Repertoire: Great Symphonies by the Numbers--16 No. 6s 

Ahh, so much for what I took to be Myaskovsky's best shot for getting some love. Still holding out hope for his Symphony No. 17, in case we get that far!

I was glad to hear you include Rubbra's 6th. Another 6th that is not well known but warrants some attention is the Roy Harris Symphony #6 "Gettysburg".

Yes, Haydn's Symphony #6, along with it's companions #7 and #8, constitutes a breath-taking achievement, in which the composer grafts elements of opera, concerto grosso, and concerto solo onto the new form of the symphony--fusion music at it's best! Another #6 I would include is that of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Color, counterpoint, and passion--Hartmann brings it all together in a compelling and mostly atonal 20th-century idiom.

I’d like to give an honorable mention to the 6th by Christopher Rouse. There’s no commercial recording of it yet, but I got to hear the world premiere performance on RU-vid (I think they took it down recently). For me, Rouse’s 6th is his best symphony. Especially given the circumstances that he was dying of cancer as he was writing it. He died a few weeks before the premiere in Cincinnati. It is one of the most haunting and touching pieces ever written.

Thanks for giving Bruckner's "Morse Code" 6th some love. A beautiful work. Another easy inclusion for me would be Atterberg. His "Dollar Symphony" is one of his best, and his symphony cycle is required listening for anyone who likes Late Romantic cinematic sweep and drama and tunefulness.

I LOVE the Rubbra Sixth! The only Rubbra work I love more than his sixth symphony is his absolutely gorgeous viola concerto:)

Wellesz 6 also deserves more recognition. It is one of the most relentless pieces of the 20th century music along with Nystroem's Ishavet.

Another great list! The Piston is among my personal favorites, and I don't understand why it isn't listed with Harris and Copland's 3rd as among the Great American Symphonies. That hoedown finale! I'm not sure it belongs on the list, but as an honorable mention I would include Vincent Persichetti's Symphony No. 6 for concert band. He writes so well for winds, and there are relatively few major symphonies for band that it's worth a mention.

You have a great mother.

I am so glad you mention Rubbra. I have not studied the 6th but since a teenager have revelled in the beauty of number 7 in that disc with Adrian Boult. Thank you for giving me at least 4 new symphonies to explore. Mark.

i was listening to a lot of Bruckner sixths today, i almost die. The Tintner is just 👏👏👏

You have a great list here! I've loved Bruckner 6 since I heard the Bongartz/Gewandhaus recording.

Good to see Rubbra's 6th here. More beautiful that Hovhaness's 2nd symphony "Mysterious Mountain" (which you included in your Number 2s) is his lesser known 6th, and the title says it all "Celestial Gate" - it's a truly profound work of just 20 minutes. Recorded three times: Crystal Records, Koch Classics and Telarc.

I love this series! I dissagree a bit about your distinction between your personal enjoyment and some kind of universal greatness though but I get what you mean. That being said, I hope that Mahler 7 makes it!

Thanks Dave! Hooray for the Rubbra. I agree about his orchestration, like Brahms he was more interested in the organic meat of his symphonies, then color or affects. Sort of the opposite of that Bax fellow. Bruckner and Dvorak are also winners. Paul

Only an expert like yourself Dave can determine whether a work is great or not. For the rest of us, as you have commented, all we can say is whether we like it or not. So this sort of list rather shuts us amateurs out. We just have to take your word for it which we are glad to do of course.

I remember watching Tchaikovsky’s Sixth on video while working one Sunday. After it was over, I tried to find something else to play for about five minutes then realized nothing could follow that. So I worked in silence while thinking about that ending.

I love Cipriani Potter's Symphony no. 6. It's a late Classical/early Romantic symphony with good tunes and decent orchestration. I especially like the slow movement. You might not think it's great, but you probably enjoy it.

WITHDRAWAL! First day without new Dave videos in a long time! I’ve obviously become addicted. Hoping everything’s OK

It thins out a little. What will be mentioned, when Symphony No 31 comes on the list? Haydn, Mozart, Brian, Segerstam... Well, the list is perfect, so I just want to add three works, written by: - Karl Amadeus Hartmann: A symphony in two movements, the first, adagio, with increasing density of counterpoint leading to a final climax; the second, fast, is a fugue in three parts, each faster than the precedent, with a virtuose part for the timpani. In my opinion, it's Hartmann's best symphony, a perfect combination of virtuosity and expression, very dark in the first movement, but powerful and energetic in the second. - Darius Milhaud: This one is of a totally other kind. The work was commissioned by Charles Munch. It has four movements, the order is slowish - fast - slow - fast. In this case, there is no folky attitude. The first and the third movements have long singing melodies, the polytonality avoids harshness, it breathes rather in widely spaced counterpoints and chords. The second movement is not a scherzo, the impression is rather of a first movement placed second, there are glimpses of triumph, which will be fulfilled, in Milhaud's unpathetic vein, of course, in the last movement with high trumpets and forward moving rhythms. Although I like Milhaud very much, most of his symphonies keep far less my interest. This one does. In my opinion, it's a truly great symphony. - Einojuhani Rautavaara's "Vincentiana": It's a symphony after his marvellous opera "Vincent", but less in the sense of Hindemith's "Mathis"-symphony than in that of Prokofievs 3rd in it's relations to the opera "The Fiery Angel". And Rautavaara's work is on just that level. It has very dark moments, but also a visionary quality. Listen to that nighmarish sounds in the second movement and to that failed consolation in the third! And the fourth with the attempt of triumph, which reaches a short climax of sheer beauty with true pathos, is the work of a genius. The ending is quiet, and it must be so. A masterpiece!

You'll have no trouble compiling list of 16 greatest 9th(s), but after that it's going to get tough. After all, this is where Tchaikovsky, Nielsen, and Martinu check out and Sibelius is done after no. 7. Kudos for mentioning Tubin. Now or never. I agree that no. 6 is his best symphony, his most exciting, volcanic symphony, full of rhythmic energy. In my view Tubin is definitely the greatest composer ever to come from the Baltic states.

Holmboe's grabbed me and never let go. While fives oft make me think of structural cohesion, sixes often seem particularly personal in different ways: Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Martinu

Another great list, pleased to see Haydn finally make an appearance. Regarding Vaughan Williams 6th, I heard it live at the BBC Proms 2012 where it occupied the 2nd half. The first half was the 4th and 5th symphonies! Insane on paper but it worked.

I have to agree that Chavez 6th is a guilty pleasure of mine and is on my list of great 6ths.

I heard Jurowski conduct Bruckner’s Sixth a few months ago - loved it!

Another great list & nothing obvious to knock off in favor of ones I'd have loved to see. Arnold, Atterberg, & Bax. Is anything much stranger than a bass trombone ostinato to open a symphony??

Wonderful list Dave! A few there I've not listened to for some time, so I'll enjoyably dust off vinyl/cds & make time to listen. As a non-Baxian, I'd join others in adding his 6th...

As a big fan of Shostakovich, it is my opinion that he wrote only one bad (No. 2) and only a few less great. Nr. 6 is in my opinion not one of his strongest. On the other hand, I am missing a composer in this listing: Pettersson (oh, the pain!). His symphonies 6-9 are in my opinion the best period of his output. A hardcore serialist finally finds his voice. The vast majority of the others I completely agree on. The few I do not know yet, I can not comment on.

Great list once again. Very fond of the Sibelius 6th and the Dvorak 6th. Will investigate some of those which I am less-familiar with (love these talks!). There could be no other "however" this time around, it had to be Tchaikovsky. It makes me emotional just thinking about it. As you've said many times, Tchaikovsky seems to be out of fashion now. We need to fix that!

Thanks David, I would also suggest Arnold's 6th here. Brilliant stuff!

i liked your distinction between despair and tragedy-- Tchaikovsky vs Mahler in their 6th Symphonies. I am not sure that Mahler is restorative--I had the feeling while playing the piece that someone was going to come up behind me and hit me with the sledgehammer, or that some big semi might hit my car and kill me on the way home from the concert. I guess it is a relief of sorts when a symphony reveals a profound truth about the world, and Mahler certainly does that in the 6th.

Interesting that Lajtha's inclusion has occasioned no comment at all. No objection to his symphonies making the cut - but I thought there might be some debate about their relative merits. Personally I think the grittier no.2 and 5 might deserve a place more than no.6 -- but if it's no.6 that gets him some attention then that is also a good thing. [I see no.8 has made the cut too: excellent.]

Would add my vote for Bax’s 6th - I do believe his 2nd and 6th are his greatest. Did your selective ear twitch towards his wonderful 6th at any stage in preparing your list ? Anyway, thanks again for your fascinating and enjoyable choices !

Actually I would have added Robert Simpson's Sixth Symphony...a very fine, cogently argue piece,in a single movement.

Regarding encores, The Magnificat of the Dante Symphony was performed as an encore after the complete Dante. At first I thought "no", but it really worked!

I don't have enough brain to love so much music.

Here are other composers' 6th symphonies I have in my collection. Any of these you would add if you expanded the list a bit: Antheil, Arnold, Atterberg, Bax, Chavez, Englund, Gade, Glazunov, Holmboe, Hovhaness, Langgaard, Rontgen, Schubert, Schuman, Sessions, and Stanford. Fourcomposers I would add are Bax, Englund, Antheil, and Eontgen. How about you, are anyone else reading this?

Assuming Sibelius will be on the “7” list I wonder if you’ll talk about that ending as well, which always takes me by surprise. “Oh wait, it’s over?” Someday I need to look at the form to figure out why I so strongly expect it to keep going when it decides to end.

May I also ask if you are compiling a list of key American music that a non American should listen to. Say top 16 definitive works. That of course may lead into interesting discussion about can you define or should you define what is American classical music.

This list is impeccable. That said, I would vote for honorable mentions to William Schuman and Roger Sessions. IMO: Schuman's 6th is as good as his 3rd, just darker; as for Sessions, his 6th is very great, but his best belongs on the next list in this wonderful series . . .

There is one 6th I really miss: Weinberg. Like many of his symphonies, he sounds a bit like Shostakovich and a bit like Mahler (he uses a children's choir), with an even greater dose of Jewish music.

Apologies if you've mentioned this somewhere, but how how high are you intending to go with this series? Will you stop at 9 or go past it?

I love the Nielsen simphonies with the exeception of the 6th., which I really WANT to like! But the inner movements just so feel so unrelated to the piece as a whole that I am always confused and disappointed. I have only heard Blomstedt. Any advice to me so that I can GET it better?

I'm sure you'd define greatness as inversely proportional the amount of vibrato used by the string section. 😉

I would have rubbed out Rubbra and added Bax here... i would actually as a brazen Baxian have listed him in all the selections from 1 to 7. :-P

You contradict yourself a wee bit when you assert that the middle Mahler 6th movements **must** be played scherzo/andante, then say it should be left up to the conductor. Although I tend to agree with the latter viewpoint, I do understand your extremely logical argument about the issue and don't disagree with it at all. But I enjoy (repeat enjoy) hearing the symphony regardless of which order the middle movements are played. I'd like to see an edition where the music is printed in a manner that lets the middle movements be physically separated, allowing them to be played in the order the conductor wants without a lot of unnecessary manipulation. But that costs money.

How do we think of Henze as a symphonist?

Dave, any chance we will get a video on Yannick's awful new Beethoven box?? Check out the ridiculously un-balanced trumpet recording in the finale of the 5th!