A Ridiculous List

100 Symphonies I like a great deal, and confound “greatest”

1. Haydn, Symphony № 49 in f minor, La passione
2. Haydn, Symphony № 89 in F
3. Haydn, Symphony № 96 in D, Miracle
4. Haydn, Symphony № 104 in D, London
5. Mozart, Symphony № 36 in C, Linz
6. Mozart, Symphony № 38 in D, Prague
7. Mozart, Symphony № 39 in E-flat
8. Mozart, Symphony № 40 in g minor
9. Beethoven, Symphony № 4 in B-flat
10. Beethoven, Symphony № 7 in A
11. Beethoven, Symphony № 8 in F
12. Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique
13. Berlioz, Harold en Italie
14. Berlioz, Roméo et Juliette
15. Mendelssohn, Symphony № 3 in a minor, Scottish
16. Mendelssohn, Symphony № 4 in A, Italian
17. Brahms, Symphony № 1 in c minor
18. Brahms, Symphony № 2 in D
19. Brahms, Symphony № 3 in F
20. Brahms, Symphony № 4 in e minor
21. Schumann, Symphony № 1 in B-flat, Spring
22. Schumann, Symphony № 2 in C
23. Schumann, Symphony № 3 in E-flat, Rhenish
24. Schumann, Symphony № 4 in d minor
25. Liszt, Faust Symphony
26. Saint-Saëns, Symphony № 3 in C, Organ Symphony
27. Tchaikovsky, Symphony № 3 in D, Polish
28. Tchaikovsky, Symphony № 4 in f minor
29. Tchaikovsky, Symphony № 5 in e minor
30. Tchaikovsky, Symphony № 6 in b minor, Pathétique
31. Dvořák, Symphony № 6 in D
32. Dvořák, Symphony № 7 in d minor
33. Dvořák, Symphony № 8 in G
34. Dvořák, Symphony № 9 in e minor, From the New World
35. Mahler, Symphony № 9
36. Schoenberg, Chamber Symphony № 1 in E
37. Schoenberg, Chamber Symphony № 2
38. Webern, Symphonie
39. Rakhmaninov, Symphony № 2 in e minor
40. Rakhmaninov, Symphony № 3 in a minor
41. Sibelius, Symphony № 4 in a minor
42. Sibelius, Symphony № 5 in E-flat
43. Sibelius, Symphony № 6 in d minor
44. Sibelius, Symphony № 7 in C
45. Janáček, Sinfonietta
46. Nielsen, Symphony № 3, Sinfonia espansiva
47. Nielsen, Symphony № 4, The Inextinguishable
48. Nielsen, Symphony № 5
49. Nielsen, Symphony № 6, Sinfonia semplice
50. Prokofiev, Symphony № 1, Classical
51. Prokofiev, Symphony № 2 in D
52. Prokofiev, Symphony № 6 in e-flat minor
53. Prokofiev, Symphony № 7 in c# minor
54. Stravinsky, Symphonies of wind instruments
55. Stravinsky, Symphony in Three Movements
56. Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms
57. Shostakovich, Symphony № 4 in c minor
58. Shostakovich, Symphony № 10 in e minor
59. Shostakovich, Symphony № 14
60. Shostakovich, Symphony № 15 in A
61. Honegger, Symphony № 2
62. Honegger, Symphony № 3, Liturgique
63. Honegger, Symphony № 4, Deliciae basiliensis
64. Honegger, Symphony № 5, Di tre re
65. Milhaud, Symphony № 3, Te Deum
66. Milhaud, Symphony № 6
67. Milhaud, Symphony № 10
68. Milhaud, Symphony № 11, Romantique
69. Britten, Sinfonia da requiem
70. Copland, Symphony № 3
71. Chávez, Symphony № 2, Sinfonía india
72. Chávez, Symphony № 3
73. Chávez, Symphony № 5
74. Chávez, Symphony № 6
75. Mennin, Symphony № 6
76. Mennin, Symphony № 7, Variations Symphony
77. Hindemith, Symphony Die Harmonie der Welt
78. Hindemith, Sinfonia serena
79. Vaughan Williams, A Pastoral Symphony (№ 3)
80. Vaughan Williams, Symphony № 5
81. Vaughan Williams, Symphony № 6
82. Vaughan Williams, Symphony № 9
83. Malipiero, Symphony № 6
84. Malipiero, Symphony № 5, concertante, in eco
85. Malipiero, Symphony № 8, Symphoniae brevis
86. Toch, Symphony № 4
87. Toch, Symphony № 5, Jephtha
88. Toch, Symphony № 6
89. Toch, Symphony № 7
90. Martinů, Symphony № 3
91. Martinů, Symphony № 4
92. Martinů, Symphony № 5
93. Martinů, Symphony № 6, Fantaisies symphoniques
94. Braga Santos, Symphony № 3
95. Braga Santos, Symphony № 4
96. Braga Santos, Symphony № 5
97. Braga Santos, Symphony № 6
98. Langgaard, Symphony № 4, Leaf-Fall
99. Langgaard, Symphony № 6, The Heaven-Storming
100. Langgaard, Symphony № 10, Yon Dwelling of Thunder
101. Langgaard, Symphony № 13, Belief in Wonders
102. Pettersson, Symphony № 9
103. Dutilleux, Symphony № 2, Le double
104. Lutosławski, Symphony № 3
105. Lutosławski, Symphony № 4
106. Holmboe, Symphony № 3, Sinfonia rustica
107. Holmboe, Symphony № 4, Sinfonia sacra
108. Holmboe, Symphony № 7 in one movement
109. Holmboe, Symphony № 11
110. Schuman, Symphony for strings in three movements
111. Schuman, Symphony № 9
112. Carter, Symphonia Sum fluxae pretium spei
113. Wuorinen, Symphony № 8, Theologoumena

Notes:

1. Admittedly arbitrarily, I decided to limit any single composer to four symphonies.
2. Although two of the Berlioz works do not contain the word “symphony,” these were works which he himself numbered among his symphonies.
3. The Symphonies of wind instruments is arguably a chamber work, the Symphony of Psalms arguably a choral work, and Stravinsky’s own comments distance both pieces from traditional symphonism; but I’m including them, anyway.
4. Similarly, I went ahead and included the Janáček Sinfonietta.
5. The inspiration for this personal, whimsical list is the occasional “100 Greatest Symphonies” list which gets published here or there, from time to time. Such lists tend (for instance) to include all nine Beethoven symphonies, where (what appears to me obvious) the notion that Beethoven’s First Symphony — likeable though it no doubt is — is somehow necessarily “great,” to the exclusion of many another (and, it may be, far worthier) artistic endeavor, is balderdash. While this sort of “we know what we know, and we continue to know mostly what we already know” tunnel-vision isn’t such an utterly reprehensible exercise in a compiled list, it does reflect the sort of run-in-the-same-ruts thinking which drives a great deal of orchestral programming.
6. Although there are several works on this list of mine which I want to get to know better still, I am delighted to be able to compile a list of a hundred symphonies, and so many of them off the beaten tracks, which I have actually heard. (There, I have patted myself on the musical back, haven’t I?)
7. 100 was an initial target, but when my list overshot, I decided not to trim off any symphony I had already included.
8. I’ve more symphonies to listen to, so the list is not meant as anything ‘fixed’.
9. There ought to be nine notes to a list of symphonies, right? Nice, round number . . . .