# If you could have written only one symphony......



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Which one would it have been?
:tiphat:


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

The Shostakovich 10th................................


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Beethoven's 9th: from creation ex nihilo to love for God and man. That's pretty much, as they say, the answer to life, the universe, and everything.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

The "Jupiter" Symphony, mainly for the sake of that miracle of a finale. To have created _that_ would be the stuff of dreams.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

If you could have written only one symphony......

This is an interesting question because it's not asking "If you can only _listen_ to one symphony?". Rather it's asking, "If you could have _written_ only one symphony." Since I can barely read music, and since I can't play a single musical instrument correctly, and since I don't have the ambition to learn, I could not have written anything, except for that thing by John Cage, _4'33_.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Alright! I wrote Brahms no. 1


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

GGG Eb..........


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Maybe Chausson's Symphony in B Flat, because it has special associations for me.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Mahler’s 9th is my favorite symphony, but it’s so insanely personal and unique that I don’t think I could have written it. So Bruckner’s 8th or Sibelius 7; with maybe the slight edge going to the latter because I think it’s one of the most perfect pieces of music of all time, and nothing else stirs such overwhelming sensations within me.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Easy, Sibelius 5. I think it's one of the most inspired works ever. Sometimes I think Sibelius was put on earth primarily to write THAT symphony. Everything else was in preparation or resolution of that peak.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Rachmaninoff's First!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Good question
I am not greedy so I wish I could have written any of Haydn’s symphonies, alternatively Sibelius 7th.
But then again if I had written Schubert’s 8th I could have made sure I finished it


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## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

Bruckner 5. That finale for me even surpasses Mozart's Jupiter in both grandeur and counterpoint (although I love the Mozart). I just cannot imagine how proud I would be if I wrote something as well crafted as that.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

THis thread makes me think of how much work it must to write a symphony, let alone a great symphony. Even a symphony that is second or third rate must take a tremendous amount of work. Writing a book, be it a novel or non-fiction, is hard enough to get your ideas and information organized into comprehensive whole, but at least it's stated one word at a time. To write a symphony the composer is writing for several voices (or instruments) speaking at once.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Coach G said:


> THis thread makes me think of how much work it must to write a symphony, let alone a great symphony. Even a symphony that is second or third rate must take a tremendous amount of work. Writing a book, be it a novel or non-fiction, is hard enough to get your ideas and information organized into comprehensive whole, but at least it's stated one word at a time. To write a symphony the composer is writing for several voices (or instruments) speaking at once.


And Haydn managed to write over 100 of those, even if many of them are short!

But I have to go with Beethoven's 9th! Even if I could only write the last movement...


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

Mahler's 5th symphony.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Wait, I remember that I also wrote no. 40 by Mozart! Who else than me could have written that?? I was 5


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Ever see the Hammer film The Phantom of the Opera? Something like this happens. The publisher accepts a score from the soon-to-be phantom, scratches out the composers name an adds his own. Why not? He paid for it!

I wish I had the skill, inspiration and desire to write a symphony. I'd be lucky to write a 10 minutes one on my own. But if there was one that I would like to claim as my own: Hans Pfitzner's Kleine Symphony op. 44. Just a delightful, tuneful little gem.


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## DLOinQUEENS (Nov 22, 2018)

If I was going to write just one symphony it would be in the style of Zemlinsky’s B Flat 2nd. Filled with energetic, driving melodies; loud, brash, and upbeat with a smashing, heroic ending. To me it’s the symphonic equivalent of splashing some ice cold water on your face.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I would have written my own symphony that I composed in my head, of course. I'm no musician though so it will never exist outside of my imagination...


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

None. I don't want to steal credit from hard-working musicians.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Animal the Drummer said:


> The "Jupiter" Symphony, mainly for the sake of that miracle of a finale. To have created _that_ would be the stuff of dreams.


Probably my answer as well.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Mahler's Résurrection.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Coach G said:


> THis thread makes me think of how much work it must to write a symphony, let alone a great symphony.





annaw said:


> And Haydn managed to write over 100 of those, even if many of them are short!


I like to think the term "symphony" had a different meaning (compared to the later eras) throughout much of the 18th century, like Mendelssohn's string symphonies. It was interchangeable with Italian overtures, divertimentos in terms of structure and instrumentation. Ironically, Mozart's K.334 is the best of his "early symphonies" in terms of scale and design.



annaw said:


> But I have to go with Beethoven's 9th! Even if I could only write the last movement...


this is also magnificent:


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Bulldog said:


> The Shostakovich 10th................................


Well, if that is your fancy, how good does Yoel Levi, Atlanta symphony orchestra stand up to competition?


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

SixFootScowl said:


> Rachmaninoff's First!


Ormandy or Ashkenazy or Waart???


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Bigbang said:


> Well, if that is your fancy, how good does Yoel Levi, Atlanta symphony orchestra stand up to competition?


I haven't heard Levi's recording for many years. Frankly, I have no particular memory of it.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

SixFootScowl said:


> Rachmaninoff's First!





Bigbang said:


> Ormandy or Ashkenazy or Waart???


My mistake. I meant Rachmaninoff's first symphony, not piano concerto.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Gorecki 3

This beautiful mournful symphony is right up my alley


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Taking the OP as I read it I guess it would be Malx Symphony No 1.

Joking aside if we can count Rite of Spring as a Symphony, I know it isn't, but I would have loved to have created that stushie at the premier, great fun.


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

I'll take beethoven 8 and Raff 5 please!! :lol:


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

SixFootScowl said:


> My mistake. I meant Rachmaninoff's first symphony, not piano concerto.


Yes, and I was asking for top choices as Rach's 1st symphony is usually not thought of as one of the best symphonies and you picked it over 2 or 3. I have Ormandy and Waart as conductors, and another one I forget but I never listen to it. I thought I would give it a more serious listen since you picked it over any and all symphonies.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I think it would have to be Weinberg's 3rd. Having spent over 20 years listening to a lot of music and having my tastes shaped as a result, along came an unknown piece by a composer whose music I'd heard little of, and immediately it felt so "right", like it had been composed specifically with my tastes in mind.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

Schubert's unfinished.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Mahler 3, would sure need some time in a small lakeside cabin However, as it is already written, I could also just copy it


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## Gray Bean (May 13, 2020)

Barber: Symphony No. 1


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Nereffid said:


> I think it would have to be Weinberg's 3rd. Having spent over 20 years listening to a lot of music and having my tastes shaped as a result, along came an unknown piece by a composer whose music I'd heard little of, and immediately it felt so "right", like it had been composed specifically with my tastes in mind.


A remarkable piece of music for sure. I also think very highly of the 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies from Weinberg. I feel that he's just now starting to get the recognition he deserves. He's not some Shostakovich clone, but there is an original voice to heard in his music to anyone willing to put away their prejudices and just listen to the music.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bigbang said:


> Yes, and I was asking for top choices as Rach's 1st symphony is usually not thought of as one of the best symphonies and you picked it over 2 or 3. I have Ormandy and Waart as conductors, and another one I forget but I never listen to it. I thought I would give it a more serious listen since you picked it over any and all symphonies.


Ooooh, I probably have too many sets of the 1st: Slatkin, Anissimov, Ashkenazy, Dutoit, Kogan, Ormandy, and Przytocki. I have always liked Rachmaninoff's first symphony the best. #s 2 and 3 tend to flip flop for second and third place for me. I can't say which first is my favorite, but Slatkin, Dutoit, Ormandy are all very good.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

SixFootScowl said:


> Ooooh, I probably have too many sets of the 1st: Slatkin, Anissimov, Ashkenazy, Dutoit, Kogan, Ormandy, and Przytocki. I have always liked Rachmaninoff's first symphony the best. #s 2 and 3 tend to flip flop for second and third place for me. I can't say which first is my favorite, but Slatkin, Dutoit, Ormandy are all very good.


Rachmaninov's 1st doesn't hold together too well for me. I've always been attracted to his 2nd and 3rd symphonies more. It's interesting to note that Rachmaninov had a nervous breakdown following the failure of his 1st symphony. I guess I would too if someone you trusted to conduct the premiere performance was lit like a Christmas tree. Thanks a lot, Glazunov!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Manxfeeder said:


> Beethoven's 9th: from creation ex nihilo to love for God and man. That's pretty much, as they say, the answer to life, the universe, and everything.


I second this choice, .


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

I am very fond of Beethoven's symphony no. 9, and the wide acclaim certainly bolsters that position. I wonder if the esteem in which it is held elevates our already favorable response to something more?


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I would choose the Faust symphony over symphonies I like better or think are greater because the first movement could well be considered biographical of many people including me.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't think I have a symphony left in me but perhaps a Sinfonietta. Janacek was 70 when he composed his and that will do nicely for me even though I am not quite that old yet.


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## Algonquin (Apr 10, 2021)

The "Great" Schubert 9th. Even though there is a point where Schubert pays tribute to the 9th of Beethoven, I've always felt that Schubert's Symphonies are more of a progression from the symphonies of Mozart rather than of Beethoven.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

The Bruckner 8th.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bruckner's 9th. And I would have burned all sketches of the 4th movement, and told people: "Here is my ninth. It is in three movements and ends in an Adagio. I wanted to try something new - deal with it."


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

Chopin's 1st Symphony


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## Ned Low (Jul 29, 2020)

Beethoven's 9th probably.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Animal the Drummer said:


> The "Jupiter" Symphony, mainly for the sake of that miracle of a finale. To have created _that_ would be the stuff of dreams.


I second this. It's just so grand, what a feat.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

cybernaut said:


> Chopin's 1st Symphony


Wow, I didn't know he wrote symphonies.


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

SixFootScowl said:


> Wow, I didn't know he wrote symphonies.


He didn't. That's sort of my point. I wish he had.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Itullian said:


> Which one would it have been?
> :tiphat:


I shall honor Haydn and go with the great London symphony, number 104.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I love Schumann so either 2 or 3. 
2


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

MarkW's Symphony No. 1.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Probably Webern's symphony, op. 21


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Nobody here care to pick from one of the 340+ symphonies by Leif Segerstam? :lol: Segerstam calls them symphonies but they are not all symphonies.


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Probably Webern's symphony, op. 21


I love the palindromic, kaleidoscopic nature of that "symphony". I've seen a review describe it as "all the action of Beethoven's Eroica condensed into 10 minutes" and while I wouldn't go THAT far, it's a highly interesting work.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Mahler 8. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Too difficult...

I would pick Schubert's 8th...so it would have been finished ;-)

Too many to choose from


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## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

Art Rock said:


> Bruckner's 9th. And I would have burned all sketches of the 4th movement, and told people: "Here is my ninth. It is in three movements and ends in an Adagio. I wanted to try something new - deal with it."


 Terrible! :scold: The best stuff is in the Finale.

But even with Finale, I think I would rather write his 8th. Even tough the 8th has maybe a lesser, secular message compared to the more spiritual 9th, it is more on point. Densly packed perfection.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

My question is what symphony would you write now, that hasn't been done or done better before, and that's worth the trouble? A search shows very little in terms of symphonies this century. And they are mostly by composers that seem to be just extending their output from the last century, and not something really new (though I haven't sampled all in this list) Is it a outdated form?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:21st-century_symphonies


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Phil loves classical said:


> My question is what symphony would you write now, that hasn't been done or done better before, and that's worth the trouble? A search shows very little in terms of symphonies this century. And they are mostly by composers that seem to be just extending their output from the last century, and not something really new (though I haven't sampled all in this list) Is it a outdated form?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:21st-century_symphonies


I would agree with Wagner, who said once that Beethoven exhausted the symphonic genre. And that was nearly 200 years ago.

Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, not to mention later composers, have been threading water.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> My question is what symphony would you write now, that hasn't been done or done better before, and that's worth the trouble? A search shows very little in terms of symphonies this century. And they are mostly by composers that seem to be just extending their output from the last century, and not something really new (though I haven't sampled all in this list) Is it a outdated form?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:21st-century_symphonies


I don't believe in outdated forms: to me, the forms just exist and a creative mind can use any of them to reach his/her musical goals. Possibilities to further advance ("change" is the better word in my opinion) a genre always exists, and I still haven't heard a symphony that uses synthetisers, or a "microtonal tonal" symphony, or an ultrafast symphony, or one that reaches the limits of auditory perception (both for low and high pitches) for example. In my view, the problem we have with the today's symphonies is not in the form itself, but in the people using it: working with classical music demands time, effort and luck (one has to have the luck of being born in a developed country and be taught music theory since an early age to be competitive - being raised in a small city in some peripheral developing country that doesn't value education won't help), and I believe that the bright musical minds of our times are just going elsewhere (like in jazz, rock, metal and other genres) to produce their masterpieces.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Symphony of Psalms


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Mozart's 40th or 41st.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Symphony of Destruction. Such a killer riff. :lol::guitar:


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

Phil loves classical said:


> My question is what symphony would you write now, that hasn't been done or done better before, and that's worth the trouble? A search shows very little in terms of symphonies this century. And they are mostly by composers that seem to be just extending their output from the last century, and not something really new (though I haven't sampled all in this list) Is it a outdated form?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:21st-century_symphonies


Well, all classical music is sort of out-dated, right?

But it still lives on. And I'm going to guess that symphonies will continue to be written, even it the number continues to dwindle.

Here's Symphony No. 4 by Erkki-Sven Tüür, written in 2002:


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Beethoven's 10th of course.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Prokofiev 5th...............


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

cybernaut said:


> Well, all classical music is sort of out-dated, right?
> 
> But it still lives on. And I'm going to guess that symphonies will continue to be written, even it the number continues to dwindle.
> 
> Here's Symphony No. 4 by Erkki-Sven Tüür, written in 2002:


Hey, that's great. Now that's original.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

science said:


> Beethoven's 10th of course.


You still have time to do it. It was only just begun. Go ahead and finish it.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Symphony of a 1000.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Sibelius 7, Mahler 2, Beethoven 7, Beethoven 9, are all contenders for me


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## Amadea (Apr 15, 2021)

Itullian said:


> Which one would it have been?
> :tiphat:


The famous Jupiter, Mozart's 41th symphony. It feels so "miraculous" , also "mighty" for the times.


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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

Interesting question...

One year ago or one year later, maybe I would choose something else but *now* I say *Mahler's 5th*.

I will expand the idea with a new thread...
"_*If you could have written only one classical work...?*_"


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

That would be Nielsen's 5th. If I were a composer, I would write music like this.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony....all 105 minutes of it.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

SixFootScowl said:


> Rachmaninoff's First!


fabulous work -- only Robert Simpson among the critics seems to have realised that it's his finest symphony but that this particular development path was blocked by the nervous breakdown following its reception.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Neo Romanza said:


> A remarkable piece of music for sure. I also think very highly of the 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies from Weinberg. I feel that he's just now starting to get the recognition he deserves. He's not some Shostakovich clone, but there is an original voice to heard in his music to anyone willing to put away their prejudices and just listen to the music.


Weinberg is for me the most underrated of all symphonists (not to mention at least one great opera and a leading string quartet cycle). In fact, taking into account the extraordinary variety and consistently high quality among the 26 including the chamber symphonies, I'm tempted to rank him after Bruckner as the greatest of all symphonists. No 3 is perhaps a curious choice though but I love 4 to 6 which are all completely different to each other. But the summit of his achievement is no. 17 and 19 in the War Trilogy, esp the former. Here I can actually say in a way that I have written these symphonies as I composed a trilogy which increasingly became inspired by these two. Of course, they're not a patch on the originals.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

SixFootScowl said:


> Ooooh, I probably have too many sets of the 1st: Slatkin, Anissimov, Ashkenazy, Dutoit, Kogan, Ormandy, and Przytocki. I have always liked Rachmaninoff's first symphony the best. #s 2 and 3 tend to flip flop for second and third place for me. I can't say which first is my favorite, but Slatkin, Dutoit, Ormandy are all very good.


what about Svetlanov? He is Rach 1 for me and I find it hard to listen to any others.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

dko22 said:


> Weinberg is for me the most underrated of all symphonists (not to mention at least one great opera and a leading string quartet cycle). In fact, taking into account the extraordinary variety and consistently high quality among the 26 including the chamber symphonies, I'm tempted to rank him after Bruckner as the greatest of all symphonists. No 3 is perhaps a curious choice though but I love 4 to 6 which are all completely different to each other. But the summit of his achievement is no. 17 and 19 in the War Trilogy, esp the former. Here I can actually say in a way that I have written these symphonies as I composed a trilogy which increasingly became inspired by these two. Of course, they're not a patch on the originals.


Weinberg's later works are, indeed, quite interesting, but they also have a certain dourness and austerity about them that I can only take in medium dosages. This is why I personally prefer his earlier works, because even though there is a bleakness in the 6th, for example, there is also light. I should revisit those symphonies you mention, though, I have a pretty good sized Weinberg collection, so it'll be interesting to see how the music _hits_ me now. Of course, this is coming from someone who loves late period Shostakovich and Schnittke, so I guess I'm just being a hypocrite.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

Brahms 4th Symphony. That finale...


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Neo Romanza said:


> Weinberg's later works are, indeed, quite interesting, but they also have a certain dourness and austerity about them that I can only take in medium dosages. This is why I personally prefer his earlier works, because even though there is a bleakness in the 6th, for example, there is also light. I should revisit those symphonies you mention, though, I have a pretty good sized Weinberg collection, so it'll be interesting to see how the music _hits_ me now. Of course, this is coming from someone who loves late period Shostakovich and Schnittke, so I guess I'm just being a hypocrite.


Undoubtedly a hypocrite! If you can manage the Schnittke cello concertos or Shostakovich viola sonata, late Weinberg should be a a piece of cake:lol: But I agree with you on 6. His most popular in the Soviet Union it seems before the relatively recent western discovery, it has a wonderful range of expression and mood. And 19 isn't bleak for me -- if you really want bleak, try 13....


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

dko22 said:


> SixFootScowl said:
> 
> 
> > I have always liked Rachmaninoff's first symphony the best.
> ...


After the disastrous primer of his first led him to therapy, Rachmaninoff would've just as soon he and the rest of the world forgot all about it. Fortunately, his wishes were ignored.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Itullian said:


> Which one would it have been?


It would have been

Henry Penfold - Symphony Op.1


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

It would be Fairlea's First Symphony 'The Uncommenced'

Failing that, Beethoven's 7th


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Pat Fairlea said:


> It would be Fairlea's First Symphony 'The Uncommenced'


Fairlea's First sounds good. I wrote an Elegy but am thinking of renaming it Symphony No. 1 "The Elegiac." Would that count? I guess it doesn't sound so great.


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