Rank Beethoven's Symphonies
 

This is always an interesting topic and can stir up some heated debate. Here's mine..

1. 9th (2nd Movement is my favorite piece of music ever composed)
2. 6th (Light and beautiful. Start to finish)
3. 7th (Hard to choose between this one and the 6th)
4. 5th (Powerful and beautiful)
5. 3rd
6. 8th
7. 1st
8. 2nd
9. 4th

I had to refresh my memory with youtube to familiarise myself with his first 3 symphonies, but I say:

9th (subtle and powerful)
7th (lovely flow to it)
5th (very dramatic)
8th (reminds me of spring)
6th (delicate and very pretty)
4th (has lots of variation)
2nd
1st
3rd

But more than any of those, I like Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

9th, I can't imagine anyone picking any other symphony as his best. Unbelievable power melding into unbounded joy

7th, beautiful, especially the second movement



5th, four most famous notes in music history

3rd, gave birth to the entire Romantic era

6th, the beautiful Pastoral

8th and 4th, pretty but overwhelmed by what came before and after

1st and 2nd, the Classical Beethoven still very influenced by Mozart and Hayden, hasn't quite found his own legs yet

There's something about his 2nd movements. The 2nd of the 6th, 7th, and 9th are other worldly. When I listen to the 6th I just get this huge smile on my face.

Plus, I never hide my love for Schubert. Listen to the finale of "The Trout". There's a great youtube video with Susanna Yoko Henkel on Violin. It's magical.

The 2nd movement of his fourth symphony helps relax me to a great extent. The violins get me every time on that one, E-flat major was the perfect key in my opinion. I feel kind of bad, because I'm hardly a sophisticated guy. I basically just sit there listening to it while eating biscuits and looking at pictures of Ashlynn Brooke, I'm so tempted to pull it out.

5
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9

Beethoven's symphonies
 

1. 9th
2. 5th
3. 6th
4. 7th
5. 3rd
6. 8th
7. 4th
8. 2nd
9. 1st

3, 7, 9, 8, 5, 6, 4, 2, 1

95 3 6 7 8 4 12

9,5 tie for first 1,2 tie for last

I think 9/7 are his most extraordinary late symphonies and 5/3 are his most extraordinary earlier ones. That being said, every single one of the nine should be regarded as among the best symphonies ever written. That probably won't ever change unless humanity gets its act together and prioritizes art music again.

Ok, you can argue this isn’t a symphony but using the same melody as part of his 9 th I feel the comparison is valid. At least it doesn’t have the Salvation Army Band march through the final movement like the 9 th.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSfMH9Y5bi8

OOPS. Wrong section.