# Poll: The Underrated Symphonies



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Please read:  Which symphonies on Talk Classical's Favorite Works should be a higher tier? (Choose the clearest answers to you.)

This poll topic and discussion is out of curiosity, learning, and is making a different query than normally with more select answers. Thank you to those who also participated in periphery's Talk Classical Favorite Works, your selections are making a future impression towards discussion!


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## Ravn (Jan 6, 2020)

Bruckner #8 and #9 both seem misplaced, as do Mahler's DLVDE. The fact that Pettersson's #8 is on tier 111 is insane, especially when Pettersson's #7 recently won TC's favorite symphony game.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Ravn said:


> The fact that Pettersson's #8 is on tier 111 is insane, especially when Pettersson's #7 recently won TC's favorite symphony game.


I'd say the latter fact is slightly more insane than the former...


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Ravn said:


> The fact that Pettersson's #8 is on tier 111 is insane, especially when Pettersson's #7 recently won TC's favorite symphony game.





Kreisler jr said:


> I'd say the latter fact is slightly more insane than the former...


I'm pretty sure it did not.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Bruckner's last two symphonies deserved to be among the top ten tiers in my opinion. I also voted for Ives' fourth because I think it's a masterpiece that to me should be higher than Beethoven's fourth, Tchaikovsky's first and Górecki's third in the list.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Ravn said:


> Bruckner #8 and #9 both seem misplaced, as do Mahler's DLVDE. The fact that Pettersson's #8 is on tier 111 is insane, especially when Pettersson's #7 recently won TC's favorite symphony game.


To be more accurate, Pettersson's 7th won "Favorite 20th Century Works" game - not insane, but an unusual conclusion to the game.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Bulldog said:


> To be more accurate, Pettersson's 7th won "Favorite 20th Century Works" game - not insane, but an unusual conclusion to the game.


That was a great game - It took 97 posts to reach a conclusion - Stravinsky's Rite of Spring sat at 97 points to Pettersson's 94 for 6 posts - Both were bypassed 5 times before Petterson received 6 points to close it out.









Game: Favorite Works of the Twentieth Century (Finals)


Welcome to the Finals of our Twentieth Century game. There are 25 remaining works, and I'll announce the top ten when the voting is completed. Rules of the Road: 1. You may vote once daily. 2. When you vote, you will have 10 points to distribute as you please except that no work may...




www.talkclassical.com


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Why are some voting for symphonies already in the top ten tiers?

I voted for Petterson Symphony no. 8, Mahler Symphony no. 7, and Beethoven Symphony no. 4. I could have also voted for Bruckner 8 and 9-- they should be somewhere in the top ten tiers, IMO.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Beethoven's 5 and 7, Sibelius 7 and Brahms' 3 and 4 not being in the top tier just shows how useless (to me) these tiers are.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Anyone who says Beethoven 6/7 is "underrated" deserves a soft whap on the head. 

I like the idea of this thread but some of these works fit no definition of "underrated" that seems useful. Mahler 4? DLVDE?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

But that's why it lets you choose. It may be humorous at first that many would rather vote for 'top of the tiers' works as underrated, but the poll creator took no surprise to that fact, as it seems too logical that most participants identify incredibly well with this poll.

However fbjim, there are 75 other symphonies already voted on as underrated in that OP link, but they only showed up in one participant's favorite list, so such a poll would be too strange and impossible here, as we don't need a pop poll to do what the linked list has already done: Everyone is free to click on that link and see all the underrated symphonies already voted on.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Personally I see precious little rationality in the relative positions of more than half of the listed symphonies.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I have no criticisms towards science's project because it does what it does best: make a highly functional game, where the voting mechanism is convenient. With a more convenient voting mechanism there are tradeoffs to the result (explained in the first link above), but those tradeoffs are worth it and the game's result is as optimistic as can be. It is also held by a different group of members. Why, might one ask, then consider a symphony to be underrated just because some imperfect list states otherwise? Well, it's not just some list; it's an excellent and influential list, and polls like this are just to set its gossip a bit straighter, or perhaps periphery's project did, or perhaps science's project does that best. The end results of different mechanisms are up to you to make heads or tails of.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I haven't been following those tiers, but wow, there are a lot of wacky results here. Maybe Plato was right about democracy ;-)


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I see most of you are not familiar with the project very much. Being in the 3rd tier means it`s among the top 10 classical works, being in the 15th tier means it`s somewhere close to top 100 classical works and I think almost all these works are among the top 1000. Apart from Szymanowski and Pettersson works I do not see anything wacky or unacceptable in this list.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

^^I really don't care if the categorization means the top 100 or 1000, my issue is the _relative_ positions of some of them, and I don't mean just a difference of a few tiers. So wacky? Yes.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Yes, when I use the term "wacky" I mean in terms of relative placements.

I do not begrudge anyone the fun of voting for their favorite works in a game scenario. I am just somewhat dubious of the final results.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Yes, if a tier seems too high of a number, then they all seem too high. It's relative. I have no criticism towards the particular numbers themselves. Periphery says mad props to science.

I'm still deciding on what to vote for/listening.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Becca said:


> ^^I really don't care if the categorization means the top 100 or 1000, my issue is the _relative_ positions of some of them, and I don't mean just a difference of a few tiers. So wacky? Yes.


I think the Bruckner symphonies should be a few tiers higher, but I didn't vote for them because Tier 15 is up there. Beethoven's Fourth and Mahler's Seventh deserve to be higher than tiers 30 and 39. Pettersson's Eighth is way too low.


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## jimmosk (Dec 11, 2008)

"One score lies always on my piano -- that of Mahler's Second Symphony, and I never cease to learn from it."- Richard Strauss


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Beethoven 7, Sibelius 7 and RVW 6 are all seriously under-rated. Though not by me.
Tell you what, though, I reckon Ives 2nd is a superb symphony.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

It’s funny because you could say the top 3 winners of the poll are the most underrated because that was the question of the poll. But if they’re the winners, then are they really the most underrated?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I would say yes nonmaximally, because categories of error and influence can be established between a mechanism and its influenced population, where such a mechanism is similar to others, like the zeitgeist (ie. results are broadly speaking to its population and not its influential mechanism.)


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