Hey, I'm a bit bored and just want to try if a thread which

a) doesn't have the words "Michael", "Janet" or "Madonna" in its title

and

b) deals with classical music

sinks without a trace on this forum or maybe sinks without a trace on this forum!

Anyway, Beethoven's 9 symphonies are (for a good reason IMO) considered something like the holy grail of classical orchestral music. What I want to ask you guys is

1) Which symphonies do you like the most, which ones are less accessible from your point of view?

2) Which recordings (single symphonies or the whole cycle) do you prefer?

If someone posts on this, I'll give my answers!

Let's see how long it takes for this thread to drop to page 2...

Most people will probably answer Beethoven's 5th, 7th, or 9th (Ode to Joy)...

I prefer the 3rd (Eroica) and the 6th (Pastoral).

cubic61052 said:

Someone answered!!!

It seems like the Eroica is not as popular anymore these days as it used to be. Hard to understand for me.

I think Nos. 1, 2, 4 and to some extent even 8 are overlooked by many.

which one was in Fantasia?

It's pretty well known that the odd numbered ones are more exciting than the even numbered ones. But I'm partial to the later ones, particularly 6 & 7.

5 is obviously some of the most famous music ever composed. But it's like Yesterday, do we want to hear it, or are we burned out on it? And our familiarity is uneven. We all know the first movement, but what about the rest? That makes it harder to listen top for me.

9 is amazing, but it is maybe just a bit long for my tastes.

3 is highly regarded. I really like the 2nd movement.

ehuffnsd said:

I think it was the 2nd movement of the 6th.

NDRU said:

i like that one and 7 and 9

I'm waiting til he puts out the 10th to buy them all together

PANDURITO said:

that bastard has his vault locked tight!

NDRU said:

Don't know if I should subscribe to that...

I'm a big fan of No. 2 (very underrated), and No. 4 is criminally overlooked imo. No. 6 (Pastorale) is a classic (Beethoven starts romanticism), and No. 8 probably only suffers a bit from being in between the highly popular Nos. 7 and 9, I think it's superb.

EmancipationLover said:

I'm not saying they're worse, just that the even ones are a bit more low key.

EmancipationLover said:

I love all of Beethoven's symphonies -- the soundtrack to my childhood.

And yeah, I have tried to create a couple of threads on classical music, and all of them died pretty quickly. I had to constantly bump the threads. I hope this one lasts though!

Rodya24 said:

my loreena mckennitt threads die quick too.