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It\u2019s a classic rags to riches story. From humble beginnings in the Baroque period the symphony<\/a> has grown in size and influence, becoming a badge of honour among composers clamouring for recognition.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p>\n Haydn<\/a><\/strong> used the symphony as a vehicle of emotion, which intensified when Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> took on the symphony. To this day his symphonies are viewed as brilliant models of how music can express the most powerful of human feelings, in ways that even words can\u2019t emulate. How did the symphony so rapidly become capable of this?<\/p>\n The answer lies in how composers quickly developed a habit in their symphonies of pitting one theme against another, weighing the relative merits of each, then pulling their conclusions together. This closely mirrored the processes of debate and interaction used in human communication, and it struck a chord deep in audiences.<\/p>\n But which of the thousands of symphonies written over the centuries is the greatest? To find out, we asked 151 of today\u2019s leading conductors to name the three symphonies they consider to be the greatest. We counted up the votes, and, where there were tie-breakers, gave the deciding vote to our trusted critics.<\/p>\n