# What is your favorite Beethoven symphony? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509 "2009-06-21T21:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/21 "2009-06-22T21:54:22Z")
6th for me, not that I dislike any of them. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/22 "2009-06-22T22:33:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Every one but the 6th? nope. #6 is my fav. i love the thunderstorm. he wrote wonderful storms. #3 is next in line for me. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/23 "2009-06-22T22:39:51Z")
Gotta go with the 9th. 7th is a close second, however. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/24 "2009-07-28T00:33:31Z")
My favorite is the 9th and for my birthday I got tickets to see the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra perform it! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/25 "2009-07-28T01:43:42Z")
9, 6, 5 are my favs in rotation in that order. I like them all though. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/26 "2009-07-28T12:38:42Z")
I have to admit, my favorite recordings are by Szell/Cleveland Orchestra. Those are the performances I grew up with . . . live. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/27 "2009-07-28T17:48:54Z")
Second movement of the 7th for the top spot. 5th and 9th are my second favorite. Some pieces of the 6th are awesome(like the parts the Total Recall soundtrack ripped off) The rest I have to be in the mood for. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/28 "2009-07-28T18:01:55Z")
**Number 7** , and specifically the Allegretto. There’s one specific bar that can still send shivers down my spine even after listing to it a gazillion times. It’s where the strings suddenly take their melodic line down an octave. It occurs at around 2.22 in [this stunning version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfNTO_o-3k) with von Karajan at the helm. I’ve often meditated on the nature of genius. How does a human brain - a few pounds of squishy grey tissue - come up with something like this? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/29 "2009-07-28T18:30:53Z")
The ninth, absolutely: especially as conducted by Stowkowski. The third movement rocks my world. "BUMbum!-BUMbum!-tympanis-BUMbadum!. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/30 "2009-07-29T01:23:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The ninth, absolutely: especially as conducted by Stowkowski. The third movement rocks my world. "BUMbum!-BUMbum!-tympanis-BUMbadum!. You’re referring to the second movement, I think. No emphatic timpani parts in the third. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/31 "2009-07-29T02:31:21Z")
Number 6, all the way, baby. Even though he has the lightning coming \*after \*the thunder. And as mentioned above, I probably like it best because of _Fantasia_. Numbers 5 and 9 are close behind in favorites. Am I the only one who thinks of Darth Vader when I hear the Fifth? Not the famous motif; the other one in (I think) the second movement…TRM ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/32 "2009-07-29T02:38:17Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > **Number 7** , and specifically the Allegretto. There’s one specific bar that can still send shivers down my spine even after listing to it a gazillion times. It’s where the strings suddenly take their melodic line down an octave. It occurs at around 2.22 in [this stunning version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfNTO_o-3k) with von Karajan at the helm. [junkie voice] YEAH! That’s the stuff! [/junkie voice] However, the Ninth still has the point where ALL THE SOUND IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE EXPLODES!!! (Min 2:41: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIrSBHDOKo&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIrSBHDOKo&feature=related)) There have never been enough orchestras and choruses in existence to do this justice. This is where Beethoven both created and tossed aside Heavy Metal as a mere Xerox. It is LOUD cranked to 22. We can never really experience it because our human forms will disintegrate. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/33 "2009-07-29T06:42:49Z")
Well, my uncultured self only knows the 5th and 9th, so I’ll say the 9th. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/34 "2009-07-29T18:00:42Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > **Number 7** , and specifically the Allegretto. There’s one specific bar that can still send shivers down my spine even after listing to it a gazillion times. It’s where the strings suddenly take their melodic line down an octave. It occurs at around 2.22 in [this stunning version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfNTO_o-3k) with von Karajan at the helm. > > I’ve often meditated on the nature of genius. How does a human brain - a few pounds of squishy grey tissue - come up with something like this? I totally agree; that’s why this movement is my favorite of Beethoven’s . . . and it can be identified by hearing only the first chord (the same can be said of the last movement of the 9th). ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/35 "2009-07-29T18:29:40Z")
The 9th all the way, though I love them all. Far from the best recording of it, but listening the ‘Freedom Concert’ conducted by Leonard Bernstein at the Berlin Wall never fails to move me. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/36 "2009-07-29T19:58:42Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > However, the Ninth still has the point where ALL THE SOUND IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE EXPLODES!!! (Min 2:41: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIrSBHDOKo&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIrSBHDOKo&feature=related)) Slight hijack. What happens to the chorus at about 3:09? Could be a technical sound problem, I guess, but it sounds like most of them forgot about the repeat and blew the entrance! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509/37 "2009-07-29T22:24:51Z")
Saying so is trite and obvious, but the 9th is just stunning wrenching genius. I’m proud to be a member of the same species that created it. I’d be happy to submit it as greatest work of art in the history of mankind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-beethoven-symphony/500509.md?page=1)