"Favorite 9th Symphony " Topic

I like Beethoven's, but it does seem to get carried away in bombast. And like most of his work, it takes forever to end. Not as bad as the 5th, but still…..

My favorite has th be Dvorak's New World. It's guaranteed to drag me out of depression. Or deepen it. One or the other. The "Going Home" movement is wonderful.

And don't ask for analysis. I can barely read music. I just know what I like.

And once again I shake my fist at the needless wall of separation between "regular" TMP and TMP Plus. If things made sense, I SHOULD be able to crosspost to Music.
But I've lost that Poll many times. Time to bring it up again?

Less a question of 'the 9th' than 'the last' perhaps? Bruckner's 9th is wonderful. And I am enormously fond of lovely lovely Ludwig van B's 9th – like all good droogies I can sing the opening stanzas of the 4th movement word perfect to this day.

Beethovens' 7th-Zardoz Concerto

YouTube link

And his Die Hard Opus

YouTube link

Being an uncultured yob, I wouldn't recognise a 9th symphony if one bit me on the bum!

I do, however, agree with Winston's point about the Plus boards….

Ralph Vaughn Williams' 9th Symphony.

I'll be boring and say Beethovens. It's one of my all time favourite pieces of music. Tho i normally only listen to the first and forth movement

Ah, did someone say Opus?

Drat--the Bug ate my post,and put someone else's under my name. That's a new one. Anyway:

Any lover of the " New World " should get a copy of the Kertez recording. There are various versions,I have this one:

link
There's a remastering from 2006,also,which may have better sound,although I don't see how. It does have No.8,instead of "The Moldau"(which I also love):

link

As for other ninths, I recommend Zander's recording of the Mahler Ninth,as much for the fascinating(and moving) commentary disc,as for the performance itself:

link

In fact, I recommend Zander's recordings of the entire Mahler cycle,whether you're a Mahler newbie or not,for the commentary discs alone.

Besides,who would want to have only one version of the 1st,or especially, the 2nd?

Beethoven's, Dvorak's, and Schuberts, roughly in that order.

This one qualifies at 2:55 in my book, but if you'll spot me four, I have always liked this one.

But, if you're going to be strict, I prefer Toho's Ninth. The interplay of rhythm and dissonance really moves me.

Ah… Ludwig!

When you say the 9th symphony I immediately think Beethoven and no one else and I listen to a lot of classical music. Beethoven's 9th may be the greatest symphony ever composed. Certainly daunting for composers who came after Beethoven who knew their 9th would be compared to Beethoven's. I'm familiar with Dvorak's 9th; excellent. Bruckner's is great; very heavy and serious like his other works. Brahms wrote 4 excellent symphonies (number 4 the best of them). Tchaikovsky wrote 6, and Rachmaninov wrote 3. And one of my favorite composers, Schostakovich wrote 15. All great, but IMHO Beethoven's 9th is the greatest.

Bruckner's 9th- which is not just my favorite 9th symphony but also my favorite classical piece overall.

In fact I followed a conductor and orchestra – Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic – through four cities and two continents to hear them perform Bruckner's 9th.

The first time I heard them perform the work was in May 1997 in the Berlin Philharmonie, in two consecutive nights (identical program on both nights). Bruckner's 9th was paired with Mozart's 20th piano concerto, with Murray Perahia as the soloist. Both works are in D-minor, so this was a program with a demonic (or as the Germans would say, "dämonische") flavor.

Both works and both concerts were incredible, amazing experiences – the best concerts I've ever heard before or since (and I've been to hundreds of classical concerts with superb orchestras, conductors, and soloists, including dozens of performances of the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin).

So that was May 17 and 18, 1997. Two years later in May of 1999 Abbado and the Berliners were performing Bruckner's 9th in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. So of course I flew to Amsterdam to hear them.

And then in the fall of 1999 Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic were once again performing Bruckner's 9th – first in Boston's Symphony Hall and then a week later in Carnegie Hall in New York. So of course I flew to Boston to hear them and then the next week took the train to New York.

So while I absolutely adore Schubert's 9th, and love Mahler's 9th, and also love the 9th symphonies of Beethoven, Dvorak, and Schostakovich, it is Bruckner's 9th that compels me to travel across oceans to hear it and that fills my heart with a combination of love, awe, and fear.