Unsung 20th Century Symphonists

[reineckeforever]

Alfred Schnittke, Kurt Atterberg, Joseph Marx, Bohuslav Martinu, Peter Maxwell Davies. I think that Schnittke, Martinu and Davies are not unsung....in this case....i can replace in order with IKarol Szymanowski, ldebrando Pizzetti (Sinfonia in la and Concerto dell'Estate), Gianfrancesco Malipiero. I have heterogenous taste...
bye, Andrea

[Alan Howe]

Could I re-stress: not top five symphonists, but top five symphonies, please!

[Rainolf]

Excuse my error, Alan, I have precised my rating.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Rainolf. Much appreciated!

[alberto]

-Magnard n.4
-Suk Asrael
-Schmidt n.4
-Martucci n.2
-Antheil n.4
(If Suk is rated sung, Pettersson n.7)

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Alberto!

[ahinton]

-Magnard n.4
-Suk Asrael
-Schmidt n.4
-Martucci n.2
-Antheil n.4
(If Suk is rated sung, Pettersson n.7)

Four tremendous symphonies and a fifth with which I regret to being unfamiliar - but however the Suk may be rated (and I rate it very highly), what about Pettersson 1 now?(! - go see BIS's site)...

[Alan Howe]

No doubt as I get to know more of the works discussed in this thread I will change my mind, but here are my current favourite 5 (in no particular order):

1. Blacher Symphony (1938)
2. Klami Symphony 1 (1937-8)
3. Tubin Symphony 5 (1946)
4. Suder Chamber Symphony (1925)
5. Paray Symphony No.1 (1934)

[dafrieze]

In no order:

Moeran Symphony
Samuel Barber Symphony #1
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger Symphony #2, "To the South"
Humphrey Searle Symphony #2
Walter Piston Symphony #2

There are many more than five, but these are among the ones that I return to most frequently.

[reineckeforever]

Sorry Alan,
In order are:
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Schnittke: Symphony n.1
Schnittke: Symphony n.2
Pizzetti: Sinfonia in la minore
Szymanowsky: Symphony n.3 "Song of the night"

bye, Andrea

[Alan Howe]

Interesting. I'm afraid Schnittke is beyond me (too amorphous and diffuse), as is Searle (just too densely chromatic in a quasi-Bergian way).

Anyone got any views on Sallinen?

[semloh]

Alan - re Sallinen - I find he takes a lot of effort but it's worth it.  I have to be in the right frame of mind to cope with all those long-breathed, shimmering passages - they recall the semi-darkness of arctic day-nights, vast wildernesses, isolation, and so on. ... all highly meaningful in a metaphorical way, of course. I like the 3rd, but if I'm going to listen to Sallinen, I might as well go the whole hog and choose the big 6th Sym. .... quickly followed by some Fats Waller by way of a cheerful re-engagement with everyday life! No doubt, others will see it quite differently...

[Alan Howe]

That's helpful, Colin. Thanks!

[Alan Howe]

It appears to be a strange anomaly that I can make sense of Hugh Wood's very expressionistic, Bergian Symphony of 1982, but find Searle much more tricky. It must be me, of course...

[dafrieze]

Alan, I like both Wood's and Searle's symphonies.  The first time I heard a recording of the latter, maybe twenty years ago, I was instantly struck by its energy, its sense of going somewhere, and its ues of twelve-tone technique in such as way as to make it sound dissonant but tonal.