Your Favorite Sibelius Symphony!

Sibelius! And gosh is it hard to choose among them...buy my favorite is the Seventh. It took a long time to appreciate, but it was worth every moment.

Your Favorite Schumann Concerto!

A slight deviance from my "Symphony Series" of polls. Vote for your favorite Schumann concerto! Mine is the neglected (some say justifiably) Violin Concerto.

New Poll: Bruckner. Which is your favorite symphony?

We now turn to the Austrian symphonist Anton Bruckner. Very much influenced by Wagner, Bruckner's output is dominated by his Eleven symphonies. Though Wagner was an influence in his symphonies, many listeners will hear a closeness to Schubert as well. For his mighty Te Deum, Bruckner was inspired by Berlioz.

Which is your favorite Shostakovich symphony?

Moving on with our series of polls, we come to Dmitri Shostakovich---the greatest of composers during the Soviet era in Russia. The majority of his fifteen symphonies--along with Mahler and Beethoven etc--- form the core repertoire today in concert halls. All his symphonies are unique, but two prominent moods prevail: there is the Haydnian element found in the First, Sixth, Ninth, and Fifteenth symphonies. Then there is the dramatic Mahlerian strand in symphonies like the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th. That is not to suggest that each of those symphonies focuses on only those composers. Shostakovich blended Haydnian humor in his 15th symphony with the bleakest and darkest of his thoughts.

New poll: Beethoven!

So we come to The Big Man Himself (no, not THAT one). So, which IS your favorite? And don't forget Brahms below (and Mahler and Tchaikovsky).

Your Favorite Brahms Symphony

Continuing in my series of polls, we now turn to Brahms. Good thing I figured out that the old polls can be left up! You can still vote in the Tchaikovsky or Mahler polls.

New Poll: Your favorite Mahler Symphony!

You all know the drill, so start voting!