Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Dedicated to the memory of Debussy and originally written for 24 (later reworked for 23) wind and brass instruments, Stravinsky’s 1920 masterpiece is determinedly not in symphonic form and was laughed at during the first performance. But its spartan originality has changed musical thinking and, at under 10 minutes, rewards repeated listening. Fiona Maddocks

Debussy: La Mer

Not a symphony? Really? Debussy’s “trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre” nevertheless has plenty in common with one, as that subtitle implies. The three part structure, the thematic interconnections and the music’s developmental motor all ensure thatLaMeris much more than mere scene painting. Think of La Mer not just as one of the great orchestral works of the 20th century but also as one which redefined the possibilities of the symphonic tradition. Martin Kettle



Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem

Unlike Elgar or Vaughan Williams, Britten never composed a conventionally titled, purely orchestral symphony, but the emotional tensions of his Sinfonia da Requiem (1939-40) - partly conceived as a memorial to his parents, partly as an affirmation of his pacifist beliefs - make it one of his essential works. George Hall

Liszt: Dante Symphony

Liszt’s deeply personal Dante Symphony, though less frequently heard than its predecessor, is just as awesome and ground-breaking, if not more so. The Francesca da Rimini sequence was blatantly copied by Tchaikovsky. The Purgatorio pre-empted Tristan und Isolde long before Wagner’s masterpiece was finished. Tim Ashley

Ives: Symphony No 4

Though it wasn’t performed until 40 years after it was completed, and more than a decade after its composer had died, Ives’s Fourth is perhaps the quintessential American symphony. With its patchworks of quotations from hymns and popular songs, multi-layered tempos (that sometimes require a second conductor) and harmonic complexity, it’s easily Ives’ most ambitious work, and the climax of his tireless musical experimenting. Andrew Clements

Prokofiev: Classical Symphony

A symphony composed in the model of Haydn on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution? The form was hardly earth-shattering in 1917, but Prokofiev’s blithely spruce and witty first symphony set a major precedent for modernism’s interface with classicism and laid the groundwork for the composer’s towering symphonies to come. Kate Molleson