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The White Hat Guide to the Top 100 Symphonies

Here is our incomplete list (in no particular order as yet)

  1. Elgar Symphony No.1 in A flat major op.55

  2. Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A major, Op.92

  3. Beethoven Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125, Choral

  4. Beethoven Symphony No.6 in F major, Op.68, Pastoral

  5. Bruckner Symphony No 7 in E - The core of this gigantic symphony is the first movement, but the single cymbal stroke in the second movement (if you are listening to the version that contains it) always makes the hair on the back of our neck stand up.

  6. Haydn Symphony No 31 "Horn Signal"

  7. Bloch Israel Symphony

  8. Sibelius Symphony No 7 in C, Op 105

  9. Martinů Symphony No 4 - possibly the most joyous of Martinů's symphonies. The slow movement is one of White Hat's favourites.

Selected performances in Australia featuring concerti from White Hat's Top 100 Symphonies:

Melbourne Town Hall Proms - Beethoven and Dvorák

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Andrew Grams (conductor) and Andreas Haefliger (piano).

The inspiration of the folk music and culture of his native Bohemia invests Dvorák’s music with enormous energy and spirit, and his Seventh Symphony explodes with all the passion and vigour of this inspiration. Paired with works by two German masters who inspired him, this concert of great classics is pure delight.

Dvorák took the Germane tradition of music developed by Beethoven and Brahms and combined it with inspiration drawn from the folk music and culture of his native Bohemia to create the wonderful Symphony No.7. It is both tuneful and exuberant and well suited to a prom concert.

Melbourne Town Hall -

7.30pm, Friday 18th May 2012 Bookings through Ticketmaster: 1300 72 30 38

Beethoven 9 - Ode to Joy

Clare College Choir

The Australian Chamber Orchestra with Richard Tognetti (Artistic Director and Lead Violin), Choir of Clare College, Cambridge (Graham Ross Director), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Fiona Campbell (mezzo soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor) Matthew Brook (bass)

White Hat has long believed that many modern performance of Beethoven symphonies by large symphony orchestras lack the vitality and drive of a performance by a first rate chamber orchestra - supplemented where necessary - of the proportions that Beethoven was writing for For those who share this view we suggest you look no further. Critics called the ACO's recent Beethoven concert in London “the finest concert of the summer” and spoke of “thrilling playing”, “vibrant drive” and “total involvement”, concluding, “this compact chamber orchestra matches anything Europe can offer in energy, precision and interpretative rigour.”

Joined by one of the finest British choirs this concert promises to be something special where every note Beethoven wrote can be heard rather than lost in a sea of overblown orchestral 'atmosphere'.

8pm, Saturday 4th August 2012, Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra
2pm, 5th Aug; 8pm, 9th Aug 2012, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
8pm, Monday 6th August 2012, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
8pm, 7 Aug; 7pm, 8 Aug; 7pm 11 Aug 2012, City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
2.30pm 12 Aug; 8pm, 13 Aug 2012, The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Melbourne
8pm, Tuesday 14th August 2012, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
7.30pm, Wednesday 15th August 2012, Perth Concert Hall, Perth

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Buy tickets direct from ACO here
Page last updated: 17 December, 2010
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