Thread: A year of exploring symphonies

I've never been much into symphony. Too boring.

Well, I'm going to listen to one symphony each week for the next year. The idea is to come to appreciate this genre more.

What I'd like to do is listen to each one all the way through, without distractions, as many times as it takes until I become addicted to it. If these works are as good as the classical music peeps believe them to be, well maybe there's something to it.

Here's the list of symphonies in listening order (not ranked), and also a spotify playlist (with the choicest recordings of each work). The order is kind of a countdown to the greatest symphonies, but it's also kind of interlaced for variety and to provide context for works that are later in the order. I put some thought into it I guess, trying to make the order the best way to wander down this path. These particular symphonies can be considered like this: "pretty close to a top 50, but some substitutions were made to maximize exploration and diversity of composers." For example, a lot of symphony aficionados might demand that all 9 Mahler and Beethoven symphonies are on any given top 50, but I only have 4 Mahler and 5 Beethoven. I wanted to explore some of the masterpieces by different composers.

Hey, maybe you wanna see what this is all about? If you are considering it, I'll say that the first two (I am unfamiliar with all of these, pretty much) aren't awful. If you ever wanted to dive in, I guess I've done some of the heavy lifting.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1w...dcc4f7a5f347b4

Order:

Haydn #104
Beethoven #9
Suk Azrael
Brahms #1
Mozart #25
Mahler #2
Dvorak #7
Messaien Turanglila
Mozart #40
Sibelius #2
Gorecki #3
Dvorak #9
Schumann #3
Beethoven #5
Hindemith Mathis der Maler
Shostakovich #5
Nielsen #4 or #3*
Beethoven #7
Vaughan Williams #2*
Schubert #8
Rachmaninoff #2
Mahler #6
Walton #1*
Saint-Saen #3
Prokofiev #1
Mahler #3
Prokofiev #5
Bruckner #7
Gliere #3
Tchaikovsky #5
Janacek Sinfonietta
Shostakovich #10
Beethoven #6
Haydn #39
Borodin #2*
Chausson
Schubert #9
Sibelius #7
Brahms #3
Franck Symphony in Dm
Mendelssohn #4
Martinu #6
Mozart #41
Nielsen #5
Bruckner #8
Tchaikovsky #6
Brahms #4
Mahler #9
Berlioz SF
Beethoven #3

(*keeping this concrete wet for now)

I've given the Haydn #104 about 10-12 listens so far and I'm not addicted but it's real good.

There's this part in the 2d movement that I think of as the Jethro Tull moment, about 3:16 into the Bruggen recording. When it gets real quiet and the flutes come in and it has a slight mystical feel and then gets rowdy afterwards.

:subscribed:

Originally Posted by King87

:subscribed:

sweeeeet

yeah, this may be more of a journal for posterity, but I figure if I'm doing this yeoman's work of mushing through a bunch of stuffy old western white guy music, might as well share my results...for science!

Here's a breakdown of which composers are included and how many symphonies.

5 - Beethoven
4 - Mahler
3 - Brahms, Mozart
2 - Bruckner, Haydn, Dvorak, Sibelius, Shostakovich, Nielsen, Schubert, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky
1 - Suk, Messaien, Gorecki, Schumann, Hindemith, Vaughn Williams, Rachmaninoff, Walton, Saint-Saen, Gliere, Janacek, Borodin, Chausson, Franck, Mendelssohn, Martinu, Berlioz

I wrapped up the week of Haydn's 104th yesterday. Gave it about 15-20 dedicated listens. Never got 'addicted' exactly, but it's a heck of symphony. I am just getting into Beethoven's 9th today, more below, but afterwards I was missing my Haydn.

It's an asskicker of a symphony. It's kind of a Ted Nugent approach to the form, and I love it. Def worth the investment.

My reaction at the end of Beethoven's 9th for first time listening this intently the whole way with no distraction:



Maybe it will grow on me, but during all the operatic caca I was thinking 'put a cork in it'. I'm so glad no one sings like that any more, it grates on my nerves.

Ok, I had to vent. I'm not anti-opera. I look at it as an acquired taste--like eating grubs. Some cultures find them delicious.

But the soprano-range opera singing really wasn't working for me this morning. I was saying "please. stop."

But they kept on singing.

Half tempted to call it the worst and just move on. I'm sure many of you will think this is some kind of troll or hot take, but I'm just being honest with my reaction.

There was a bit of 'herky-jerky' as one poster described, but I'm ok with manic depressive mood shifts in music. They don't need to justify themselves to me. Although it does seem like the musical equivalent of deus ex machina as one would find in fiction.

The second movement was immediately addictive, very stirring. I have the feeling it might get old after so many listens, but for now it's the candy. First movement seemed to take a *long* time to wrap itself up. But I think in time I'll come to rather enjoy it. The third movement was too quiet for me to give a good listen--I'm going to have to amplify it using audacity so I can actually hear it well enough to critique. I sorta think I'm in love with it and that it's going to be my favorite thing about the symphony.

The choral parts will take some time to appreciate, but I signed myself up for this, and so we are doing this thing.



Hey, I ended up loving sushi and the Mars Volta, so you just never know.

To paraphrase an old piano teacher of mine: new listeners love Beethoven, veteran listeners tire of him, and expert listeners love and hate him.

Poor old guy was trying to hard to entice me to give a shit about the instrument that he'd talk to me about the legends. If I ever had one wasted talent it was my musical ability. Lord I hated playing the piano, though.

Originally Posted by King87

To paraphrase an old piano teacher of mine: new listeners love Beethoven, veteran listeners tire of him, and expert listeners love and hate him.

Poor old guy was trying to hard to entice me to give a shit about the instrument that he'd talk to me about the legends. If I ever had one wasted talent it was my musical ability. Lord I hated playing the piano, though.

Playing piano is one of my favorite things in life.

The 2d movement of Beethoven's 9th is legit crackhead addictive.

I just wanted to play; the practice part of it killed it for me.

It is the ultimate instrument, imo.

I'm giving the Beethoven #9 an extra week because it's hard af to get into the 4th movement. For me it is not connecting.

However, the 2d movement is about as good as anything I've ever heard in my life. Just this morning I ran across this recording--this performance--by Erich Leinsdorf and the BSO. H o l y f g g ballz.

It's like the most over the top SOAD aggro meets the sweetest classical melodies. The kettle drum thingies are badass!! If you are doing a drive-by, check out the 30 seconds or so starting at 11:30 and crank it loud af.

It's like Beethoven invented metal, no shit.

What a fag.

Actually I really like symphonic melodies. They're beautiful. Theme songs to house of cards and another series I cant quite put my finger on at present. Very macabre. Yellowstone has a dramatic theme song too though. Good for you Hawg

I'm back into it.

Today.

Mahler's 2nd symphony.

This one is a motherfvcker.

Everyone needs to pull the trigger on this. Schedule it into your day. 90 minutes. I listen when I swim, so it feels like a 2-fer. Figure out how you can do it. Davii, schedule a 90 minute drive in the 'Vette. Go somewhere weird and cool.

I'm telling you, this is the shit.

Look for the Solti recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Marathon sesh. 3 hrs, 5 miles.

Schumann's 3d - meh for now. It's not awful. A lot of slow/melodic/emotional type stuff, and it's good. Just...hoped for more energy
Shostakovich's 5th - 1st listen, I like it mucho
Brahms 1st - It's growing on me. I like Brahms' style. I could see spending more time on this one.
Dvorak's 7th - This is a *damned* good symphony. Dvorak is one of the titans of the symphonic form, along with Mahler, Beethoven, and a couple others (I'd say Sibelius and Bruckner, we'll see when it's all over--maybe Brahms should be in this top 5 crew instead).
Haydn's 104th "London" - This is the symphonic equivalent of a great Taylor Swift song, which I can't say I've ever heard, but I believe my theory and maths are correct. Kind of 'pop', but super listenable.

What do you listen to when you play chess?

Originally Posted by King87

What do you listen to when you play chess?

The sound of my opponent wailing and gnashing teeth.