Unsung Monumental Symphonies

[Amphissa]

Any other Monumental No. 5's???

Tubin
Atterberg
Myaskovsky (except Svetlanov's, which is just ponderous sludge)

[FBerwald]

Im surprised No one has mentioned the symphonies of Leevi Madetoja here!!!!!!!

[wunderkind]

Any other Monumental No. 5's???

Sibelius.   

Hard to top the breadth and power of this symphony - especially the final movement.

[Hovite]

Any other Monumental No. 5's???

Sibelius.   

Hard to top the breadth and power of this symphony - especially the final movement.

Bruckner's 5th.

[JimL]

Aww heck, guys!  Why doesn't somebody just put Beethoven's 5th, fer cryin' out loud!  This has degenerated from monumental unsung symphonies to very much sung 5ths!  Are you all trying to say you've all run out of unsung monumental symphonies?  Well, run out and get some more or close the topic!

[ahinton]

Any other Monumental No. 5's???

Sibelius.   

Hard to top the breadth and power of this symphony - especially the final movement.

Bruckner's 5th.

A monumental masterpiece, without doubt - but surely not "unsung" (other than during its composer's lifetime)?...

[FBerwald]

Aww heck, guys!  Why doesn't somebody just put Beethoven's 5th, fer cryin' out loud!

I DID put it Jim [he's fallen in the waaaterrrrr!!!!!!(Sorry an old GOON slip)]

[JimL]

I thought somebody might have.  Thanks for volunteering. 

[Alan Howe]

Meanwhile, back at the topic of unsung big/long/loud symphonies...

[chill319]

I was struck by a statement by Martinu (ca. 1943) in the booklet notes for the wonderful Thomson recordings:

"In contemporary hands, the symphony has returned to older, more reasonable proportions, ... [though] the form and the content are always thought of as the expression of something grandiose, tragic, or pathetic."

Evidently in Martinu's view it was possible to be grandiose without being monumental. I find this a useful distinction. From that standpoint Sibelius 5 may be called grandiose without insisting that it is thereby monumental.

The statue of Lincoln seated in the Lincoln Monument, Washington, D.C., is approximately 18 feet high, and if the statue could stand it would be about 28 feet high. That's monumental. Bruckner symphonies furnish excellent examples of the monumental because, like the Lincoln statue (and unlike Satie's "Vexations"), they are heroic, tragic, or pathetic and are large not merely in overall length but in their recognizable structural features, which are proportionally sized.

[FBerwald]

Meanwhile, back at the topic of unsung big/long/loud symphonies...

Certainly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kchaturian - Symphony No. 2(I THINK)... It's supposed to be big and loud... calls for an additional 15 or so trumpets to the orchestra. I havent heard this. IS it any musical or just loud sounds?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I thought it was Khachaturian 3 that called for the extra trumpets (and organ). Anyhow, if it's the one I'm thinking of, it's fun, but musically a bit empty! Certainly not monumental.

[mbhaub]

Yes, it's the 3rd and it's utterly banal and tasteless, with a bizarre organ solo. Nonetheless, the Stokowski recording made with Chicago is something no music lover should be without!

[Gareth Vaughan]

"Banal" and "tasteless" - yes. Two good adjectives to describe this extraordinary extravaganza.

[izdawiz]

I'd Give it up for Mr. Shoastakovich's Monumental 5th Symphony for Large forces! beautiful  Romantic Begining.. and Surely not unsung..