![Robert Simpson: The Complete Symphonies [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31ZFXZAJ7YL._SL75_.jpg) | Robert Simpson: The Complete Symphonies [Box Set]
Buy new: $87.98 ROBERT SIMPSON (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
The English label Hyperion has now (2007) released all 11 of Simpson's syphonies in a box. The English composer's 9th is his masterpiece, but together they constitute the greatest symphonic cycle since Shostakovich. Simpson was a resolute modernist, but forged his own path rather than adopting serialist language.
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 | Rautavaara: The 8 Symphonies by Mikko Franck
Buy new: $26.98 / Used from: $26.23 EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
All 8 of Rautavaara's symphonies together in a box for the first time from the Finnish (naturally) Ondine label. Rautavaara is a favorite of contemporary symphony afficionados -- his Symphony No. 7 brought him wide acclaim (see my review below).
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 | Elliott Carter: Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei (1993-96) / Clarinet Concerto (1996) (20/21 series) - Oliver Knussen by Elliott Carter
Buy used from: $39.99 ELLIOTT CARTER (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Fantastic works by Carter in his 90s!
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 | Carter: Concerto for orchestra; Three Occasions
Buy used from: $2.58 ELLIOTT CARTER (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW) Carter's "Concerto for Orchestra" is a symphony in all but name, but Carter has stayed away from the symphonic tradition.
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 | Elliott Carter: Concerto for Orchestra; Violin Concerto; Three Occasions for Orchestra
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $7.12 ELLIOTT CARTER (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
This is the same disc as the one above, now reissued in an EMI American Music series. Don't miss it!
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 | Birtwistle: Theseus Game, Earth Dances
HARRISON BIRTWISTLE (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
fantastic new recording of "Earth Dances" by Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Modern, along with the brillian new "Theseus Game," which requires two conductors, also performed by the Ensemble Modern
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 | Gloria Coates: Symphonies Nos. 1, 7 & 14 by Gloria Coates
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $3.76 GLORIA COATES
Coates is an American composer who has spent most of her life in Germany, and is now being recorded by Naxos.
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 | Henri Dutilleux: L'Arbre des Songes (Concerto for Violin & Orchestra) / Timbres, Espace, Mouvement / Two Sonnets by Jean Cassou / Prière pour Nous Autres Charnels - BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier by Henri Dutilleux
Buy new: $18.98 / Used from: $12.00 HENRI DUTILLEUX (5 STARS)
Dutilleux wrote some beautiful orchestral works, like "Timbres, Espace, Mouvement," but he stopped calling them symphonies.
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 | Philip Glass: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $3.33 PHILIP GLASS
Given a choice, I'd just about never choose to listen to Glass, but here you go -- two of his minimalist symphonies.
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 | New Music in the D.D.R. 2 by Goldmann
Buy new: $13.98 FRIEDRICH GOLDMANN
Symphonies 1 and 3 by Goldmann, who spent most of his career in the D.D.R. (East Germany) and so is largely unknown, but his music is great! Sadly, Goldmann died in July, 2009.
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 | Górecki: Symphony No. 3 ("Symphony of Sorrowful Songs"); Three Olden Style Pieces by Zofia Kilanowicz
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $2.99 HENRYK GORECKI
The better-known version of Gorecki's 3rd is on Nonesuch -- here's a highly acclaimed budget recording from Naxos.
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 | Sofia Gubaidulina: 'Stimmen... Verstummen', Symphony in 12 movements; Stufen by Sofia Gubaidulina
Buy used from: $33.40 SOFIA GUBAIDULINA (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
This is profoundly spiritual, radical in form, and utterly lovely. One of the Eight Best Late 20th Century Composers -- see my list.
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 | Hartmann: Symphony No. 6 by Composer: Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Buy used from: $5.95 KARL AMADEUS HARTMANN (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
fantastic mono recording of Hartmann's best symphony, No. 7, with Ferenc Fricsay conducting
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 | Hartmann: Symphonies Nos. 1-8
Buy used from: $67.45 KARL AMADEUS HARTMANN (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
This is the centenary year for Karl Amadeus Hartmann, born 1905, and he deserves much greater recognition -- a great symphonist who quietly resisted the Nazis.
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 | Hans Werner Henze: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 9; Barcarola; Three Auden Songs
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $8.87 HANS WERNER HENZE (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
The 7th with Rattle now in a budget 2-disc set with the 9th -- Ingo Metzmacher leading the Berlin Philharmonic -- "dedicated to the heroes and martyrs of German anti-fascism," those of the Left and the White Rose movement.
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 | Henze: Symphonie No. 8; Nachtstucke und Arien by Barainsky
Buy new: $18.98 / Used from: $10.00 HANS WERNER HENZE (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Henze's 8th Symphony is a brilliant lesser work based on "A Midsummer's Night Dream."
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 | Hans Werner Henze: Symphonies Nos. 1-6
Buy used from: $45.24 HANS WERNER HENZE (5 STARS)
No.s 1-5 recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic in 1964, and No. 6 (composed in Cuba for the Revolution) recorded in 1972 by the London Symphony Orchestra -- Henze conducts all six. This 2-disc set is now available via Amazon from ArkivMusic (a reissue of the original 1991 DG 20th Century Classics release).
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 | Vagn Holmboe: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9
Buy new: $19.98 / Used from: $13.99 VAGN HOLMBOE
a traditionalist Danish symphonist
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 | Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 22 ("City of Light"); Cello Concerto
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $3.85 ALAN HOVHANESS
the prolific American symphonist
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 | The Music of Magnus Lindberg
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $7.23 MAGNUS LINDBERG (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Stunning works by a composer of my generation, influenced by Lutoslawski.
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 | Witold Lutoslawski: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Les Espaces du Sommeil
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $3.78 WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI (4 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
A superior account of the 3rd Symphony, and the first recording of the 4th, from Salonen and the L.A. Philharmonic.
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 | Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum; Chronochromie; La Ville d'en haut
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $5.99 OLIVIER MESSIAEN (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Two spectacular and one lesser work demonstrating Messiaen's visionary power .
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 | Per Nørgård: Symphony No. 3; Concerto in due tempi
Buy new: $18.98 / Used from: $11.99 PER NORGARD (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
This is no ordinary symphony -- it will produce a cosmic epiphany if you play it loud enough!
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 | Penderecki: Cello Concerto; Partita; Symphony; Threnody
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $6.73 KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
A reissue in EMI's GEMINI Series (2 discs for the price of one), this was available, and still may be, in a 2001 edition called ORCHESTRAL WORKS, VOLUME ONE. Penderecki conducts his own 1960s compositions, with the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony No. 1 with the LSO.
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 | Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 7
Buy new: $16.99 / Used from: $4.76 ALLAN PETTERSSON (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Pettersson is known for his dark symphonies -- his 7th is the most widely performed and recorded.
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![Allan Pettersson: Complete Symphonies [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61VHAS3Y28L._SL75_.jpg) | Allan Pettersson: Complete Symphonies [Box Set] by BBC Scottish Sym Orch
Buy new: $107.99 / Used from: $99.90 ALLAN PETTERSSON
The complete Pettersson cycle, released as a box set by the German label CPO. See my review of the CPO recording of Symphony No. 7.
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 | Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7 "Angel of Light" by Einojuhani Rautavaara
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $7.98 EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
superb recording of Rautavaara's most popular symphony from Hannu Koivula and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
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 | Whispers Out of Time: Works for Orchestra by Roger Reynolds
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $11.22 ROGER REYNOLDS
new orchestral set from Mode Records, with "Whispers Out of Time" and two more pieces from around 1990
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 | Schnittke: Symphony 6 / Concerto Grosso 2 / Polyansky by Tatiana Gridenko
Buy new: $18.98 / Used from: $8.69 ALFRED SCHNITTKE (5 STARS -- SEE MY REVIEW)
Schnittke got off to a rocky start with his symphonies, but by the 3rd he had mastered the form. The 6th is a great tragic work.
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 | Humphrey Searle: Complete Symphonies
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $11.99 HUMPHREY SEARLE
all 5 symphonies by the self-effacing, neglected English composer who studied with Webern and used serialism in his compositions
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 | Sessions: Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5; Rhapsody
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $7.84 ROGER SESSIONS
two symphonies from the American modernist
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 | Schostakowitsch: Symphonie No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $5.98 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (5 STARS)
One of DSCH's finest, from 1953 after Stalin died. The finest recording, by Karajan & the BPO, too.
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 | Robert Simpson: Symphony No. 9
Buy new: $21.98 / Used from: $5.39 ROBERT SIMPSON (5 STARS)
I believe Simpson was the greatest symphonist of the late 20th century, and this was his masterpiece. Simpson's modernism was unique, not as radical as some, and his symphonies are innovate and powerful.
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 | Ernst Toch: Complete Symphonies - Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Alun Francis
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $61.83 ERNST TOCH
Toch didn't turn to symphonies until late, in his American exile. The 3rd won the Pulitzer, and all are excellent and accessible, comparable to Shostakovich.
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![Peteris Vasks: Symphony No. 3; Cello Concerto [Hybrid SACD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HATGXbgUL._SL75_.jpg) | Peteris Vasks: Symphony No. 3; Cello Concerto [Hybrid SACD]
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $9.90 PETERIS VASKS
The latest symphony from the Latvian composer, who specializes in tonal lamentations.
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 | Xenakis: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
Buy used from: $54.95 IANNIS XENAKIS (5 STARS)
essential disc of Xenakis, some of the best and most radical orchestral works of the late 20th century
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 | Xenakis: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 by Daudin
IANNIS XENAKIS (5 STARS)
First of three volumes of Xenakis orchestral works, many never before recorded, with Arturo Tamayo conducting the Luxembourg Philharmonic.
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 | Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000 Vol.156:/Var by Musik in Deutschland 1950-00
Buy new: $26.98 / Used from: $56.60 BOX 1 -- 6 CDs
Symphonic Music -- "Portraits" (special topics)
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 | Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000 Vol. 157:/Var by Musik in Deutschland 1950-00
Buy new: $26.98 / Used from: $54.62 BOX 2 -- 6 CDs
Symphonic Music -- "Series" (chronological by decade)
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![Nova: Sinfonik in der DDR [Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cxNN7b-tL._SL75_.jpg) | Nova: Sinfonik in der DDR [Box Set]
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $23.96 EAST GERMAN SYMPHONIES
This is a 5-disc set from Berlin Classics of symphonies composed and recorded in the DDR - East Germany, including works by Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau and Friedrich Goldmann.
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