# Underappreciated Symphonies



## isridgewell (Jul 2, 2013)

We all have symphonies that we cherish and some we feel languish in obscurity a little too much, so what are they?

To get started here are mine in no particular order:

Boughton: Symphony No 3
Parry: Symphony No 2
Bliss: A Color Symphony
Prokofiev: Symphony No 2
Rott: Symphony in E minor
Gavril Popov: Symphony No 1
Frederick Cowen: Symphony No 6
Douglas Lilburn: Symphony No 1
Magnaard: Symphony No3
Rangstrom: All Symphonies


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I second Rott, Popov, Lilburn and Magnard (for the latter two, all symphonies are worthwhile).

Suk 2 (Asrael)
Raff 5 (Lenore), as well as his others
Bax 6, as well as his others
Moeran
Huber 6, as well as his others
Alfven 4, as well as his others
Sallinen 6 (from a NZ diary), as well as his others


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Farrenc!!!!! All of them!!!!!!!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm glad you like it but I would question whether Prokofiev's 2nd is really obscure - if anything it was, and still is, his most notorious (and with the 5th and 6th his finest IMO). It may not be played in concert all that much but it seems to have been recorded pretty much as often as the others.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'll cast another vote for Alfven 4, an astonishing work.

Also for me, recently:

Schnittke 8
Dutilleux 1
Stanford 1 (filled with a lot of enthusiasm at least)


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

They are not really obscure, but Ives' 4th and Shostakovich's 15th are definitely under-appreciated.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Khachaturian 1 & 2 - both well worthy of greater appreciation.
I would also suggest that the symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, Hovhaness and Tishchenko are significantly under-appreciated.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

A real hobbyhorse of mine!

Some not yet mentioned I would add:

Stephen Albert - both of them
Kurt Atterberg - all 9
Stanley Bate - No 3
George Dyson - Symphony in G major
Vagn Holmboe - All 13 (but start with Nos 6, 7 and 8)
W A Mozart - No 33 in B-flat, K 319
Sergei Prokofiev - No 3
Antonín Rejcha (Anton Reicha) - all of them
George Rochberg - all of them
Robert Simpson (all 11)
Jan Václav Voříšek - Symphony in D major
Mieczysław Weinberg - Nos 4 - 8
Johann Wilhelm Wilms - No 7
Alexander Zemlinsky - Lyric Symphony


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Mozart no. 7!!!!!!!!
CPE Bach's orchestral stuff too (not the string stuff)
Haydn no. 52


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Paul Dukas.
Erich Wolfgng Korngold.
Myaskovsky. 6, 8 .
Dvorak . 1-6 .
Martinu. All siix .
Hans Pfitzner .
Zdenek Fibich . 3 symphoies.
Saint-Saens. 1,2. Two Unnumbered .
Hindemith. Sym. in E flat .
Vassily Kallinikov . 1,2. 
Wagner.
Wilhelm Stenhammar. 1,2 .
Ernest Chausson .
Smetana. Festive symphony .
Bruckner. 1,2. 
D' Indy. 2.
Enescu. 1,2.
Arnold Bax. 1-7 .
Rachmaninov . First sym .
Reinhold Gliere . 1,2.
Glazunov. 5.
Rimsky-Korsakov. 2. (Antar).


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## Rehydration (Jun 25, 2013)

Barber 1st
Rachmaninov 1st

Probably two of my favorites.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

I agree wholeheartedly about Rachmaninov 1 - a neglected gem.


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

I really don't know if these are underappreciated but the majority of my friends, former students and fellow teachers are unfarmiliar with those I list below. 

Joly Braga Santos all 6 #4 I think is amazing.
Ahned Adnan Saygun all 5 Obscure(at least I think so)Turkish composer.
William Alwyn all 5 Known mostly for his Film Scores but these symphonies are just as good.
Richard Arnell ? 6 known.I put a question because #7 wasn't complete when died and was finished by another.
'The Angels' a ballet score, he said was really a Symphony.
'Sinfonia' a student work, thought lost but found in 2009.
'Dagenham Symphony' a finished film score for the Docu(Dagenham) in 1952 and later added 
as a Symphony 
'Landscapes and Figures', I add because there is still some debate whether he intended this
as a Symphony. IMO, #3 is one of the best British symphonies of the 20th century.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

superhorn said:


> Reinhold Gliere . 1,2.


Gliere 3 is the the one that send chills up my arms. But maybe it's not considered under appreciated.


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