by Eleanor Long
If someone were playing a word association game with you
(and you were a classical music enthusiast, which of course you are if you’re
reading this!) and that someone said “Symphony No. 5,” what are the chances you
would say “Beethoven”? “Symphony No. 9”:
same answer? Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mahler, Schubert,
and Bruckner MIGHT have hurt feelings, though, not to mention Mendelssohn and
Vaughan Williams… But while we’re
playing this game, let’s go ahead and mention them!
I’m cribbing the contents of this article from an exchange I
saw on Facebook a couple months ago. I
won’t use the real names involved, in case anyone is sensitive about that
stuff, but “a guy” posted the following puzzle/challenge:
If you had to pick nine symphonies by different composers to
include as part of a proverbial desert island survival kit, which would they
be? (Nine because nine has been kind of a magical number for symphonists ever
since Beethoven stopped there.) Here are
the rules:
You can choose only one symphony per composer.
You must choose numbered symphonies (no Symphonie
fantastique, in other words).
You cannot choose two symphonies of the same number by
different composers.
Here are what sixteen FB friends replied:
1) Brahms
2) Sibelius
3) Mahler
4) Nielsen
5) Prokofiev
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) Bruckner
9) Schubert
1) Elgar
2) Rachmaninov
3) Brahms
4) Nielsen
5) Sibelius
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Bruckner
8) Mahler
9) Schubert
1)Fisher Tull
2) Mahler
3) Copland
4) Nielsen
5) Shostakovich
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Beethoven
8) Bruckner
9) Schubert
1) Howard Hanson
2) Mahler
3) Brahms
4) Nielsen (love the lyricism)
5) Mendelssohn
6) Beethoven (ditto)
7) Vaughan Williams
8) Bruckner
9) Shostakovich
1) Mahler
2) Brahms
3) Copland
4) Nielsen
5) Prokofiev
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) Bruckner
9) Beethoven
1) Kalinnikov
2) Sibelius
3) Prokofiev
4) Nielsen
5) Mahler
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Bruckner
8) Shostakovich
9) Beethoven
1) Brahms
2) Mahler
3) Copland
4) Ives
5) Sibelius
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) Dvorak
9) Beethoven
1) Barber (wonderful, compact piece)
2) Sibelius (the last movement is the most uplifting thing
I’ve ever heard)
3) Copland
4) Nielsen
5) Prokofiev
6) Dvorak
7) Beethoven (even though no trombones)
8) Schubert
9) Bruckner (awesome scherzo)
1) Elgar
2) Brahms
3) Saint-Saëns
4) Vaughan Williams
5) Mahler
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Bruckner
8) Dvorak
9) Schubert
1) Mahler
2) Brahms
3) Saint-Saëns
4) Shostakovich
5) Beethoven
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Sibelius
8) Dvorak
9) Schubert
1) Elgar
2) Sibelius
3) Copland
4) Shostakovich
5) Beethoven
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Vaughan Williams
8) Dvorak
9) Mahler
1) Sibelius (not the best first, just my favorite)
2) Rachmaninov
3) Beethoven (the best)
4) Nielsen
5) Shostakovich
6) Mahler (larger than life)
7) Bruckner
8) Schubert
9) Everybody!!!!
1) Bruckner
2) Elgar
3) Beethoven
4) Franz Schmidt
5) Vaughan Williams
6) Mahler
7) Sibelius
8) Shostakovich
9) Schubert
1) Sibelius
2) Brahms
3) Mahler
4) Beethoven
5) Prokofiev
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) Dvorak
9) Schubert
1) Brahms
2) Sibelius
3) Mahler
4) Vaughan Williams
5) Prokofiev
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) Bruckner
9) Beethoven
1) Corigliano
2) Sibelius (I’m a sucker for the mood changes)
3) Mahler (the biggest, baddest symphony in the standard
repertoire!)
4) Shostakovich (quirky in all the right ways)
5) Prokofiev (one hell of a fun ride)
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Bruckner
8) Haydn (thrilled to find a spot for the guy who basically
invented symphonies)
9) Beethoven (have to have something triumphant and
life-affirming to play on my island!)
Okay, without looking back, can you guess “winners” for each
number in this opinion poll? Here they
are:
1) Brahms
2) Sibelius
3) Copland
4) Nielsen
5) Prokofiev
6) Tchaikovsky
7) Shostakovich
8) tie between Dvorak and Bruckner
9) Schubert
Roll over, Beethoven!
So sorry, Ludwig—you got a lot of votes, though. The runaway winner was Tchaikovsky’s Sixth,
with 12 votes out of 16. And…good
news! We are playing it next
season! Along with three other
high-ranking contestants: Beethoven’s
Fifth, Dvorak’s Eighth, and Brahms’ First.
