[tbazar]

Here we go...
1. Beethoven 9, Abendroth, Berlin RSO
2. Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Monteux, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
3. Brahms 1, Van Beinum, Concertgebouw Amsterdam
4. Beethoven 5, Prohaska, Vienna State Opera Orchestra
5. Bruckner 7, Ormandy, Philadelphia Orch.
6. Schumann 2, Paray, Detroit Orch.
7. Honegger 2&3, Baudo, Czech Phil.
8. Shostakovich 10, Mitropoulos, NY Phil.
9. Brahms 4, Paray, Detroit
10. Mahler 2, Scherchen, Vienna Opera Orch.

 

[Xisten267]

I'm very interested in the preferred performances of the favorite symphonies of the members, so anyone naming them along with the works will be getting my like in this thread.

For the time being:

Sibelius: Symphony no. 7
Beethoven: Symphony no. 9
Brahms: Symphony no. 4
Mahler: Symphony no. 2
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Bruckner: Symphony no. 7
Sibelius: Symphony no. 4
Sibelius: Symphony no. 5
Beethoven: Symphony no. 6
Mahler: Symphony no. 3

I have little experience with recordings of the Sibelius' symphonies. Do you have a favorite performance for Sibelius' seventh?

 

[Bruckner Anton]

1. Beethoven 3
2. Brahms 4
3. Beethoven 9
4. Mozart 41
5. Beethoven 6
6. Berlioz SF
7. Brahms 3
8. Sibelius 7
9. Mahler 9
10. Bruckner 8

 

[szabomd]

1. Brahms 1
2. Brahms 4
3. Tchaikovsky 1
4. Mahler 2
5. Tchaikovsky 6
6. Shostakovich 7
7. Mahler 6
8. Beethoven 7
9. Sibelius 2
10. Beethoven 9

 

[MusicSybarite]

An updated list is needed from me (in any order):

Langgaard 6
Walton 1
Mahler 6
Shostakovich 8
Tubin 2
Sibelius 6
Nielsen 5
Vaughan Williams 9
Dvorak 8
Roussel 2

 

[tbazar]

Try Sibelius 7 with Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony.
Also, check out Sibelius 4 with the same.
I prefer 4 over 7.

 

[OCEANE]

It looks like the last top 10 symphonies thread petered out last year, but I have the urge to share a list of my own and see yours. I will encourage everyone to provide a brief justification of each piece and their favorite recording.

10. Haydn 93
Szell/Cleveland
Hilarity, hijinks, tuneful fodder for whistling

9. Mozart 35
Bohm/BPO
Unrestrained exuberance

8. Mahler 7
Abbado/Lucerne Festival (concert)
Nirvana, hallucination

7. Elgar 2
Davis/BRSO (concert)
Striving, yearning, wistfulness

6. Bruckner 6
Jochum/BRSO (1967)
Solving a difficult enigma

5. Tchaikovsky 6
Jansons/Oslo
Turbulence, bipolarity

4. Brahms 4
Kleiber/Vienna
Coherence, logic, depth

3. Beethoven 6
Vanska/Minnesota
An ecosystem in perfect harmony

2. Mahler 6
Jansons/BRSO (concert)
The existence of hope despite crushing bleakness

1. Schubert 9
Dohnanyi/Cleveland
Nobility, clarity, vitality, a trancelike 45 min of bliss

It's a very encouraging sharing. I could see your point but it's hard for me to briefly explain the justification for my loved symphonies because the absolute music is very much a sense of expression and feeling.

The following are my 10 favorite symphonies (there are many others) and I list out the versions that I like and listen to lately...or at the time being.

Mahler 1 - Lutin, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Mahler 3 - Michael Gielen SWR
Mahler 6 - Tennstedt LSO
Bruckner 3 - Marek Janowski, Swiss Romande Orchestra
Bruckner 4 - Celibidache Munich Phil.
Beethoven 5 - Karajan, Berlin Phil 1963
Beethoven 6 - Bruno Walter, Columbia 1951
Beethoven 9 - Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhausorchester
Mozart 40 - Bohm, Vienna Phil
Tchaikovsky 6 - Honeck Pitsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Reference Recording - outstanding sound quality)

 

[juliante]

Interested in VW 9 being in there. Can you say what you like about it? There's a few on yr list i will explore but will start with VW 9.

 

[dko22]

I had to compile a list a little while ago -- actually of the top 20 -- to go through together with my wife. The top 3 are fairly clear but the rest don't have much daylight between them.

1. Suk "Asrael". Of the late Romantic tragedies, this scrapes home. Has to be Talich though Weller runs him close.
2. Bruckner 6 Jochum or Celi.
3. Bruckner 9 probably Jochum Dresden though a good deal of competition
4. Weinberg 19 Fedoseyev probably but Lande the only one you can actually buy.
5. Schmidt 2 Schmidt's 4th is tolerably well known but this joyful work is arguably more typical of the composer.
6. Sibelius 7 Sanderling. Most performances of this extraordinary work are dreadful but Berglund is another decent one.
7. Weinberg 17 You need all three (Fedoseyev x2 and Lande) as they're completely different from each other. I would claim (and am far from alone among those who have discovered him) that Weinberg's 26 symphonies, including 4 chamber works, are more important than even the cycle by his friend and mentor Shostakovich -- the music is more varied and less uneven.
8 Mahler 10 has to be Sanderling here.
9. Nielsen 3 Ole Schmidt.
10. Alexander Brincken 4th this has just replaced Rachmaninov's 2nd. The slow movement contains probably the most heavenly melody of the 21st century.

 

[ronsoccer]

Ten favorite symphonies - the top three are interchangeable based on any given day-

Beethoven #6 - Walter CSO
Brahms #2 - Karajan BSO '87
Mahler #1 - Bernstein - NYP '67
Fibich #2 - Waldhans - BRNO State Philharmonic
Berwald "Singuliere" - N. Jarvi - GSO
Tschaikowsky #4 - Karajan - BSO '85
Mozart #40 - Blomstedt - Staatskapelle Dresden
Brahms #3 - Walter - CSO
Mahler #4 - Inbal - FRSO
Beethoven #7 - Suitner - Staatskapelle Berlin

I also have complete cycles of Bernstein, Bruckner, Dvorak, Elgar, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Schumann, and Sibelius. Trying to get into Bruckner and Schubert.
Its pleasant but nothing really stands out. Hayden and Dvorak are good but not exciting. Do not get the excitement about Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

 

[59540]

Mozart: 35 and 41
Haydn: 104
Beethoven: 3, 8 and 9
Bruckner 8
Mahler 6 and 9
Sibelius 5

 

[Eva Yojimbo]

Mozart: 41
Beethoven: 3, 9
Mahler: 2, 5, 9
Brahms: 4
Bruckner: 8
Haydn: 93
Sibelius: 7

 

[TwoFlutesOneTrumpet]

Mozart: 35 and 41
Haydn: 104
Beethoven: 3, 8 and 9
Bruckner 8
Mahler 6 and 9
Sibelius 5

While my favourite Mahler is very different from yours (1, 2 and 5), I love that you didn't include Beethoven's 6th and included the 8th instead. I think that for those who find Beethoven's 6th to be their favourite symphony, they don't quite understand Beethoven for it is the least Beethovenian of all his symphonies. Still a great symphony.

 

[TwoFlutesOneTrumpet]

Beethoven 3, 5, 7
Brahms 3, 4
Sibelius 3, 5, 7
Shostakovich 5
Mahler 2

Bah, this is impossible. I already have another top 10
Beethoven 4, 8, 9
Brahms 1, 2
Sibelius 1, 2
Mahler 1
Bruckner 9
Shostakovich 10

And another top 10 ... I think I'll have to do top 50.

 

[Ludwig Schon]

I had to compile a list a little while ago -- actually of the top 20 -- to go through together with my wife. The top 3 are fairly clear but the rest don't have much daylight between them.

1. Suk "Asrael". Of the late Romantic tragedies, this scrapes home. Has to be Talich though Weller runs him close.
2. Bruckner 6 Jochum or Celi.
3. Bruckner 9 probably Jochum Dresden though a good deal of competition
4. Weinberg 19 Fedoseyev probably but Lande the only one you can actually buy.
5. Schmidt 2 Schmidt's 4th is tolerably well known but this joyful work is arguably more typical of the composer.
6. Sibelius 7 Sanderling. Most performances of this extraordinary work are dreadful but Berglund is another decent one.
7. Weinberg 17 You need all three (Fedoseyev x2 and Lande) as they're completely different from each other. I would claim (and am far from alone among those who have discovered him) that Weinberg's 26 symphonies, including 4 chamber works, are more important than even the cycle by his friend and mentor Shostakovich -- the music is more varied and less uneven.
8 Mahler 10 has to be Sanderling here.
9. Nielsen 3 Ole Schmidt.
10. Alexander Brincken 4th this has just replaced Rachmaninov's 2nd. The slow movement contains probably the most heavenly melody of the 21st century.

Just listened to the opening movement of Brincken’s 4th. Like a recently executed, exquisite cubist painting, it’s very pretty, but over a hundred years out of date, and thus unworthy of serious consideration...

 

[Becca]

Just listened to the opening movement of Brincken’s 4th. Like a recently executed, exquisite cubist painting, it’s very pretty, but over a hundred years out of date, and u worthy of serious discussion...

Just because you don't think much of it has no bearing on how others my value it. Quite frankly, such a statement is demeaning and unworthy of being made, and says far more about you than the music in question.

 

[dko22]

it's precisely because it's a hundred years out of date that it's worthy of serious consideration. Unlike the often depressing music situation nowadays, this was a golden era which passed all too quickly and any attempt to revitalise it should be given maximum attention when it's done as well as this. For what it's worth, Brincken's 1st symphony is arguably even better, though more chromatic, but the composer doesn't want the recording (other than a four minute clip from the adagio) from the premiere back in 1986 to be put on YouTube as he's dissatisfied with the performance and recording. A crying shame in my view as this is perhaps the greatest Brucknerian/Schmidtian symphony since then.

 

[Ludwig Schon]

it's precisely because it's a hundred years out of date that it's worthy of serious consideration. Unlike the often depressing music situation nowadays, this was a golden era which passed all too quickly and any attempt to revitalise it should be given maximum attention when it's done as well as this. For what it's worth, Brincken's 1st symphony is arguably even better, though more chromatic, but the composer doesn't want the recording (other than a four minute clip from the adagio) from the premiere back in 1986 to be put on YouTube as he's dissatisfied with the performance and recording. A crying shame in my view as this is perhaps the greatest Brucknerian/Schmidtian symphony since then.

As Brexit has proven, it is a natural human failing to pine for an age that never existed. I meet many children these days whose only interest in music is Rick Ashley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up!”. They‘re not even being ironic (rather moronic). These days, I struggle to hide my contempt for the English people and how they have dragged their country and my city (London) into an Orwellian sewer of penury and doublespeak… I cannot wait to sell my house and return to an advanced economy in the first world (Ireland)…

 

[dko22]

The 1920's did exist and it was musically a much richer and diverse time than what we have now -- indeed arguably richer than just about any other in history. But in general, as a Scot, I must agree with your sentiments, particularly on Brexit....

 

[dko22]

An updated list is needed from me (in any order):

Langgaard 6
Walton 1
Mahler 6
Shostakovich 8
Tubin 2
Sibelius 6
Nielsen 5
Vaughan Williams 9
Dvorak 8
Roussel 2

an interestingly in part eccentric list with a strong Nordic emphasis. I'm a big fan of Tubin but no.2 never entirely registered -- parts of it see him at his most bombastic though it starts and ends well. Likewise Roussel's no.3 (which made a big impression when I heard Jarvi doing it live) seems much better know than his second which didn't do much for me when I heard it -- perhaps I should try that one again as well. The discovery is Langgard, though. This composer is maddeningly inconsistent but no. 6 seems to be the best of the symphonies I've tried. Still, it's surely Music of the Spheres which makes him stand out from the crowd