# Your Top 10 Eight Symphonies!



## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Almost there!
What are, in your opinion, the greatest, or just your personal favorite_ eight _symphonies?

mine, no surprises:
1. Schubert (Unfinished)
2. Beethoven
3. Shostakovich
4. Bruckner
5. Dvorak
6. Mahler
7. Vaughan-Williams
8. Hartmann
9. Pettersson
10. Haydn (Le Soir)
10. Brian


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

[EDITED because I forgot Holmboe .../EDIT]

1. Bruckner
2. Mahler
3. Beethoven
4. Schubert
5. Nørgård
6. Holmboe
7. Dvořák
8. Shostakovich
9. Vaughan Williams
10. Pettersson
10. Haydn (Le Soir)


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Pettersson
Dvořák
Wuorinen
Wellesz
Mahler
Kabeláč
Sessions
Henze
Nørgård
Penderecki


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

1. Dvořák
2. Beethoven
3. Schubert (Unfinished)
4. Glazunov


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Schubert (Unfinished)
Shostakovich
Bruckner

Of which the Schubert belongs to my all time favourites.


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

I'm just gonna do it...

1. Beethoven
2. Bruckner
3. Shostakovich
4. Schubert
5. Mahler


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

1. Mahler
2. Beethoven
3. Schubert
4. Dvořák
5. Pettersson
6. Shostakovich
8. Haydn (Le Soir)
9. Schubert (Unfinished)
10. Mozart Symphony No. 10 in G Major


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

Shostakovich
Schubert
Pettersson
Dvorak
Bruckner
Norgärd
Henze
Penderecki
Schnittke
Tuur


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

RobertJTh said:


> What are, in your opinion, the greatest, or just your personal favorite_ *eight* _symphonies?


At the moment my personal favorite symphonies numbered as eight are:

1. Bruckner
2. Schubert
3. Dvorák
4. Beethoven
5. Mahler
6. Shostakovich
7. Glazunov
8. Pettersson
9. Vaughan Williams
10. Raff


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Schubert
Bruckner
Dvorak
Shostakovich
Mahler
Huber
Rautavaara
Sallinen
Tabakov
Aho


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## Anooj (Dec 5, 2021)

Shostakovich 
Mahler
Dvorak
Beethoven
Schubert
Bruckner
Glazunov


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

1. Bruckner
2. Mahler
3. Schnittke
4. Weinberg
5. Henze
6. Nørgård
7. Hartmann, K.A.
8. Shostakovich
9. Schubert
10. Beethoven


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

I can't believe I "8" the whole thing

1. "Indian Sounds" (1991) by Gloria Coates
2. Aubert Lemeland's Opus 166 "In memoriam" (1995)
3. Jean Rivier's 1978 Symphonie d'archets
4. Benjamin Frankel's Opus 53 (1971)
5. Opus 110 (1970) by Egon Wellesz
6. Nikolai Myaskovsky's Opus 26 (1925)
7. “Sinfonia boreale” Opus 56 (1952) by Vagn Holmboe
8. "Autumnal Fragments" Opus 81 (2001) by Aulis Sallinen
9. "Le triomphe de la mort" Opus 51 (1924) by Charles Tournemire
10. Alexandre Tansman's 1948 "Musique pour orchestre"


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Schubert
Dvorak
Beethoven

these are the only 8ths I so far have listened to and I love them very much


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

EvaBaron said:


> Schubert
> Dvorak
> Beethoven
> 
> these are the only 8ths I so far have listened to and I love them very much


Do yourself a favor then and listen to Bruckner's!  His is an extraordinary symphony no. 8 in my humble opinion. The Furtwängler/VPO from 1944 and the Karajan/VPO from 1988 are legendary recordings of it - listen to them first.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Xisten267 said:


> Do yourself a favor then and listen to Bruckner's!  His is an extraordinary symphony no. 8 in my humble opinion. The Furtwängler/VPO from 1944 and the Karajan/VPO from 1988 are legendary recordings of it - listen to them first.


I totally forgot: I have listened to the Bruckner 8th only once, it was Karajan’s version. I liked it, the mysterious opening and I also quite liked the scherzo, there was a melody in there that I feel like I already knew even though I never listened to it before. Thanks for reminding me, after I listened to it once I totally forgot about it. I will listen to it after Beethoven 8th by Karajan ‘55


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## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

1. Anton Bruckner
2. Dimitri Shostakovich
3. Antonin Dvorak
4. Gustav Mahler
5. Franz Schubert
6. Ludwig van Beethoven
7. Franz Lachner
8. Alan Hovhaness
9. Janis Ivanovs
10. Michael Haydn


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

Lloyd
Mahler
Glazunov
Pettersson
Penderecki
Sallinen
Vaughan-Williams
Tubin
Rautavaara
Schubert


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

RobertJTh said:


> Almost there!
> What are, in your opinion, the greatest, or just your personal favorite_ eight _symphonies?


Shostakovich
Bruckner
Mahler
Dvorak
Beethoven
VWms
Schuman


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

No particular order:

Mahler
Myaskovsky
Weinberg
Pettersson
Shostakovich
Bruckner
Holmboe
Henze
Hartmann, KA
Rautavaara


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

Glazunov - Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, Op. 83 (1905)


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

I need to add one: Sibelius´s 8th Symphony. How could I forget this masterpiece?


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Waehnen said:


> I need to add one: Sibelius´s 8th Symphony. How could I forget this masterpiece?


You're kidding. Please show me the score, I am highly interested ...


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Philidor said:


> You're kidding. Please show me the score, I am highly interested ...












Sibelius once told me in a dream: "I have chosen YOU to combine the 4th and 6th Symphonies!" So the eight symphony has always somehow been playing in my soul. It is my favourite symphony of them all. I will try to pour some of it into my own 1st Symphony.

(This is all of course not so serious talk.)


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Philidor said:


> [EDITED because I forgot Holmboe .../EDIT]


I found one I forgot as well, and poor Haydn has to go a second time...
Brian! I must confess I don't know all of his 32 symphonies, but the 8th is a pretty great work. You can download a nice craggy mono recording of it (just as craggy as the symphony itself) for free here:





Havergal Brian - the official website







www.havergalbrian.org


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Waehnen said:


> Sibelius once told me in a dream: "I have chosen YOU to combine the 4th and 6th Symphonies!" So the eight symphony has always somehow been playing in my soul. It is my favourite symphony of them all. I will try to pour some of it into my own 1st Symphony.


I guess the eighth could only continue the way that SIbelius started with his fifth symphony and preliminarily reached a target with his seventh - a large symphonic fantasia.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Waehnen said:


> Sibelius once told me in a dream: "I have chosen YOU to combine the 4th and 6th Symphonies!" So the eight symphony has always somehow been playing in my soul. It is my favourite symphony of them all. I will try to pour some of it into my own 1st Symphony.


Well, I think he told me in a dream he didn't want an eight symphony of his own cause it would seem like just a step away for him from getting the Curse of the Ninth. I think he also added; take down statues of Leibowitz if there are any.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

This isn't my list, just a comment, but I'll take the fragments from Sibelius's 8th Symphony over a number of completed 8ths that I've heard by others,






If you listen to these fragments in relation to Tapiola, which could possibly have been originally intended as a single movement for this symphony?, it may give you some idea about what Sibelius's 8th would have sounded like...


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Josquin13 said:


> This isn't my list, just a comment, but I'll take the fragments from Sibelius's 8th Symphony over a number of completed 8ths that I've heard by others,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I believe your theory on Tapiola being part of the eight symphony, probably the first movement which then evolved into something so intensive it became Tapiola. Tapiola, as it is now, would have been too intensive, heavy weight and conclusive to really give space to anything else in a symphony. So it was the right choice to seperate it!

Are those fragments real Sibelius? Gorgeous!


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Schubert
Beethoven
Dvorák
Bruckner
Haydn
Pettersson
Vaughan Williams
Rautavaara
Shostakovich 
Myaskovsky


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Beethoven
Vaughan Williams
Schubert
Penderecki
Boyce


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## MusicInTheAir (Apr 21, 2007)

RobertJTh said:


> Almost there!
> What are, in your opinion, the greatest, or just your personal favorite_ eight _symphonies?
> 
> mine, no surprises:
> ...


1. Schubert
2. Dvorak
3. Beethoven
4. Shostakovich
5. Bruckner
6. Vaughan Williams
7. Haydn
8. Mahler


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## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

*Bruckner*
Shostakovich
Atterberg
Schubert
Dvorak
Weinberg


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Favorite 8th Symphonies:

1. Bruckner
2. Schubert "Unfinished"
3. Dvorak
4. Shostakovich
5. Rautavaara "The Journey"
6. Walter Piston
7. William Schuman
8. Vaughan Williams
9. Mahler (Only the first half) 
10. Beethoven

This gets really hard as we go up the line. Now that so many of the heavy hitters such as Brahms and Tchaikovsky are off the table, we are left with some very fine symphonists such as Walter Piston, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Roger Sessions, Gloria Coates, Malcolm Arnold, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Philip Glass, etc. I khow them and some of their works; heard most of their symphonies on YouTube, but not enough to make informed choices.


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## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

super glad to see that Dvorak's 8th is getting a lot of love here

the symphony is an absolute joy to listen to, it has the very best orchestration, just PERFECT 

I always consider Dvorak's 8th as one of the pieces that shows the difference between a good conductors and great ones


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

*1. Dvorak*

Then these (in any order):

*Shostakovich
Holmboe
Bruckner
Glazunov
Rautavaara
Lajtha
Schubert
Vaughan Williams
Atterberg*


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