Top Ten Non-Beethoven Symphonies

[Marye]

Shapley" OT,

I'm shocked that you haven't at least given Mahler a try. Particularly so since so much praise has been heaped upon him here on the board (and not just by me!).

Since Hal has made the deal with you, I'll not Symphony Number 2 make any suggestions Symphony Number 2 as to which Symphony Number 2 you should try, but Symphony Number 2 you really out to check it out. Symphony Number 2

Ah.. Symphony #2... my favourite! Couldn't agree with you more Shap. I have tickets to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with the Mendelssohn Choir for the 5th of April to hear it.

Wow... Thalberg sent a list.

[bignaf]

Thalberg is lurking?!

[hal 9000]

Thank you for your list, navneeth!

List count: 12

Keep 'em coming!®

[Catmando]

Thank you for your list, navneeth!

List count: 12

Keep 'em coming!®

Nav, I was just about to email you to ask you what was taking so long for your Top 10 list

C'mon Shos, Hexameron, Piq, Selma, it would be nice to have 15 lists or more!

[Catmando]

And how about Nicole, Scott, Sir Stewart? Or is it against company policy to participate in bbb polls?

[navneeth]

Nav, I was just about to email you to ask you what was taking so long for your Top 10 list

I found it hard to come up with 10... two or three symphonies shy of a complete list.

[hal 9000]

And how about Nicole, Scott, Sir Stewart? Or is it against company policy to participate in bbb polls?

Nicole participated once when we did Top Ten Overrated Pieces. As for company policy, I can't speak on that as I am just another listener and BBS poster like you. These polls aren't run by B.com, jus' lil' ol' me.

[Catmando]

Nicole participated once when we did [b]Top Ten Overrated Pieces. [/b]

I just looked back on this archived Top Ten, it looked like a fun one indeed. Many interesting choices.

I just realized I requested a work a few weeks back, that Nicole put on her "most overplayed/overheard" list (The Last of the Mohicans - The Promitory")

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

C'mon Shos, Hexameron, Piq, Selma, it would be nice to have 15 lists or more!

Your encouragement is appreciated, but you're assuming that I actually could identify ten symphonies. By name. And that I know who wrote them.

Sadly, I'm one of the rabble. If there's a tune, I might remember what the piece is called, but the odds improve if there are actual lyrics.

Right now, Rodrigo's "Concert for a Party" is playing - I know this because the media player face displays this information for me. Without the now playing feature, I'd have to call it "Something with a guitar and a fiddle, and there's a flute too".

And you think I can name ten symphonies. You optimist, you!

[navneeth]

Try what hal recommended to OT, and instead of fancily-dressed people, you could imagine irritating paper-clips, eight-legged chameleons (wasn't there a lizard, as well?), etc.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Quite right, navneeth. A chameleon is a color-changing lizard.

Hal's plan to enlighten OT probably won't work for me. I actually do listen to the symphonies (or at least I hear 'em while I'm at work and b.com is playing them) but "Sombody's Symphony Number Something in Some Key or Other" is not ever going to stick in my head. My head is cluttered with lots of other things.

Wagner. I can remember Wagner. It comes with a Bugs Bunny video. Bolero generates lots of videos. Shos's "Jazz Suites" I can remember - they're not what an American calls jazz but I really like 'em and they've got tunes.

[Serenity]

There is something spine-tingling about getting your request played. It's even better when it gets featured. Thanks Scott.

[Serenity]

Ding ding ding! Last round!

Keep 'em coming (how does he do the little capital R in a small circle?)

[hal 9000]

Ding ding ding! Last round!

Keep 'em coming (how does he do the little capital R in a small circle?)

The same way I do the ... I handwrite them in.

*okay, so I hold down the ALT key while typing the number sequence 0174 on my number keypad, like so... ®*

[Shapley]

Or, you could just copy and paste the ® from someone else's post, like I do...

[Serenity]

Or, you could just copy and paste the ® from someone else's post, like I do...

...to quote a commercial.... "BRILLIANT!"

[hal 9000]

Well the lists are in and the scores are tallied. After receiving 12 lists nominating 44 unique symphonies from 16 different composers, the Top Ten Non-Beethoven Symphonies are:

01. Dvorak- Symphony No. 9 in Em, Op. 95 "From the New World" 77 points.
02. Mahler- Symphony No. 2 in Cm "Resurrection" 46 points.
03. Mozart- Symphony No. 40 in Gm 43 points.
04. Mahler- Symphony No. 1 in Dm "Titan" 38 points.
05. Mozart- Symphony No. 41 in C "Jupiter" 37 points from 6 votes.
06. Mahler- Symphony No. 5 37 points from 5 votes.
07. Berlioz- Symphonie fantastique 32 points.
08. Schubert- Symphony No. 8 in Bm "Unfinished" 27 points.
09. Mendelssohn- Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 "Italian" 25 points from 6 votes.
10. Tchaikovsky- Symphony No. 6 in Bm, Op. 74 "Pathétique" 25 points from 5 votes.

[hal 9000]

Though Dvorak won top honors with his New World Symphony, there is a different story told when you analyze votes by composer instead of symphony:

140 Mahler
104 Mozart
086 Dvorak
059 Schubert
055 Tchaikovsky
054 Brahms
038 Mendelssohn
032 Berlioz
025 Shostakovich
024 Saint-Saëns
022 Sibelius
008 Schumann
007 Bruckner
002 Prokofiev
002 Rachmaninoff
001 Scriabin

From these lists, it appears that Mahler was Beethoven's heir to the symphonic form, with Mozart a strong but distant second place.

[hal 9000]

Well, without further ado, here are the individual results...

1st place- Shapley Matches: 8 Score: 36.80 Avg Acc: 80.0%.

01. Mahler- Symphony No. 2 in Cm "Resurrection" 8.10 points.
02. Mahler- Symphony No. 1 in Dm "Titan" 5.60 points.
03. Saint-Saëns- Symphony No. 3
04. Berlioz- Symphonie fantastique 2.80 points.
05. Dvorak- Symphony No. 9 in Em, Op. 95 "From the New World" 6.00 points.
06. Mahler- Symphony No. 5 5.00 points.
07. Mozart- Symphony No. 40 in Gm 4.80 points.
08. Mahler- Symphony No. 9
09. Schubert- Symphony No. 8 in Bm "Unfinished" 2.70 points.
10. Mendelssohn- Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 "Italian" 1.80 points.

Congratulations, Shapley! Your list best matched the general consensus list and therefore the topic of the next Top Ten thread is of your choosing. After I finish posting the rest of the results, I will post a compilation of topic ideas. Feel free to choose an eligible topic from that compilation OR provide a topic of your own. The compilation list is only for reference, you need not choose a topic from it if do not wish to. As soon as you have your topic choice, PM it to me.

[hal 9000]

2nd place- jamiebk Matches: 8 Score: 33.20 Avg Acc: 72.5%.

01. Mozart- Symphony No. 40 in Gm 6.40 points.
02. Mahler- Symphony No. 2 in Cm "Resurrection" 9 points.
03. Saint-Saëns- Symphony No. 3
04. Mozart- Symphony No. 41 in C "Jupiter" 5.40 points.
05. Berlioz- Symphonie fantastique 3.20 points.
06. Tchaikovsky- Symphony No. 6 in Bm, Op. 74 "Pathétique" 0.60 points.
07. Dvorak- Symphony No. 9 in Em, Op. 95 "From the New World" 4.00 points.
08. Mendelssohn- Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 "Italian" 1.80 points.
09. Brahms- Symphony No. 3
10. Mahler- Symphony No. 1 in Dm "Titan" 2.80 points.