1: Rachmaninov 1
2: Thaik Manfred
3: Prokofiev 6
4: Mozart 41
5: Schubert 9
6: Bruckner 8 - The greatest of them all!
7: Mahler 9 (or 7)
8: Beethoven 3
9: Beethoven 7
10: Brahms 4
11: Sibelius 4
12. Nielsen 3,4 or 5!
13: Haydn 102
14: Berlioz Rameau ( sic) and Juliet.
15: Shostakovich 4.
Amongst other things, I was trying to prove a point - that by having an agenda you end up with potentially incorrect results. By trying to be representative of as many composers as possible and of all nationalities (apart from Italy - how I wish I could have put a symphony by Alfredo Casella on the list!), I have ended up with something controversial. Of course, there is no question that the Symphonie Liturgique is a great symphony and, undoubtedly, the greatest Swiss symphony, but I don't think it is better than any of Brahms's and many of Beethoven's, Schubert's and Dvorak's, for example - even if I am more profoundly moved at the end of a great performance of it than any of the aforementioned. I think with fifteen choices, you can afford to have one 'wildcard' and my own is far more sensible then any of the, frankly, risible attempts over at a radio station that has a moral duty to do much better for its listeners, as Terry and Tuxedo have rightly pointed out. Personally, I am glad you spotted it, Ralph !
Lee, did you slip in the Honegger wild card just to check whether we were paying attention?
Well said, Nick. I think when you find controversial entries on these lists, they are there usually because of some skewered non-musical agenda. That said, it is difficult to whittle a list down to just fifteen, especially since the criteria for entry is so vague, as I found when I produced my own list below, which you will see has been impacted by trying to be inclusive:
HAYDN: SYMPHONY NO 103
MOZART: SYMPHONY NO 41
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO 7
SCHUBERT: SYMPHONY NO 8
BRAHMS: SYMPHONY NO 4
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO 9
MAHLER:SYMPHONY NO 9
SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO 10
HONEGGER: SYMPHONY NO 3
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: SYMPHONY NO 6
TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO 6
DVORAK: SYMPHONY NO 7
BERLIOZ: SYMPHONY FANTASTIQUE
SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO 7
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO 9
The ones in bold are the entries duplicated on the Classic FM list. I do hope other readers could add their own lists to this thread, to see if we can get a consensus of opinion on MWI.
That said, what would have been a far more useful exercise would have been the top most performed symphonies in concert over the past five years, or so. I think that would have weeded out some of the more eccentric entries of both my own as well as Classic FM's lists.
Warmest regards,
lee
This list makes my list of the 15 most annoying lists of all time. I do have an aversion to "best of" lists since by definition they are wholly subjective unless one is choosing "the 10 fastest male sprinters" or "highest run scorer in test cricket" kind of thing.
But that said this particular list - from the examples cited - must be right at the top of the "crassed list of best-ofs-of all time list" I suspect even Price and Still would blush at receiving such lofty placement.
Recently Classic FM have published a list of the '15 Best Symphonies of All Time'.
Any such list is probably going to contentious but I suspect that this one will be more contentious than most (what criteria are used to qualify as best?). For example, there are some surprising omissions; for instance, there is nothing by Bruckner or Schubert - and no Beethoven Fifth. Perhaps more surprising are some inclusions: Florence Price no.1, William Grant Still no.1 'Afro-American', and Louise Farrenc no.3, along with Gorecki's 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'. Rather obviously the first three of these reflect a diversity agenda and all four are works that have only gained a wider audience in recent years (partly due to Classic FM's play list). But are they really better than many works that are excluded? After all, is the Florence Price Symphony really the second best symphony of all time - as the list suggests - being beaten only by Mozart no.41? (Or does this simply represent the current enthusiasm of someone at Classic FM?.)
Of course none of this is to deny that it is good to be able to hear previously unsung works. I am sure that readers could draw up their own lists of works that need to be recorded and which deserve to be better known; irrespective of whether they are better or worse than others.
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