I've seen most of Shostakovich - not No 2, and I'm not sure about 6, 11 or 12. Definitely seen all the others, 5 and 10 multiple times. I think the only Mendelssohn I've seen live is No 2 (twice) - unbelievably. Prokofiev - definitely 1 and 5 (memorably once when Yan Pascal Tortelier almost fell onto the front desk of cellos, so high did he leap at the end of mt 1 and so unbalanced was his descent); I think I've played in No 6 (piano? celeste? it was a long time ago) and heard Ted Downes and the BBC Phil do one of 2, 3 or 4 back in the 1990s. RVW - all of them; Rachmaninov - all 3 (although No 1 only once) and all the PCs including parts of a cycle in Liverpool c1984 with Peter Donohoe, and all four over two nights at the RNCM in 2006. All Tchaikovsky (No 3 only once), only Bernstein 2; all of Sibelius including parts of David Atherton's Liverpool cycle in 81 - 82 and all of Jon Storgards with the BBC Phil. Nielsen - I think I've heard them all live, but only 3, 4 and 5 more than once; Mahler - all of them including 2 x No 8, and - strangely - only 2 x No 7. Bruckner - only 4 - 8 (blind spot). Of the other composers mentioned, only Roussel 3. (When was the last time Roussel 2 - the one I consider his finest - performed in the UK?)
Random others - Schubert - I get the early ones mixed up but I've definitely heard two of the first three, plus No 4, No 6 and Nos 8 and 9; Schumann - I think only No 2, twice; Liszt - Dante but not Faust; Brahms all but no cycles; Dvorak 1 and 5 - 9; Borodin No 2 only; Tippett 1 - 3 including No 3 conducted by the man himself; both Walton and both Elgar (Mark Elder several times), John Pickard No 2; Simpson No 9.
It's a good question because for me it has made me wonder which composers I have avoided, which I have missed through bad luck (I can't believe I haven't heard Mendelssohn 3 and 4 live!) and which I simply haven't had the opportunity to hear. And which will I ever have the opportunity to hear? So much depends on the presence of a particular conductor with whichever orchestra is most accessible - so, when Tortelier was with the BBC Phil he gave us the symphonies of Chausson and Dukas that I have never seen programmed since.
And that makes me reflect that Radio 3 really should be plugging those gaps. Give us a Havergal Brian cycle, a Robert Simpson cycle, Bax, Arnold etc etc - Media City concerts, Hoddinott Hall concerts (and how many Hoddinott Symphonies has anyone heard live? Or Mathias? Me - No 2, once, when I was a student), so there is an audience for them.
We're lucky to have multiple recordings of the standard repertoire, but there is still a lot out there that we might appreciate more deeply by hearing more than just the one recording in the catalogue.
Random others - Schubert - I get the early ones mixed up but I've definitely heard two of the first three, plus No 4, No 6 and Nos 8 and 9; Schumann - I think only No 2, twice; Liszt - Dante but not Faust; Brahms all but no cycles; Dvorak 1 and 5 - 9; Borodin No 2 only; Tippett 1 - 3 including No 3 conducted by the man himself; both Walton and both Elgar (Mark Elder several times), John Pickard No 2; Simpson No 9.
It's a good question because for me it has made me wonder which composers I have avoided, which I have missed through bad luck (I can't believe I haven't heard Mendelssohn 3 and 4 live!) and which I simply haven't had the opportunity to hear. And which will I ever have the opportunity to hear? So much depends on the presence of a particular conductor with whichever orchestra is most accessible - so, when Tortelier was with the BBC Phil he gave us the symphonies of Chausson and Dukas that I have never seen programmed since.
And that makes me reflect that Radio 3 really should be plugging those gaps. Give us a Havergal Brian cycle, a Robert Simpson cycle, Bax, Arnold etc etc - Media City concerts, Hoddinott Hall concerts (and how many Hoddinott Symphonies has anyone heard live? Or Mathias? Me - No 2, once, when I was a student), so there is an audience for them.
We're lucky to have multiple recordings of the standard repertoire, but there is still a lot out there that we might appreciate more deeply by hearing more than just the one recording in the catalogue.
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