# Not a Poll: Greatest Symphony



## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

This isn’t a poll because I’m more interested in your considered subjective opinions than a popularity contest, and because any list of candidates I could post would of necessity be incomplete. But, I’ve been playing it in my head for the better part of a week now, and have concluded that to my mind, the “Eroica” is the greatest symphony ever written. Certainly the first movement covers more dramatic ground more daringly than anything written before, and by a large amount. With apologies to Chopin, Wagner, and whoever else, the second movement is the only funeral march worthy of the name in classical music. Beethoven wrote other scherzos as good as this one, but it’s still revolutionary for 1803. And there are as many strokes of genius in the finale as in each of the other movements. Once I start, I have a hard time getting it out of my head. (To my mind, Number Two is the Mahler Sixth.)
Other contenders include Mozart’s “Jupiter,” Beethoven's Ninth, Schubert’s C major (whatever its number is today), Brahms’ First or Fourth, Mahler’s Ninth, Bruckner's Ninth . . .
What’s your’s?

cheers --


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Schubert's 9th is probably my favorite. It is inspired and confident from start to finish and has a great drive to it. 

I can never place Beethoven at the top because I can never decide which of his is my favorite. Vaughan Williams' 5th is right up there, although I don't think it covers as much ground (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms is one of my favorite pieces - it sounds both timeless and strange to me - but I tend not to lump it into the symphony category for some reason.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

The symphony that just plain pleases me from beginning to end is Dvorak's 9th. Doesn't make it the greatest... does make it the most pleasing.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

As much as I enjoy the 'Eroica', I do not considered to be the greatest symphony ever written, nor do I consider any other symphony to be the greatest ever penned for that matter. While Beethoven's third symphony is indeed a towering work for the time in which it was written, I can not conceive it in that light. Is it one of my favorite symphonies? I admit, and with much glee that indeed it is.

I've been wrestling with the idea of '_Greatest_', but alas, I've concluded that such a task is a barren undertaking. So, in order to cure myself, I've learned to to open up myself wholeheartedly to the works of any composer I come across. The results have been nothing short of Miraculous.

I do have favorite symphonies that I frequent spiritedly such as, Schumann's first and second symphonies, Schubert's 8th 'Unfinished' and 9th, Beethoven's 8th and 4th, Tchaikovsky first and last, Sibelius' 1st and 5th, Mendelssohn's 4th, Shostakovitch's 10th, Mahler's 2nd, Haydn's 88th and many many more. But the symphonies that I favor a great deal and not because I consider them to be the greatest ever, rather it's the way that they resonate with me that I value greatly are, Mozart's grand trilogy in the essay. I can not explain why, I just seem enjoy them a lot. But at the moment my favorite symphony is Schumann's first! :lol:


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

The three I consider the "greatest" are, in chronological order:
Beethoven No. 9
Mahler No. 9
Ives No. 4

Schubert No. 9 is a close runner-up.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Well, the best and greatest _Russian _symphonies go something like this:

Tchaikovsky 6
Shostakovich 10
Rachmaninoff 2
Borodin 2
Glazunov 5
Prokofiev 5

Honorable mentions:
Tchaikovsky 4
Rimsky-Korsakov Antar Symphony
Glazunov 4
Tchaikovsky 5
Shostakovich 5
Gliere 3
Scriabin 2

uh oh, I better stop now... or there's no end otherwise... x_x


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2013)

There's not a piece I know that is any sort of popularity contest with any other piece.

Each piece that I'm listening to (at the moment, it's Egge's cello concerto--before that was Dunn's _Angels and Insects_) is the piece I'm listening to.

Hence what fascinates me is the need to rank the different pieces one likes. How does one rank such different things as Beethoven's third and Mahler's sixth? How does one even rank the different Beethoven symphonies? Not to mention.*

And what does one have when one is done? Does one's enjoyment of Berlioz' _Romeo et Juliette,_ alter one whit once one has put Beethoven's third at the number one spot and Mahler's sixth at the number two spot? I dare say it doesn't. But perhaps for the rankers it does. Anyway, continue on. But it's utterly baffling to me. Why would anyone do it, and what does one think one has when one is done?

*Oh, OK. I'll mention it: how does one rank any symphony unless one has heard all of them?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I cannot say Beethoven's 3rd is the greatest. That funeral movement, however brilliant, goes on way too long for me. Sometimes I think, "I was a young man when this movement started." The scherzo is fantastic, about on a level with the scherzo in the 9th. I do love those horns. The 4th movement? I'd know it when I heard it, but right now I couldn't hum a single phrase from it in spite of maybe 30 or 40 listens. It must not have made that big an impression on me.

I'm starting to find myself for once siding with the folks who like to throw a wet blanket on these rating threads. I've heard so many fantastic symphonies, I don't think ranking them can be done. Rather there are only current favorites that change gradually over time.

It might be easier to answer what we think is the most representative symphony, which is the most archetypal in form and delivers the goods. Which is the most quintessential symphony? If I had to answer, I would agree that *Dvorak's 9th* is the one. I probably never need to hear it again, but it is quintessential, encompassing just about everything I expect from a symphony, including just a bit of the unexpected.


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## mtmailey (Oct 21, 2011)

There is no one great symphony out there.To me how it sounds matters.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Schubert's Unfinished. Perfect in its two movements.

Honourable mentions for Bruckner 9, Mahler 4, Mahler 9, Gorecki 3, Saint Saens 3, Dvorak 9, Mendelssohn 3, Beethoven 6, Berlioz (Fantastique), Suk (Asrael), to name a few.


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## pluhagr (Jan 2, 2012)

People often overlook Vaughan Williams as a symphonist. His greatest and most profoundly mysterious is his 9th, which I call my favorite.


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

I can't name the "Greatest", just not that smart but I have 4 that I listen to just about every day. Simply put, they put me in a place I absolutely want to be.

Beethoven's 5th
Sibelius's 2nd
Walton"s 1st
Wiren's 2nd


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Well, my _favourite_ is Schumann's 3rd


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I don't know what the greatest symphony is, I haven't heard them all yet.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

some guy said:


> Hence what fascinates me is the need to rank the different pieces one likes. How does one rank such different things as Beethoven's third and Mahler's sixth? How does one even rank the different Beethoven symphonies? Not to mention.*


It's a popularity poll yeh. I've often wondered with ranking how people manage to rank a piece one place above or below another. I'm sure it's just random most of the time but people can't say that otherwise it would make it look silly.


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## aaroncopland (May 14, 2012)

I don't think you can actually say any one symphony is better than another. One may be your favorite, like for Tchaik 6 is my favorite, but its hard to compare them because when they are that popular, certain symphonies speak to different people. Also having performed a symphony can change your opinion of it. I've performed Tchaik 6, having it been one of my top five pieces, but afterwards, having learned what it was actually about, I grew to love it even more.
An even better example is La Mer. I went into it thinking "God, the trombones barely play at all" but then after playing it for 3 months, it grew on me and is one of my top five and Debussy is one of my top three favorite composers. There are a lot of variables in picking a favorite piece. You can't just say "BEETHOVEN 3 IS THE GREATEST SYMPHONY EVER" without having someone else say "MAHLER 2 IS THE GREATEST SYMPHONY EVER." Its like debating politics or religion, nothing good ever comes from it.


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## pluhagr (Jan 2, 2012)

Well, the first post containing the question makes it clear that this is a subjective opinion. So, it is asking: at this moment what do you think is the greatest symphony.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I think the word 'greatest' is often just used to camouflage what a subject is actually about, which is what is someone's favourite. No easy basis for comparison on a single or even small group of greatest works.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

The Great ........


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Pyotr said:


> The Great ........


But then there is the even greater _________ !


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## wzg (Jun 17, 2013)

Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Just to comment on some of the things said here:

1) No, the Eroica is not my favorite symphony -- but I respect it a whole hell of a lot.
2) Yes, it's absolutely possible to compare the quality of two works sometimes, and rank one ahead of the other. Just not _every _pair of works.
3) "Great" and "greatest" are predominantly subjective judgments and I'm curious about yours.
4) This is a harmless question -- the way people like to come with lists of 10 greatest films; five best American novels; best Shakespearean tragedy, etc.

cheers --


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

The top three answers in the thread say it for me... Schubert 9, Dvorak 9, Beethoven 3.

Runners up would be Tchaikovsky 5, Mendelssohn Scottish and Italian, Saint-Saens Organ and Franck's symphony.


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