# Corrected Pick your Favorite Symphony Composer



## Johnnie Burgess

Pick your favorite Symphony Composer.


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## Johnnie Burgess

I picked in my new poll, in no order

Haydn
Beethoven
Mahler
Shostakovich
Vaughan Williams


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## joen_cph

maybe, concentrating on composers with a good deal of symphonies,

1. Bruckner
2. Mahler
3. Mozart
4. Sibelius
5. Nielsen
(6. Shosty)

I´ve heard so much Beethoven, and Shosty too ...


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## Johnnie Burgess

I wish people would list who they voted for.

Other than that only 2 have not been picked so far and one of them is Schumann.


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## Mahlerian

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I wish people would list who they voted for.
> 
> Other than that only 2 have not been picked so far and one of them is Schumann.


You can see who voted for what if you click on the numbers to the right.

I voted for Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Bruckner.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahlerian said:


> You can see who voted for what if you click on the numbers to the right.
> 
> I voted for Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Bruckner.


Thanks for that info.

It looks like it could be a battle between Beethoven and Mahler and Sibelius.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Now I learned how to see who voted for who! Well, I should also have voted for other...Davies, Schnittke, Penderecki f.ex. I voted for the ones I have listened the most to from the alternatives.


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## Orfeo

Bruckner, Mahler, Vaughan-Williams, Shostakovich, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak.
Others: Glazunov, Myaskovsky, Bax, Braga-Santos, Roussel, Atterberg, Alfven, Nielsen, Schubert, Eshpai, George Lloyd, Diamond, Berwald, Adolfs Skulte, Tubin.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Orfeo said:


> Bruckner, Mahler, Vaughan-Williams, Shostakovich, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak.
> Others: Glazunov, Myaskovsky, Bax, Braga-Santos, Roussel, Atterberg, Alfven, Nielsen, Schubert, Eshpai, George Lloyd, Diamond, Berwald, Adolfs Skulte, Tubin.


Nice list. Shows a lot of good names of underrated symphony composers.


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## SixFootScowl

My favorite symphony composers is based on my more limited symphonic listening as to composers but here is a list of those composers where I like all their symphonies:

1. Beethoven
2. Mahler
3. Mendelssohn
4 & 5 Saint-Saëns and Berwald (not sure the order)

The only other symphonies I have really experienced much are Brahms and his would rank #6 at this time for me. Bruckner is on my radar for possible future exploration.


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## mmsbls

I picked 5. The rough order would be:

Beethoven
Mozart
Brahms
Haydn
Mahler

But I love symphonies from all those listed.


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## Judith

Beethoven
Tchaikovsky
Schubert
Mendelssohn 
Brahms


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## Bulldog

I voted for Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler and Shostakovich.


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## Sloe

Haydn
Beethoven
Brahms
Vaughan Williams 
Bruckner
Schubert
Sibelius
Prokofiev
Schumann

I like symphionies by the others too but I had to limit myself somehow. I did not bother about voting other but I like the symphonies of Vagn Holmboe, Gösta Nystroem, Hilding Rosenberg and Carl Nielsen a lot and also lot of other composers have made symphonies that give great joy to listen to.


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## Art Rock

I picked half a dozen, but I could just as easily have picked almost every one listed. I definitely miss Bax on the list though.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sloe said:


> Haydn
> Beethoven
> Brahms
> Vaughan Williams
> Bruckner
> Schubert
> Sibelius
> Prokofiev
> Schumann
> 
> I like symphionies by the others too but I had to limit myself somehow. I did not bother about voting other but I like the symphonies of Vagn Holmboe, Gösta Nystroem, Hilding Rosenberg and Carl Nielsen a lot and also lot of other composers have made symphonies that give great joy to listen to.


Holmboe and Nielsen wrote great symphonies.


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## Orfeo

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Nice list. Shows a lot of good names of underrated symphony composers.


Thank you.

Underrated absolutely, and criminally so. It's nice and even gratifying that record companies have been taking the plunge and exposing these unsung composers, and that Youtube is somewhat taking those exposures a step or two further. For instance, most of the Skulte symphonies are now on that website and they make up for some fascinating listening.

Definitely worth checking out.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Orfeo said:


> Thank you.
> 
> Underrated absolutely, and criminally so. It's nice and even gratifying that record companies have been taking the plunge and exposing these unsung composers, and that Youtube is somewhat taking those exposures a step or two further. For instance, most of the Skulte symphonies are now on that website and they make up for some fascinating listening.
> 
> Definitely worth checking out.


I do not know if you can just blame the record company's. Do a lot of orchestra's play the symphonies outside what is considered the top 10 symphony composer's.


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## Mahlerian

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I do not know if you can just blame the record companys. Do a lot of orchestras play the symphonies outside what is considered the top 10 symphony composer's.


No. The received wisdom is (I can't vouch for its accuracy) that unfamiliar name equals fewer seats sold, even if that name is from an earlier era or wrote in a conservative style, and even that a less well-known work by a major composer, like Beethoven, will often sell fewer tickets. The fact that some think this way prevents more financially-minded orchestras from programming those unknown symphonies.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahlerian said:


> No. The received wisdom is (I can't vouch for its accuracy) that unfamiliar name equals fewer seats sold, even if that name is from an earlier era or wrote in a conservative style, and even that a less well-known work by a major composer, like Beethoven, will often sell fewer tickets. The fact that some think this way prevents more financially-minded orchestras from programming those unknown symphonies.


The San Antonio Symphony next season will do the last 5 symphonies of Mozart. They will also do Howard Hanson Symphony #2 Gerard Schwarz will be the conductor. Their final symphony of the season will be Symphony # 4 by Mahler.


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## corndogshuffle

I wasn't paying attention and only voted for Mahler, but I'm ok with that because his symphonies are definitely my "favorite" and that's what the poll was called. The only composer who I would have considered voting for in addition to Mahler is Beethoven, but he is definitely a "1B" for me (not that 1B is anything less than amazing).


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## Mahlerian

Johnnie Burgess said:


> The San Antonio Symphony next season will do the last 5 symphonies of Mozart. They will also do Howard Hanson Symphony #2 Gerard Schwarz will be the conductor. Their final symphony of the season will be Symphony # 4 by Mahler.


The Boston Symphony will be sticking mostly to the standard repertoire for symphonies (Dutilleux seems like the glaring exception), but they are going a bit further afield in the rest of the programming, if not by much.

Beethoven 3, 6, 7
Berlioz Fantastique
All 4 of Brahms'
Bruckner 6
Dutilleux 2
Dvorak 9
Haydn 60
Mahler 4
Mozart 39
Prokofiev 1
Schubert 9
Sibelius 3
Shostakovich 6, 7
Tchaikovsky 4

http://bso.http.internapcdn.net/bso/images/uploads/brochures/BSO16-17SubBrochure.pdf


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahlerian said:


> The Boston Symphony will be sticking mostly to the standard repertoire for symphonies (Dutilleux seems like the glaring exception), but they are going a bit further afield in the rest of the programming, if not by much.
> 
> Beethoven 3, 6, 7
> Berlioz Fantastique
> All 4 of Brahms'
> Bruckner 6
> Dutilleux 2
> Dvorak 9
> Haydn 60
> Mahler 4
> Mozart 39
> Prokofiev 1
> Schubert 9
> Sibelius 3
> Shostakovich 6, 7
> Tchaikovsky 4
> 
> http://bso.http.internapcdn.net/bso/images/uploads/brochures/BSO16-17SubBrochure.pdf


The Houston Symphony Orchestra will do two works of John Adam, Doctor Atomic Symphony and Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra.

They will open up with Mahler Symphony # 1.


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## Sina

If contemporary music is also considered music, and contemporary symphonies are regarded as symphonies, I picked "other" to vote for Per Nørgård.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sina said:


> If contemporary music is also considered music, and contemporary symphonies are regarded as symphonies, I picked "other" to vote for Per Nørgård.


Per Nørgård wrote 8 and studied under Vagn Holmboe who also wrote some great symphonies.


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## Johnnie Burgess

I am surprised that Sibelius is in 3rd place right now.


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## Sloe

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I am surprised that Sibelius is in 3rd place right now.


Do you think he is too high ranked or too low ranked?
I think he is just right I like the symphonies of Beethoven and Bruckner somewhat more.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sloe said:


> Do you think he is too high ranked or too low ranked?
> I think he is just right I like the symphonies of Beethoven and Bruckner somewhat more.


I picked Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich over him. I do like his symphonies. I just wish he would have not stopped after symphony # 7.


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## Sloe

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I picked Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich over him. I do like his symphonies. I just wish he would have not stopped after symphony # 7.


It was better that he made seven instead of none.
Schumann and Brahms composed only four each.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sloe said:


> It was better that he made seven instead of none.
> Schumann and Brahms composed only four each.


Schumann had his problems and Brahms took too long to write his first one.

Yes it is good that he wrote some. But if had continued after # 7 he might have wrote several more great ones.


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## Sloe

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Schumann had his problems and Brahms took too long to write his first one.


I am not judging them.
It is better to compose four good symphonies instead of 40 bad symphonies.
They also made lots of other good music.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sloe said:


> It was better that he made seven instead of none.
> Schumann and Brahms composed only four each.


I am not saying he needed to write 40 more just a couple. Sibelius did not write much after his last symphony.


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## Orfeo

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I do not know if you can just blame the record company's. Do a lot of orchestra's play the symphonies outside what is considered the top 10 symphony composer's.


I'm not blaming the record labels. On the contrary, I'm praising them for filling the void ensembles fail to do in bringing to the fore the underrated masterworks.

But as Mahlerian stated, the programs that feature less familiar works means more empty seats, and it's been going on for well over a century (though it seems to have worsened, for names famous during the early 20th Century are now footnotes, like Schmidt, Zemlinsky, Bax, Glazunov, Stojowski, Myaskovsky, Lalo, Massenet). It comes to no surprise that vanguard orchestras like the American Symphony (ASO) or the MusicaNova Orchestra offer no more than five, six concerts per year (in fact, the ASO cut back on a number of concerts a few years ago). Much of it is due to the economic decline and sluggishness for over a decade in the West, as well as the decline in sponsorships and donations. But much of it, and these have been going on much longer, have been due to fashion, profitability, reputation (the bottom line). The recording labels (independent ones most particularly) exercise greater flexibility in featuring works not performed often in concerts or on stage, and artists, probably more daring during the past couple of decades or so now than, say, pre-1970s, follow suit. But the dynamics differ greatly when deciding what to feature live. And the end results are pretty darn depressing most of the time. Take the BBC Proms. What's good is that this yearly series of performances have been trying to introduce works either new or under-played. What's not so good, is that it has a long way to go.

In the end, thank goodness for those record labels.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Orfeo said:


> I'm not blaming the record labels. On the contrary, I'm praising them for filling the void ensembles fail to do in bringing to the fore the underrated masterworks.
> 
> In the end, thank goodness for those record labels.


Yes it was nice when Chandos did the Contemporaries of Mozart by The London Mozart players. These symphonies were good. I do not think most would have considered great.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Surprised that Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky are doing so badly.


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## SixFootScowl

Interesting that Mahler has a lead over Beethoven for the #1 spot.


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## Pugg

J. Haydn
Beethoven
Mozart
Brahms
Mahler
Vaughan Williams
Bruckner
Schubert
Sibelius
Prokofiev
R. Schumann
Tchaikovsky
Dvořák

No particular order .


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## helenora

Haydn and Mozart are so low in this list! hehehe, let alone Schumann , Schubert, etc


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## Johnnie Burgess

Florestan said:


> Interesting that Mahler has a lead over Beethoven for the #1 spot.


His lead has dropped.


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## KenOC

If Mahler is leading Beethoven, it's just a sign of our degenerate times. :tiphat:


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## Johnnie Burgess

KenOC said:


> If Mahler is leading Beethoven, it's just a sign of our degenerate times. :tiphat:


Now it is a tie.


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## Sloe

KenOC said:


> If Mahler is leading Beethoven, it's just a sign of our degenerate times. :tiphat:


Appearantly Mahler is popular in America since he got his lead during the night.


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## Merl

You'll be amazed to hear that Ludwig tops my present list. Currently this is my top 5.

1 Beethoven
2 Dvorak
3 Bruckner
4 Mahler
5 Sibelius / Tchaikovsky


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## Pugg

KenOC said:


> If Mahler is leading Beethoven, it's just a sign of our degenerate times. :tiphat:


Beethoven is front again.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Looks like Vaughan Williams is stuck at 10. He was very high up and now has been passed by several.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Beethoven is in first and Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev bringing up the rear.


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## Pugg

Glad to see Mahler is doing well.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Pugg said:


> Glad to see Mahler is doing well.


I am not surprised by how he is doing.


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## Pugg

Johnnie Burgess said:


> I am not surprised by how he is doing.


Me neither that's why I posted this .


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## Johnnie Burgess

Pugg said:


> Me neither that's why I posted this .


I am surprised with the ones at the bottom.


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## Pugg

Other; must be our Mendelssohn lover .


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## Johnnie Burgess

Sibelius is still in 3 a very strong amount of support for him.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Bumping this thread back up.


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## PeterF

Beethoven
Mozart
Brahms
Haydn
Dvorak
Schubert
Schumann
Tchaikovsky


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## EdwardBast

I don't do favorites in this category. I could eliminate a few composers from the list, but that would be mean spirited. Otherwise it is just welcome variety.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Beethoven in the lead and Prokofiev is in last.


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## SixFootScowl

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Beethoven in the lead and Prokofiev is in last.


And Mahler, nicely, a close second.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Florestan said:


> And Mahler, nicely, a close second.


That is not much of a surprise in Mahler being in 2nd. But Sibelius is still in 3rd.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Johnnie Burgess said:


> That is not much of a surprise in Mahler being in 2nd. But Sibelius is still in 3rd.


I've no problem with that.


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## Johnnie Burgess

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I've no problem with that.


Nothing wrong with it. But you would think several others would be ahead of him by what is said in other threads.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Art Rock said:


> I picked half a dozen, but I could just as easily have picked almost every one listed. I definitely miss Bax on the list though.


Who would you have left out?

It is a tie again between Beethoven and Mahler.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahler has pulled back into the lead.


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## violadude

I picked everyone.


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## hpowders

1. W. Schuman

2. Shostakovich

3. Haydn

4. Sibelius

5. Mahler


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## DeepR

Based on what I've heard, which is not enough, I voted Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

I picked six, on the basis that (a) I believe that a comparatively large number of their symphonies are true masterpieces; and (b) I tend to listen to their symphonies more than anybody else's. In purely "iTunes play-count" order, the six are:

Mahler
Beethoven
Shostakovich
Bruckner
Haydn
Mozart

I hasten to add that I enjoy the symphonies of many other composers, and there are several masterpieces among them. It's just that I find the six symphonists listed above to be particular "ear-buddies" of mine


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## bz3

Most listened: Beethoven. Really rare I know but they are timeless. I can tire of Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart, Mahler, Schumann, and Sibelius but I never really do of Beethoven - even his first two.


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## Janspe

My votes went to Beethoven, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius and Shostakovich. Five composers whose symphonic writing has had an enormous influence on me - Mahler being #1, and the rest following in no particular order.

I guess this is the first time I admit that Mahler's symphonies mean more to me than Beethoven's - the teenage version of me would kill me if he saw this!


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## Christo

Vaughan Williams
Shostakovich
Holmboe (missing here)
Tubin (again)
Nielsen (also missing, in this case: to my big suprise)


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## Sloe

Christo said:


> Holmboe (missing here)
> Nielsen (also missing, in this case: to my big suprise)


They both wrote great symphonies I agree about Nielsen.
Louis Glass symphonies are also really fine
Another composer whose symphonies I really enjoy is Kurt Atterberg.


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahler has pulled into the lead.


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## SixFootScowl

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Mahler has pulled into the lead.


It's okay. I see them (LvB and Mahler) as the top two symphonists ever, and so different to add nice variety to my listening, and so am happy to have them both leading the pack and trading places periodically.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Eddie r u kidding Varese


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## joen_cph

Christo said:


> Vaughan Williams
> Shostakovich
> *Holmboe* (missing here)
> Tubin (again)
> Nielsen (also missing, in this case: to my big suprise)


It would be nice with some more differentiated Holmboe recordings to choose from - there´s only one complete BIS cycle, and old LP recordings of 7, 8, 10. 
A more late-romantically coloured Chandos or Dacapo cycle with a "cinematic" sound would be great.


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## Rhombic

Schumann really? I can see how his piano music can be interesting, but his orchestration is definitely all over the place. I am amazed that his symphonies are still performed.


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## Chronochromie

Rhombic said:


> Schumann really? I can see how his piano music can be interesting, but his orchestration is definitely all over the place. I am amazed that his symphonies are still performed.


You take that back! :scold:


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## Johnnie Burgess

Chronochromie said:


> You take that back! :scold:


At least in this poll Schumann is not in last.:tiphat:


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## Chronochromie

Johnnie Burgess said:


> At least in this poll Schumann is not in last.:tiphat:


But Schubert is way behind Brahms!


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## DavidA

Chronochromie said:


> But Schubert is way behind Brahms!


Not in my reckoning!


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## Azol

My favorites are Bruckner, Mahler and Vaughan Williams - mighty world-creators!


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## Johnnie Burgess

Mahler, Beethoven and Sibelius are the top 3. Prokofiev is in last.


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## MoonlightSonata

1. Beethoven
2. Dvorak
3. Mozart (seems I forgot to click him though)
4. Shostakovich
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Prokofiev


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## Vaneyes

"I won't tell."


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## Brahmsian Colors

1) Brahms. Rock solid for decades. For me, his Third tops the list. Kempe/Berlin, Kertesz/Vienna and Klemperer/Philharmonia faves 
2) Dvorak. Love his Eighth. Kertesz/London inspired, Kubelik/Berlin excellent
3) Tchaikovsky. Preferences are the Second, Giulini/Philharmonia, Maazel/Vienna and the Sixth with Mravinsky/Leningrad 
Special nod to Rachmaninoff's Second with the 1970s Ormandy/Philadelphia and Prokofiev's Fifth with Ansermet/Suisse Romande


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## Brahmsian Colors

Nice doggie. Love the ears.


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