own that has the 10th.

Bobotox, give me a break!!!
you dislike the 9th because it is overrated?
Hey anyone thinks that a masterpiece should be dropped out of taste because so other people already like it?
Doesn't seem logic. However there are 2 other great symphonies that are, in my opinion, "underrated" namely the 4th and particularly the 7th

Salieri, go for Harnoncourt's set...excellent sound and performance although different from the standard Karajan sets

I'm new to this forum and to the pleasure of classical music in general and so I do not feel that I am ready to rate Beethoven's symphonies.

In order for Beethoven himself to have some input I would like to mention that at one point in the summer of 1817 Beethoven was in a conversation with the poet, Christian Kuffner who asked him what his favourite symphony was and Beethoven replied that it was the "Eroica". By 1817 Beethoven had composed all the symphonies but the ninth.

I'm very much enjoying my time here and am learning alot from reading the posts.

Adore them all. But for fun:

7, 3, 4, 5, 9, 6, 1, 2, 8

Originally Posted by terotero

Salieri, go for Harnoncourt's set...excellent sound and performance although different from the standard Karajan sets

I shall definitely keep it in mind. You can never have to many Beethoven recordings.

1st - 6
2nd - 9
3rd - 5
4th - 3
5th - 7

The remaining symphonies are hard to decide upon a definitive order.

The 6th is the first symphony I can remember seeing performed on TV and actually watching all the way through. I think it was because parts of it reminded me of the Rupert the Bear theme tune. It is definitely underrated in my opinion.

I really tried to like the 5th as much all the way through, as the 1st movement is infathomable genius with a motif only paralleled in memorability by Smoke on the Water, but as a whole the work is relatively disappointing.

Originally Posted by terotero

go for Harnoncourt's set

Errr, dunno, I'd go for Norrington, Mackerras and Paavo Jarvi. All three are chamber orchestra versions, Norrington being as true to the original score as possible, Mackerras successfully combines both 'old' and 'new' approaches and Jarvi simply kicks some major ass with his Beethoven.