# Your Top 5 Symphonies



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Eroica
Beethoven's 1st
Beethoven's 6th
Mozart's 40th
Mozarts 41st


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Beethoven 9
Bruckner 8
Mahler 9
Tchaikovsky 6
Shostakovich 5


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Beethoven 9
Berlioz Fantastique
Mahler 2
Mahler 4
Shostakovich 10


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Sibelius 7
Sibelius 5
Shostakovich 5
Sibelius's Tapiola (not titled a symphony but it clearly could have been)
Beethoven 9


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## pianoville (Jul 19, 2018)

Mahler 6
Mahler 9
Mahler 2
Mahler 8
Beethoven 3


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## Robert Gamble (Dec 18, 2016)

Beethoven 9
Brahms 4
Beethoven 5
Sibelius 5
Berlioz Fantastique


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Sibelius 5
Brahms 2
Schumann 2
Myaskovsky 27
Beethoven 3

......for today anyway!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Mozart 41
Beethoven 3
Bruckner 8
Bruckner 9
Sibelius 7


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Beethoven 3
Mahler 9
Mahler 6
Brahms 4
Tchaikovsky 6 / Dvorak 9 / Mozart 41 (cheating a bit I know)


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Lots of Beethoven 9th, I do love it, but others surpass it for the top 5.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

jdec said:


> Beethoven 3
> Mahler 9
> Mahler 6
> Brahms 4
> Tchaikovsky 6 / Dvorak 9 / Mozart 41 (cheating a bit I know)


Definitely cheating, but it's ok, !


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Brahms 4
Mahler 2
Sibelius 2
Dvořák 8
Beethoven 4


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Schmidt 4
Balakirev 1
Elgar 2
Bloch C# minor
Mahler 7


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Schmidt 4
> Balakirev 1
> Elgar 2
> Bloch C# minor
> Mahler 7


Nice going with the lesser known works!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I can't pick 5 for all time. Just recently I got turned onto Alfven No.3, and several Arnold symphonies I really like. And Sibelius 4 I've been digging lately. Nielsen 3 is another favorite.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I feel I heard all the nuances and gestures of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies over the years, that they just don't move me anymore.

Arnold 7
Martinu 4
Berlioz Symphony 1
Prokofiev 6
Henze 7


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Schumann No. 4
Mahler No. 8
Mahler No. 6
Berlioz Fantastique
Mendelssohn No. 3


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Ya, this isn't really for all time, just for right now.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> I feel I heard all the nuances and gestures of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies over the years, that they just don't move me anymore.
> 
> Arnold 7
> Martinu 4
> ...


AKA, "burned out"...


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Brahms 3rd
Brahms 4th
Dvorak 8th
Mahler 9th
Vaughan Williams 3rd


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Beethoven 6
Beethoven 9
Mahler 1
Mahler 5
Rachmaninoff 1

EDIT: Oh, no. I forgot Mendelssohn. I'll have to come back later with a revision.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Beethoven 6
Schumann Rhenish
Brahms 1
Schubert 9 The Great
Bruckner 8


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Tchaikovsky 5
Mahler 5
Sibelius 5
Shostakovich 5
Vaughan Williams 5

These are my top 5 Symphonies.


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

In no particular order . . .

Beethoven 5
Beethoven 6
Brahms 1
Bruckner 4
Mahler 1
Dvorak 9
Mozart 41
Schubert 9

I think that's about 5 . . .


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Phil loves classical said:


> I feel I heard all the nuances and gestures of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies over the years, that they just don't move me anymore.


I'm always amazed when I read something like that ... so much so that I begin to suspect that the writer hasn't even started to get into those works. _*But, of course, we are all made differently and how can I judge someone else's taste?*_

For me, though, I don't think I would consider any music as great if it doesn't live within me and inspire me forever. I really mean that literally. This is perhaps why I could not come up with a list of five (or probably even fifty) of the greatest symphonies ... or even just my favourites. There would be far too many "joint firsts" and a huge number coming up behind them as also "great beyond measure".

I do go through periods when I don't want to listen to a Beethoven or a Mozart - or a Bruckner, a Brahms, a Mahler, a Schubert, a Schumann, a Sibelius - symphony. But I know from experience that those pieces will inspire me again just as much as they did in the past. I also know that there will almost certainly be other ways of playing them that are different to what I have heard but just as valid and rewarding - that is all part of being a great piece of music to me.

Meanwhile, as I get to know newer (to me) music - not so much contemporary symphonies (because I think _the form _is fairly spent now) - I can find a piece wonderful for a while but it is only when I have lived with it for a good few years that I really know where I stand with it.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Beethoven 9
Beethoven 6
Tchaikovsky 6
Mahler 9
Schubert 8


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Lots of Beethoven 9th, I do love it, but others surpass it for the top 5.


This work epitomizes Beethoven as a symphonist, and it's his most difficult symphony to listen to in my opinion. I needed some years to assimilate and appreciate this symphony, that I, too, initially rejected. These days, it's my absolute favorite work of the genre. I think that the classic performances of it are by Toscanini, Furtwangler, Karajan and Fricsay.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Tschaikowsky 5th
Beethoven 7th
Mahler 2nd
Liszt Faust Symphony
Wallace Creation

...is todays list! Tomorrow we shall see. :angel:


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> I'm always amazed when I read something like that ... so much so that I begin to suspect that the writer hasn't even started to get into those works. _*But, of course, we are all made differently and how can I judge someone else's taste?*_
> 
> For me, though, I don't think I would consider any music as great if it doesn't live within me and inspire me forever. I really mean that literally. This is perhaps why I could not come up with a list of five (or probably even fifty) of the greatest symphonies ... or even just my favourites. There would be far too many "joint firsts" and a huge number coming up behind them as also "great beyond measure".
> 
> ...


I have collected like 11 versions of Mozart's last 5 symphonies, and over half dozen of select Beethoven symphonies (have around 10 of Symphony 4 which was my favourite for a long time), with one complete cycle. I know exactly which moments are coming up, when they modulate, how they sound among different versions, even after not listening for a few years. What used to inspire me, had become mostly a mental exercise in listening.

Now Tchaikovsky 5 or Vaughan Williams 3, even though I've heard many times, and know what is coming up, still moves me like no other. Maybe it is the incredible efficiency of Mozart and Beethoven, that makes me spent?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Phil loves classical said:


> I feel I heard all the nuances and gestures of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies over the years, that they just don't move me anymore.
> 
> Arnold 7
> Martinu 4
> ...


What? No Mahler?


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Mozart 40
Mozart 41
Beethoven 7
Beethoven 4
Brahms 3


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

5 of them ...

Schubert 9
Bruckner 8
Mahler 10
Nielsen 4
Martinu 6


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Fritz Kobus said:


> EDIT: Oh, no. I forgot Mendelssohn. I'll have to come back later with a revision.


Listing our favorite ten symphonies would have been preferred.  Then _I_ would have included the Mendelssohn "Scottish", et al.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> 5 of them ...
> 
> Schubert 9
> Bruckner 8
> ...


Appendix:

Beethoven 5
Bruckner 5
Mahler 5
Nielsen 5
Nørgård 5


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Phil loves classical said:


> I have collected like 11 versions of Mozart's last 5 symphonies, and over half dozen of select Beethoven symphonies (have around 10 of Symphony 4 which was my favourite for a long time), with one complete cycle. I know exactly which moments are coming up, when they modulate, how they sound among different versions, even after not listening for a few years. What used to inspire me, had become mostly a mental exercise in listening.
> 
> Now Tchaikovsky 5 or Vaughan Williams 3, even though I've heard many times, and know what is coming up, still moves me like no other. Maybe it is the incredible efficiency of Mozart and Beethoven, that makes me spent?


That is why I require Furtwangler. Beethoven should never sound like an exercise, and in his hands it never did.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Phil loves classical said:


> I have collected like 11 versions of Mozart's last 5 symphonies, and over half dozen of select Beethoven symphonies (have around 10 of Symphony 4 which was my favourite for a long time), with one complete cycle. I know exactly which moments are coming up, when they modulate, how they sound among different versions, even after not listening for a few years. What used to inspire me, had become mostly a mental exercise in listening.
> 
> Now Tchaikovsky 5 or Vaughan Williams 3, even though I've heard many times, and know what is coming up, still moves me like no other. Maybe it is the incredible efficiency of Mozart and Beethoven, that makes me spent?


Well, fair enough. We are, as I said, all made differently. I think I am happier to be me!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

This week it's.....

Mahler 4
Mahler 5
Kalinnikov 2
Schumann 3
Brahms 4

Next week will be totally different.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

How knowing too much can be not such a good thing. Here's my pick (I'll try not to cheat).


Bruckner: Symphony no. IX
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. V
Glazunov: Symphony no. VI
Sibelius: Symphony no. II
Atterberg: Symphony no. II (or Tubin's Fourth Symphony)


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Beethoven 3
Brahms 3
Sibelius 5
Bruckner 7
Shostakovich 10


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Perhaps this thread should have been "What 5 symphonies will you take to be marooned on a desert island?"


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

starthrower said:


> I can't pick 5 for all time. Just recently I got turned onto Alfven No.3, and several Arnold symphonies I really like. And Sibelius 4 I've been digging lately. Nielsen 3 is another favorite.


damn!....I forgot Nielsen 3rd !!!!!


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Merl said:


> This week it's.....
> 
> Mahler 4
> Mahler 5
> ...


.....and I also forgot about Kalinnikov ( 1 and 2)...

and I completely missed Tubin, Atterberg and of course Dvorak!


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

jim prideaux said:


> .....and I also forgot about Kalinnikov ( 1 and 2)...
> 
> and I completely missed Tubin, Atterberg and of course Dvorak!


and I was even daft enough to miss out Martinu's 2nd which basically means I was not thinking and I am consequently declaring my list to be redundant and with a fit of pique am refusing to play any more....

...and Schubert's 9th?


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

Random order:
Mahler 9
Beethoven 7
Schubert unfinished
Mozart 41
Tchaikovsky 5


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

jim prideaux said:


> and I was even daft enough to miss out Martinu's 2nd which basically means I was not thinking and I am consequently declaring my list to be redundant and with a fit of pique am refusing to play any more....
> 
> ...and Schubert's 9th?


Bloody hell, Jim! What are you doing today? Im shocked and appalled.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

In no order:

Bruckner 6
Mozart 41
Hilding Rosenberg 6
Weinberg 10 (or 5)
Sibelius 3

Next week some might change.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) 
2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1910) 
3. Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826) 
4. Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) 
5. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1808) / Symphony No. 4 in E Minor - Johannes Brahms (1884) 

I'll flip the script and say that I doubt those will change anytime soon, perhaps ever. Though I am always open to replacements at the throne, and discover/revisit several amazing symphonies every year, those are the creamiest of the crop as far as I'm concerned.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I can't take it down to five. These are always the ones I come back to so just pick any five of these:

Haydn 100
Haydn 104
Mozart 41
Beethoven 3
Beethoven 7
Beethoven 9
Dvorak 7
Dvorak 8
Dvorak 9
Shostakovich 5
Copland 3
Bernstein 1


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Or just listen to Beethoven 7th five times.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2018)

Tchaikovsky 6
Dvorak 9
Prokofiev 1
Tchaikovsky 5
Beethoven 3, 5, 6, & 7 (I couldn't decide)


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Beethoven 9
Sibelius 2
Bruckner 5
Prokofiev 5
Brahms 3


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

It changes all the time. 

This is list today:

Beethoven 9
Beethoven 5
Symphony Fantastique
Scheherazade - if you consider this a symphony
Mozart 25 or 40


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

Dvorak 9
Beethoven 3
Tchaikovsky 4
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Mahler 3


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Vronsky said:


> Schumann No. 4
> Mahler No. 8
> Mahler No. 6
> Berlioz Fantastique
> Mendelssohn No. 3


Additional info:

Schumann No. 4/Bernstein & VPO
Mahler No. 8/Rattle & CBSO
Mahler No. 6/Abbado & BPO
Berlioz Fantastique/Paray & DSO or Cluytens & Philharmonia Orchestra
Mendelssohn No. 3/Masur & Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

Haydn 88
Beethoven 6
Mendelssohn 'Scottish'
Elgar 1
Mahler 'Das Lied von der Erde'


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## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

Today:

Elgar 2
Mahler 2
Berlioz phantastique
Nielsen 5
Beethoven 3


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Phil loves classical said:


> I have collected like 11 versions of Mozart's last 5 symphonies, and over half dozen of select Beethoven symphonies (have around 10 of Symphony 4 which was my favourite for a long time), with one complete cycle. I know exactly which moments are coming up, when they modulate, how they sound among different versions, even after not listening for a few years. What used to inspire me, had become mostly a mental exercise in listening.
> 
> Now Tchaikovsky 5 or Vaughan Williams 3, even though I've heard many times, and know what is coming up, still moves me like no other. Maybe it is the incredible efficiency of Mozart and Beethoven, that makes me spent?


I know exactly what you mean regarding Vaughan Williams. There is a quality to his music that is unique. I've never understood the pastoral criticism; it's what I love about him.

I didn't include RVW in my top 5, but he's right up there.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

janxharris said:


> I know exactly what you mean regarding Vaughan Williams. There is a quality to his music that is unique. I've never understood the pastoral criticism; it's what I love about him.


I concur with your sentiments:cheers:


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I've just counted the number of times that each symphony was cited here on this thread until post #56. I did not consider works that weren't published as symphonies, and I only considered the first five when people cited more. The results are below:

*Most cited symphonies that were cited at least three times (in chronological order when the number of citations was the same):*

1. Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, "Eroica", Op. 55 (1804) -> 10 times;
2. Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor, "Choral", Op. 125 (1824) -> 9 times;
3. Berlioz - Symphony No. 1 in C major, "Symphonie fantastique", Op. 14 (1830) -> 7 times;
4. Mahler - Symphony No. 9 in D major (1909) -> 7 times;
5. Mozart - Symphony No. 41 in C major, "Jupiter", K. 551 (1788) -> 6 times;
6. Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F major, "Pastoral", Op. 68 (1808) -> 6 times;
7. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888) - 6 times;
8. Brahms - Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1885) -> 5 times;
9. Mahler - Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Ressurection" (1894) -> 5 times;
10. Sibelius - Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 (1919) -> 5 times;
11. Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1808) -> 4 times;
12. Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (1812) -> 4 times;
13. Brahms - Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1883) -> 4 times;
14. Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 in C minor, "The Apocalyptic", WAB 108 (1890) -> 4 times;
15. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique", Op. 74 (1893) -> 4 times;
16. Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (1788) -> 3 times;
17. Schubert - Symphony No. 9 in C major, "The Great", D 944 (1828) -> 3 times;
18. Mahler - Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1902) -> 3 times;
19. Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (1902) -> 3 times;
20. Mahler - Symphony No. 6 in A minor (1906) -> 3 times.

*Most cited composers that were cited at least three times (the older first when more than one cited the same number of times):*

1. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - 36 times;
2. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - 28 times;
3. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) - 12 times;
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) - 11 times;
5. Jean Sibelius (1865-1967) - 11 times;
6. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - 10 times;
7. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) - 10 times;
8. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) - 7 times;
9. Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - 5 times;
10. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) - 5 times;
11. Robert Schumann (1810-1856) - 4 times;
12. Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) - 4 times;
13. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - 3 times;
14. Edward Elgar (1857-1934) - 3 times;
15. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) - 3 times.


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