WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SYMPHONIES?

My Favorite Symphonies Are:

Beethoven- Symphony #7
Tchaikovsky- Symphony #4
Saint-Saens- Symphony #3 (Organ)
Berlioz- Symphonie Fantastique
Mahler- Symphony #2 (Resurrection)
Schubert- Symphony#9 (The Great)

Wish I could remember them all. I am so bad at remembering which specific symphony I like the best but I can say I have fondness for certain composers which both of you have mentioned. For years we had season tickets to the NSO at the Kennedy Center, my daughter played the Oboe and she knew them all so well I guess I relied on her to assist me with titles.

music & lyrics
I just came back from hearing our university orchestra give a marvelous performance of Mozart's Symphony 41," the Jupiter. Therefore it is presently my favorite.
Normally it's Beethoven's 7th
Tchaikovsky's 5th is another (I'm playing it in a community orchestra next month)
Then, of course, there's Dvorak's 9th, "From the New World"
And last but not least, Mendelssohn's No.5, "The Reformation".

What difficult exercise. I think I may have reptured myself.

JLN what instrument do you play?

Golly, JL, I didn't mean to cause any physical injury! I'm also interested in what instrument you play. Could we also get an enlarged list, say 10 symphonies? My list came from how many tunes I could conjure up in my mind from each one. The Mozart "Jupiter" would be way up there. I should have asked what performances on CD one prefers for each symphony.

Re: Favorite Symphonies
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Sir Colin Davis, Staatskapelle Dresden
Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great" Gunther Wand, Berlin Philarmonic
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, Mariss Jansons, Oslo Philharmonic
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, Carlos Kleiber, Berlin
Shostokovitch: Symphony No. 10, Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Sym.
Ralph Von Williams, Symphony No. 2, Richard Hickock, London Sym.
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Neemi Jarvi, Royal Scottish National
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Pletniv, Russian National Orchestra

I remember the first LP I ever bought was Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony, Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (and the first time I'd ever heard it).

I prefer Beethoven's Sixth, the Pastoral.

For suites, I think, Handel's Water Music.

Nice topic, The Lightwizard, made me to re - open my memory since I haven't listen any of them recently.
Ok, here is my choice: Beethoven- Symphony No. 3, "Eroica", than No. 6 "Pastoral", Schubert - Symphony No. 9, "The Great" ( agree here with you, The Lightwizard ), Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5....but I'm much, much more fond of listening Bach than simphonies.

Beethoven--No. 3, but mostly for the 2d, Marche Funebre movement
Prokofiev--No. 1, "Classical"
Sibelius--No. 7
Borodin--No. 2
Rachmaninoff--No. 2
Shubert--No. 8
Copeland--No. 3
Hayden--No.s 55, 83, 87, 92, 94 & 104
Mozart--No.s 29, 35, 40 & 41, but, best of all, No. 25, the "other" G minor symphoy

Well, I can add some more to my favorites.

Beethoven- Symphony #6- Never considered it a "great" symphony, but it is very lovely.

Prokoffiev- Classical Symphony

Brahms Symphony #3

I am not as well versed as you guys on this but my favorites are:
Black And Tan Symphony-composed and recorded by Duke Ellington.
Tchaikovsky's 5th-as recorded by Leonard Bernstein, and the NY Philharmonic.
The Seven Planets +2- I saw this on TV about 20 years ago and was mesmerized. I don't know who composed the Seven Planets, but it was done before the last 2 were discovered, and the conductor, Mr,Bernstein, composed the final two movements.

Lightwizard: I have a CD of Sibelius' Symphony No. 2, op.43 ,performed by the New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, which I like very much, but not as much as the first recording I had of it in the 50s, but it escapes me now who performed that one. (And maybe I liked that one better because it was the first time I'd heard it.)

Gustav Holtz, who, despite his name, was English, composed "The Planets," and there were only seven known at the time he composed that work. I would have been delighted to have seen that, as i consider Bernstein to be among the greatest of 20th century composers.

I'm afraid I like things earlier than symphonies,
like the music of Heinrich Schutz(with an umlaut) and Josquin Desprez.

G'Light, your invite reminds me of what, is it Tchaikovsky with cannons.......
for the 1812...very apropro.

On my favorite symphony, gotta think a bit. Back/osso.

Mahler's 5th.

There is a recording out now with a composition entitled "Pluto" for "The Planets Suite." Of course, this isn't a symphony but I also love the piece. Have around six different recordings including the surround sound with Yoel Levi and that Atlanta Symphony.

Can't find the recording just yet but it got lukewarm reviews as I remember, especially the "Pluto" adjunct. To be correct, there were eight planets when Holst composed his piece unless he was writing the work in empty space :wink: :wink: