# Favorite 20th Century Full Symphony Cycles



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

At least 4 Symphonies need to be made to be included. Which are your favorite Symphonic Cycles of the 20th Century? I'll try to get up to 20 Cycles. I'll put up the obvious ones.
Mahler (9)
Shostakovich (15)
Prokofiev (7)
Schnittke (10)


----------



## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

Segerstam (253), Rowan Taylor (265) 

But seriously, I like RVW's on occasion (esp. No. 4), Penderecki's (esp. No. 1) and Lutoslawski's (4).


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

William Schuman
Charles Ives
Lutoslawski
Hartmann
Honegger 

Still getting familiar with Henze and Schnittke.


----------



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Since Mahler's first 3 were composed in the 19th century, does his cycle still count? If Mahler counts, I would pick him with no one else very close.


----------



## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

At least 4 gotta be made in the 20th Century.  So he does count.


----------



## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Sibelius for me (his first composed in 1898, but the others after 1900), nobody else with his full cycle.


----------



## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

For me it has to be Shostakovich (though I can't get on with his 3rd and 14th) and Mahler (though I actually prefer the 3 C19 symphonies to the rest). Prokofiev is also great apart from no.4, and I think Nielsen deserves a mention too


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

techniquest said:


> I think Nielsen deserves a mention too


More than just a mention, I'd say.

Arnold Bax's cycle is a favorite of mine ever since one person suggested to listen to one symphony a day and the whole would make sense.


----------



## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

What's a cycle?

Wagner's _Ring _is a cycle of four operas. Even Stockhausen's _Licht _is avowedly a cycle - of something. Havergal Brian consciously wrote his symphonies 8, 9 and 10 to form a whole greater than the sum of the parts (he called them "brothers").

But, overwhelmingly, composers produce symphonies, full stop. Usually when commissions permit. There is no intention in the composer's mind to produce a collection of works unified into one meta-work, linked thematically (whether the themes were musical, philosophical, dramatic or anything else). The idea of symphony cycles is a marketing concept. I think we mean "ragbag of disparate works" here, rather than "cycle". Let's use words with precision and accuracy.


----------

