BBC Music Magazine Top 20 Symphonies

[Phoenix]

I hope this isn't a duplicate post, but I saw this a few days ago and thought you all would find it interesting:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/04/beethoven-eroica-greatest-symphony-vote-bbc-mozart-mahler

It seems the BBC Music Magazine asked 151 conductors to list their top 20 symphonies.  I don't have a subscription to the magazine but The Guardian listed the top 10:

1. Beethoven Symphony No 3 (1803)
2. Beethoven Symphony No 9 (1824)
3. Mozart Symphony No 41 (1788)
4. Mahler Symphony No 9 (1909)
5. Mahler Symphony No 2 (1894 rev 1903)
6. Brahms Symphony No 4 (1885)
7. Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
8. Brahms Symphony No 1 (1876)
9. Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 (1893)
10. Mahler Symphony No 3 (1896)

I would love to know what the top 20 where, but in just the top 10 notice that Mahler is listed three (!) times, symphonies 2, 9, and 3.  I can see #2 & #9, but #3?  That really surprised me.  Interestingly, there's no Bruckner listed. 

[James Meckley]

One hundred fifty-one conductors?? That's going pretty deep into the talent pool; probably skewed the results.

I'd certainly put Bruckner 8 and/or 9 somewhere on the list.

James

[Phoenix]

I'd certainly put Bruckner 8 and/or 9 somewhere on the list.

I agree. Either his 4th, 7th, 8th or 9th should have been on the top 10 list. Hopefully the top 20 list will be available sometime in September, it'll be interesting to see what's on it.

[AZContrabassoon]

I saw that list and really question it's meaning: are these the "greatest" symphonies, by whatever standard they use, their favorites to conduct? It would be interesting to see a list of audience favorites; in that top-10 list there would be no Bruckner, at least three by Tchaikovsky. In any event, the Dvorak 8th and 9th should be on that list - great music by any standard. And no Sibelius really sets off alarms. I just can't figure out the reasoning behind this list.

[James Meckley]

Here's the BBC Music Magazine's complete list of the Top 20, for what it's worth:

01 - Beethoven 3
02 - Beethoven 9
03 - Mozart 41
04 - Mahler 9
05 - Mahler 2
06 - Brahms 4
07 - Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
08 - Brahms 1
09 - Tchaikovsky 6
10 - Mahler 3
11 - Beethoven 5
12 - Brahms 3
13 - Bruckner 8
14 - Sibelius 7
15 - Mozart 40
16 - Beethoven 7
17 - Shostakovich 5
18 - Brahms 2
19 - Beethoven 6
20 - Bruckner 7

James

[barry guerrero]

Wouldn't be nice if there were some REAL surprises, like the Khachaturian 2nd or the Malcom Arnold 4th?

[AZContrabassoon]

I have a fantasy that when I win the Powerball, I'm starting an orchestra which for several years not one of the above mentioned works will be played. Instead we'll be treated to the wonderful, colorful, exciting symphonies of Balakirev, Atterberg, Schmidt, Peterson-Berger, Roentgen, Gliere, Raff, Glazunov, Bax, Alfven, and others. Just 7 numbers...that's all I need.

[barry guerrero]

If you win that lottery, here's a suggestion:  buy-out the complete EMI Classics catalog, and make certain that EVERYTHING worthy in EMI's massive back catalog stays in print forever. If you still have cash to burn, set up healthy endowments for CPO, Chandos, etc., with the stipulation that they make everything available online forever as well. That would cover ALL of the composers you mentioned. Good luck.

[Prospero]

I would add the Messiaen Turangalila Symphony.

Under Essa-Pekka Solonen with the NY Philharmonic in March, 2016, the equal of the Tennstedt Mahler 6 with the London Philharmonic in London in April, 1983.

[AZContrabassoon]

If you win that lottery, here's a suggestion:  buy-out the complete EMI Classics catalog, and make certain that EVERYTHING worthy in EMI's massive back catalog stays in print forever.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the vast EMI catalog. Yet, they have done well in many ways. The Schuricht Beethoven cycle, that large collection of Constantin Silvestri (Tchaik 4 notwithstanding), the Cluytens' Beethoven and Ravel, Jochum's Bruckner, and that fantastic Elgar collection. But there's so much that is so randomly released, if at all. Sony/RCA has issued a lot of great, cheap boxed sets that EMI could easily match, but you have to wonder what the demand for them would be. Did anyone pick up "The People's Mahler" from a few years ago? No doubt there was a lot to haggle about, but all in all, it was a tremendous collection.

[barry guerrero]

The problem with EMI is that, basically speaking, there is no EMI now. Their catalog is completely in the hands of Warner Classics. There's tons of older EMI stuff that is now out-of-print.