# Your best 1-CD Beethoven Symphony combination



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here are the rules:

You can only burn one standard CD with Beethoven symphonies (or symphony). If you pick the Ninth, that is it. No other symphonies fit the disk. Otherwise you should be able to pair up two or three symphonies on one disk (some of the slower tempo conductors would not allow for three on one disk). Symphonies 3 and 6 won't pair, because they total more than the 80 minutes of a normal CD (maybe it is not quite 80, but we will use 80 to keep it simple).

You can't put only 3 movements on. It is all or nothing. But you don't have to fill the disk. If you only like symphony 8, then put it alone on the disk if that is your preference. Ignore conductor preferences as we are mainly interested in symphony preference, and I am using Leibowitz' symphony cycle only to get approximate times (his are generally shorter) for the symphonies rounded to the nearest minute (and hopefully my in-head addition was not off). 

So using the times listed below, fill your disk.

1: 23 minutes
2: 29
3: 42
4: 29
5: 29
6: 42
7: 35
8: 24
9: 62

My one disk selection of Beethoven symphonies is #5 and #6.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Easy: my two favourite Beethoven symphonies are 5 and 6.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

No 7 for sure, then either 5 or 6 depending on the weather.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm not very happy with the timing of number 5! I trust that the repeat in the third movement has been overlooked mmmmm? I won't settle for a fifth that deviates much from these timings of each movement:

I 6'30"
II 8'30"
III 7'30"
IV 10'30
= ~33 minutes

And as for the 9th, I do hope the second movement is around 13 or 13 and a half minutes long! And the last movement better be around 22 minutes at most!

Lucky thing that with my fussiness over tempi and repeats in Beethoven that I will be settling with just the first two anyway.

EDIT: I do love the Leibowitz recordings, but they aren't what I consider perfection....and I am looking for perfection in this hypothetical situation, as usual.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Very easy : my two favourite Beethoven symphonies are 4 &7


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

4 and 6 pure and simple.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

There are two kinds of people: Those who like the odd-numbered Beethoven symphonies and those who like the even-numbered ones. Someday there will be a large-scale war to decide the issue, no doubt.

BTW I'm curious why so many people put #1 ahead of #2 in the rankings. It seems to me to be the feebler work, though not bad at all. In its time #2 was described as "colossal", but that was before the Eroica of course.

For this thread, I'll choose a coupling of #3 and #7. Guess I'm an odder.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

3 and 5.

Though for more contrast I might go with 3 and 7.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

KenOC said:


> There are two kinds of people: Those who like the odd-numbered Beethoven symphonies and those who like the even-numbered ones. Someday there will be a large-scale war to decide the issue, no doubt.
> 
> *BTW I'm curious why so many people put #1 ahead of #2 in the rankings. It seems to me to be the feebler work, though not bad at all. In its time #2 was described as "colossal", but that was before the Eroica of course.*
> 
> For this thread, I'll choose a coupling of #3 and #7. Guess I'm an odder.


_*No. 2 is too avant-garde for the casual classical music listener!!!!*_ Not wishing to bring up the irony in the fact that later in Beethoven's life there was an opinion around that Beethoven should go back to composing symphonies like his first two. Personally, I prefer no. 2 to no. 1....and no. 4 to no. 3 and I also prefer no. 6 to no. 5. I guess I am an evener.


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## wzg (Jun 17, 2013)

6 & 7 match perfectly.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Florestan said:


> Here are the rules:
> 
> You can only burn one standard CD with Beethoven symphonies (or symphony). If you pick the Ninth, that is it. No other symphonies fit the disk. Otherwise you should be able to pair up two or three symphonies on one disk (some of the slower tempo conductors would not allow for three on one disk). Symphonies 3 and 6 won't pair, because they total more than the 80 minutes of a normal CD (maybe it is not quite 80, but we will use 80 to keep it simple).


 I am sure that there must be at least 1 HIPP cycle out there that zips through some of the shorter Symphonies in under 15 minutes each. Perhaps we can find one Merry Band that after a session of Crystal Meth can fit the entire cycle into one CD.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Triplets said:


> I am sure that there must be at least 1 HIPP cycle out there that zips through some of the shorter Symphonies in under 15 minutes each. Perhaps we can find one Merry Band that after a session of Crystal Meth can fit the entire cycle into one CD.


LOL apart from the fact that HIP tends to observe the repeats....:lol:


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

KenOC said:


> There are two kinds of people: Those who like the odd-numbered Beethoven symphonies and those who like the even-numbered ones. Someday there will be a large-scale war to decide the issue, no doubt.
> 
> BTW I'm curious why so many people put #1 ahead of #2 in the rankings. It seems to me to be the feebler work, though not bad at all. In its time #2 was described as "colossal", but that was before the Eroica of course.
> 
> For this thread, I'll choose a coupling of #3 and #7. Guess I'm an odder.


There are, of course, many of us who like the whole lot and don't fit into the stereotypes.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

For me, three and seven. Definitely gotta be three and something. Seven is the best something.


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## LHB (Nov 1, 2015)

5/6 and 7. (char limit)


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I could never do without the 7th (with all the marked repeats, please!) and I'd couple that with the 4th - something of the Cinderella of the set, but a wonderful piece of music.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

KenOC said:


> There are two kinds of people: Those who like the odd-numbered Beethoven symphonies and those who like the even-numbered ones.


Really? Since when?


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

After a little bit of head-scratching due to most of my 3rds clocking in at well over 45 minutes (Barenboim at 55!) I think I'd just about be able to shoehorn Szell's 3rd and either Karajan's or Morris's 7th onto one disc.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Triplets said:


> I am sure that there must be at least 1 HIPP cycle out there that zips through some of the shorter Symphonies in under 15 minutes each. Perhaps we can find one Merry Band that after a session of Crystal Meth can fit the entire cycle into one CD.


Just take Bruno Walter's cycle and speed it up 500% on an audio editor. Then it ought to qualify as electronic music. I picked Bruno since he is one of the slower cycles. Why speed up one that is already at faster tempo.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> After a little bit of head-scratching due to most of my 3rds clocking in at well over 45 minutes (Barenboim at 55!) I think I'd just about be able to shoehorn Szell's 3rd and either Karajan's or Morris's 7th onto one disc.


In practical application it becomes more difficult. I was inspired to start this thread after buying a one-disc set of the 5th and 6th conducted by Blomstedt. It arrived yesterday and I listened through about 4 times on my earbuds, even though my Walter 1941 Fidelio also arrived yesterday, but I could not compel myself to give up the symphony disc to listen to the Fidelio. This is the conflict. Too much good music and too little time to listen.

If you search on Amazon, there are many one-disc combos of Beethoven symphonies. So you begin to wonder if the conductor liked two in particular, or if they just split out a cycle and they happened to be in that order on the disk. My preference is always to have the symphonies in consecutive order on the set. Not that it matters when ripping to mp3s.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

The 9th is my favorite, but I'd prefer 2 symphonies on the disk so I'll go with my second and third favorites - 7 and 5.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Depending on my mood it would either be the 9th or 3rd & 5th.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

DavidA said:


> There are, of course, many of us who like the whole lot and don't fit into the stereotypes.


Actually, there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Notre Dame Fans, and the rest of us.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Actually I think there are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can't.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Three 'n' seven

and I see this combination has already been mentioned more than once.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2015)

7 & 3 of course. It seems so obvious to me.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

3 is my favorite so that has to go in, and I think 7 makes a good companion for 3's seriousness, while not being completely inconsistent in character.

The timings you list seem a bit short, especially if all the repeats are taken, but I think 3 + 7 is not impossible.


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