What symphony can you not live without?

[anssik]

OK, I'll give a bit of back-up for Atterberg's 2nd. First, there are a number of symphonies that would easily outdo A2, but they are by sung, rather than
unsung composers. Second, it's recent discovery, so it's still fresh in my mind. Third, A2 is the finest symphony by a Swede (of those that I've heard);
I've tested Berwald, Alfven, Petterson, etc. but with little effect; so picking up A2 is a friendly gesture to our western neighbours Fourth, I wished to
recommend a well-crafted and genuinely entertaining late-romantic/"national romantic" piece to those who might not be familiar with it.

[Alan Howe]

Bax's works are no doubt well represented on CD, but in concerts over here we don't get much beyond Tintagel (although that's an absolutely wonderful piece).

[Ryan]

I agree about Atterberg: very listenable!  I myself would choose the 8th.  Its Adagio has a Sibelian melody that is hard to dislodge from the memory--and it builds to a passionate climax somewhat similar to the middle movement of Bax's 1st.  I've also been listening to Madetoja's 2nd.  Of course he's Finnish, but the more I listen, the more I like.

[Ryan]

Bax's works are no doubt well represented on CD, but in concerts over here we don't get much beyond Tintagel (although that's an absolutely wonderful piece).

Really?!?  Hmmm.... I would've thought that any country that can feature Brian's Gothic in its summer concert series would program Bax, as well!     And I agree; Tintagel is one of those pieces to which I never tire of listening!

[Alan Howe]

The programming of the Gothic was the exception, not the rule!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

And to reinforce the point, if Bax's symphonies are rare events in British concert halls then performances of his extensive chamber works are (within my experience at least) once in a lifetime events. But, oops, the thread is about symphonies so having made the point I'll shut up!

[bulleid_pacific]

Sung: Elgar 2 - but it has to be performed with the optional organ pedals at the climax of the finale.  A major goose-bump moment!  That's to say nothing of the very moving slow movement and the wildly manic Rondo [isn't this the most extraordinary movement?]

Unsung: Raff 3 "Im Walde" - it was an impulse buy of the d'Avalos version which hooked me deep into the Unsungs in the first place.

Very sorry to have had to dump Atterberg 6, Parry 3, Boughton 3, Braga Santos 4.... oh no, hang on - we aren't allowed lists 

[bulleid_pacific]

Thats an easy question: Vaughan Williams 5th my favourite piece of all. Mind you I couldn't be without any of his symphonies really.

The 4 and 5 are indeed beautiful but IMHO,the others are a mixed bag..
Sanctas Civitas is another work I could not live without..

That's the first time I've ever heard VW4 described as 'beautiful' - I absolutely adore it but it's a fairly unorthodox kind of beauty!

[chill319]

Why Draeseke 3? Because its journey from darkness to light is so artistically delineated. The opening of movement 1 is the work of a master dramatist. To me it rivals the Ring in its level of inspiration. Yet the first movement as a whole hardly reminds one of Wagner at all. It is the work of a noticeably original master symphonist whose relationship to Brahms and Bruckner is as individual as Schubert's relationship to Beethoven.  Above all, the finale of symphony 3 refuses to blink when confronting the complexities of the modern world.  As with so many of the greatest symphonies, challenges posed in the impressive earlier movements are extended beyond anything one could reasonably expect. Bruckner's contrast of sacred and profane in the finale of his Symphony 3 is well known and cherishable. Draeseke's version of this antimony in his own symphony 3 is more subtle, more difficult to pull off. Yet Draeseke does it with, to me, more conviction and realism than my beloved Bruckner could apparently muster at the time of his "Wagner" symphony. That is a hint of why, were I required to choose, Draeseke 3 would share my final hours.

[Mark Thomas]

Well said.

[tappell]

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1. I first heard it on on vinyl, by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Despite it being destroyed (then reconstructed from the orchestral parts) after it's dreadful first performance, I have always wondered what direction Rachmaninoff might have taken if this symphony had not been universally pilloried.

I love his later works as well, but feel he moved on to safer ground. Written at 21, the youthful fervour I find absolutely magical. Commentators find it uneven, but to me it is full of wonderful rhythms and melody.

[Biarent]

By "Stahl" do you mean Staehle?

Sorry, yes, Staehle. I fixed it.

[Alan Howe]

Ah yes, thanks!

[JollyRoger]

Thats an easy question: Vaughan Williams 5th my favourite piece of all. Mind you I couldn't be without any of his symphonies really.

The 4 and 5 are indeed beautiful but IMHO,the others are a mixed bag..
Sanctas Civitas is another work I could not live without..

That's the first time I've ever heard VW4 described as 'beautiful' - I absolutely adore it but it's a fairly unorthodox kind of beauty!

Thanks for the correction, I did not mean to mislead..The 4th is the most turbulent and dissonant of his symphonies. Very compelling, but certainly not beautiful..

[eschiss1]

Beauty comes in many forms, to repeat an often-used but no less accurate and true phrase.  The concerns about plagiarism in the VW 4, now (from his student Peggy Glanville-Hicks) ... well, a different topic altogether, or two.