What are the best symphonies? Conductors answer.

SANDUSKY — Is Beethoven's Third really No. 1?BBC Music Magazine polled 151 symphony conductors around the world and asked them to name their top three classical music symphonies of all time. The magazine then compiled the answers.Beethoven's third effort topped the list, followed by his Ninth Symphony. Mozart's 41st "Jupiter" symphony took the bronze, with Mahler's Ninth and Second rounding out the top five, according to an account published in the Guardian, a British newspaper. For the whole top 10, see the list at the end of this piece. (The Top 20 hasn't been released — you have to buy the September issue of the magazine — but it's known that Beethoven's Fifth came in at No. 11, while Shostakovich's Fifth placed at No. 17.)Firelands Symphony Orchestra conductor Carl Topilow wasn't one of the 151 conductors who was polled, but when we rang him up, he obligingly provided his personal top 10 symphonies (after complaining that it's hard to narrow the list down from his top 50).And Topilow's list is arguably more interesting, as it includes such "dark horse" candidates as Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber, along with the usual suspects you'd expect, such as Beethoven and Mozart. (Please see his list at the end of this article, which lists his top 10 but is not ranked.)I love 20th century Russian composers, so I was pleased Topilow listed works by Prokofiev and Shostakovich. He skipped past the Shostakovich that is the most popular, the Fifth, naming instead the Tenth. Prokofiev's Fifth, another Topilow favorite, is probably less well-known than his First, the "Classical."I was surprised that Beethoven's "Third" topped the list. It was historically important — nobody had ever written such a long symphony before — but I like the Fifth, Seventh and Ninth better.On the other hand, what do I know? One of my favorites is Shostkakovich's Fourth symphony, which is far less popular than his Fifth. (Although, in my favor, it has been rediscovered and repeatedly performed and recorded in recent years.) It's a very "noisy" and modern symphony, banned for years under Stalin. I also like Prokofiev's Third symphony, which is not one of his most popular works. In any event, between the BBC list and Topilow's list, you should have plenty of music to try. Who knows, maybe a couple of you will try the Shostakovich Fourth! The top 10 symphonies, in order, according to the BBC Music Magazine poll of 151 conductors:1. Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (1803)2. Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (1824)3. Mozart Symphony No. 41 (1788)4. Mahler Symphony No. 9 (1909)5. Mahler Symphony No. 2 (1894 rev 1903)6. Brahms Symphony No. 4 (1885)7. Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (1830)8. Brahms Symphony No. 1 (1876)9. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (1893)10. Mahler Symphony No. 3 (1896)Top 10 symphonies, according to Carl Topilow, music director, Firelands Symphony Orchestra:Samuel Barber, First Symphony in One Movement (1936).Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (1824)Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 1 (1876)Aaron Copland, Symphony No. 3 (1946)Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") (1893)Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 4 (1900)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 39 (1788)Sergei Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5 (1944)Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 10 (1953)Ralph Vaughan Williams, second symphony ("A London Symphony") (1913)NOTE: These are not in any particular order, so by Topilow's request they are listed alphabetically.Maestro Carl Topilow leading the Firelands Symphony Orchestra. Ludwig van Beethoven Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.