Best & Worst Endings in Classical Music
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2019
- How do you end a piece of music well? It turns out to be a tricky thing to get right, partly because tastes as to what feels right have changed over time. In this video I look at some of the best and worst examples!
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#classicalmusic #endings
Some of the pieces mentioned:
J.S.Bach: Prelude No.1 in C
• Bach, Prelude in C maj...
Bartok : Concerto for Orchestra
• Bartok Concerto for Or...
Original ending: • Bartók / Concerto for ...
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
• NYO perform Messiaen: ...
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor
• [소리공감] Pyotr Ilyich Tc...
John Adams: City Noir
• City Noir: III. Boulev...
Stravinsky: Petrouchka
• Stravinsky: Petroesjka...
Sibelius: Symphony No.7
• Sibelius, Symphonie Nr...
Sibelius: Symphony No.5
• Video
Ligeti: Piano Concerto
• György Ligeti: Piano C...
Satie: Embryons desséchés
• 159 Erik Satie ~1913~...
Ravel: Jeux d'eau
• Ravel - Jeux d'eau, Sh...
• City Noir: III. Boulev...
Haydn: Symphony No. 59
• Haydn: Sinfonie Nr. 59...
John Adams : A Flowering Tree
• John Adams - A Floweri...
Beethoven: Symphony No.5
• Beethoven - Symphony N...
Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy
• Scriabin: The Poem of ...
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
• Video
Mozart: Symphony No.41 Jupiter
• W. A. Mozart: Symphony...
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons/...
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.5
• Bach's Brandenburg Con... - เพลง
Beethoven hammered the ending to death because hammering things to death was what Beethoven did, and Satie mocked him because Satie was a mocker, but if Beethoven had still been alive he would have hammered Satie to death.
As if he would listen...
Satie still had better music and Beethoven would have been scared of that.
That's what I was going to say about the Tchaikovsky, basically that it was a holdover from Beethoven. Essentially how the coda tended to last almost as long as the entire piece... LOL
@paul vorderwinkler *Satie would have beaten Ludwig to death with a pear shaped "I-V-I-V-I-V-I"
I'm sure that his deafness had something to do with it.
Somewhere a Mahler symphony is still ending.
Meanwhile, people are praising them elsewhere in the comments. Hm.
@@dis.infectant only his 2nd and 8th have 'never-ending' final chords and boy they're satisfying, specially 2nd's.
@@Balfour.
I won't argue that.
Need to revisit.
That is funny....lol.
Hahaha... Mahler's Symphony No. 8 .... Ugh... crescendo... Crescendo... CRescendo... ... CREscendo... ... ... CREScendo... CRESCendo... ... ... ... ... ... CRESCEndo... CRESCENdo!... (at this point, Mahler is asking himself, "Another one? You know, just for good measure?") ... CRESCENDO!
It's like a comedian trying to figure how long he can let a punch line hang ... and still have it funny!
"What are you going to do? Hold it for 5 minutes?"
Me (a tubist): *nervous sweating*
Circular breathing!!
i'd wondered what a tuba player might be called, thanks!
@@jacksongearing7682 easier said than done
Circular Breathing only does so much as tubists are often using more air than they can ever take in with circular breathing. At the most you can hold a note at piano indefinitely but at forte you may get an extra beat maybe two
Any drum corps or marching band: *hold my shako*
I'd say that the "Is that it?" end of Petrushka is a very interestingly calculated end. Stravinsky knew that a strange ending would catch the people during the intense V-I and V7-I drenched romantic era quite off guard, but like ending a sentence with a random word before it's tangerine.
is that you, alfred?
Well done.
its* tangerine
I quite love that ending, it’s one of my favorites. I can understand why some folks might not care for it, but then I can understand why some folks might not care for anything.
And it makes perfect sense when you see the ballet performed.
I liked everything about this video, except the ending.
compliment intended
Ok, I lol’d. 😀
Perfect comment. LOL. A compliment that respects the poster and makes everyone laugh a little.
I might have ended this comment in a slightly different fashion: "I liked everything about this video, . . . . . except the ending." The pregnant pause sets you up for the unexpected (though not unexcepted) end.
@@franziesch I groaned - very quietly
For me, the most brilliant ending is Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. In fact, it lasts nearly 4 hours - starting with the very beginning of the opera...
Wagner really knew how to end an opera!
Haha nice joke!
Wagner is the king of endings!
Ah the Tristan chord...4 hours and eventually Wagner manages to compete it. It’s superb.
@@mogmason6920 He prefers to be called the Führer of endings
My favorite ending of all time is Holst's The Planets where a women's choir from an off-stage room slowly repeat their last few notes over and over again and diminish away as someone closes the door to the room until it fades away to nothing. Within a concert hall the effect is unforgettable and magical.
Wich planet
@@giacomobaroni398Neptune
@@giacomobaroni398 Neptune
Until you are in a concert where they don‘t fade away into nothing but someone lets the door in front of the choir, that is to be slowly closed, instead fall into the lock with a click. Which is exactly happened when I attended it once.
even in recordings this wonderful ending is VERY hard to pull off. There should be no sense of ending or cutting off. it should indeed just diminuendo until it's inaudible. and then a long break Jim
Liszt Piano Sonata should be part of this video. He actually rewrote the flurry of chords and made something truly gratifying. Rach's concerto endings are legendary as well.
The original ending could count as a not-so-phenomenal one and the rewritten one as one of the best
Do you like the ending of Listzs piano sonata? I always thought is was one of the worst endings I knew. It's so underwhelming and I never notice when the sonata has actually ended. It's also just too quiet.
@@timothycurrie2337 I feel like it's at least better than the original ending. I don't mind the quiet ending, it at least does a good job of tying in Theme 6, the andante sostenuto melody and the others in a good, melodically tight coda. I get that that buildup to a big climax and then such a mellow ending can be disappointing though, especially after such an energetic piece
@@timothycurrie2337 in the context of the entire piece the liszt b minor sonata coda really is one of the best imo.
the final return of the andante theme after the grandioso theme in the relative major key + the way the motifs "leave the stage" + the F to B chord progression anticipated by all the tritone leaps in the piece
this all combined with withholding the tonic note in this final epilogue, until finally this low B closes the piece
maybe not the most epic or emotional ending but its genius
A quote I heard about Beethoven once:
"It must be by Beethoven, it has 12 endings!"
Dvorak was another who had trouble letting go.
@@LardGreystoke Not true! He had a lovely bowl of soup, then he went to lay down and died peacefully in his sleep.
@@kennethdower7425 Yeah, but he did the death rattle three times before the finish. Kept the family applauding at the wrong time. The rat.
@@LardGreystoke Wrong again! Not the death rattle, he was dreaming of a castanet and how he never wrote a concerto for one.
@@kennethdower7425 Well. You learn something new....
That Satie mock ending is a thing of beauty.
And the fact the piece is about a sea cucumber.
I LOL'd!
Literally tearing up😄😂😂😂😂😩😭😂😂😂🤣🤣😯
4:39
Leave that Tchaikovsky Trio alone. It is indeed one of the best endings imaginable to a piece that is about remembering that someone dear has passed away. The logic behind it is striking. You have a Theme and Variations followed and a final variation that takes the function of a sonata form finale. It is lively and exciting and full of exuberance. And at the moment where everybody expects a raucous ending, like Tchaikovsky does so often, suddenly the a-minor of the opening movement forces itself back and the pain and mourning is back and then everything fades away into black nothingness.
It's the perfect musical image of being speechless over the untimely death of a friend.
Can't agree more
Absolutely! Is exactly that. Astonishing beautiful ending!!! The listener frustrated for this ending, certainly didn´t undestand anything of the piece...
Emperor Joseph II: "Oh there's no doubt Tchaikovsky's work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect."
Same idea behind his Symphony no.6!
Well said. Of course, that's what happens in Symphony 6, except the audience does not a get a chance to clap since it segues directly.
I've always thought Rachmaninoff does the "cute anti-climactic ending" especially well in Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
Exactly. After all the fireworks he winks at us. Sly. Smartassed. Funny.!!
And Prelude in G Minor, at the very end
the ending of the 1st movement of his 3rd concerto HAHAHAHA
@@AmazingAwesomeAlaska In my recording of Rachmaninoff himself playing the Prelude in G Minor, he actually adds another loud G octave below the "final" quiet one, so it seems he was second guessing his own original ending.
@@almitydave i knew that the prelude was missing something extra lol
at 4:46 what makes this joke ending even better is satie's marking above it - "cadence obligée (de l'auteur)" - which translates to "mandatory cadence (from the author)"
Satie was fond of inserting these phony indications throughout some of his music. This piece (Embryons desséchés) has been performed with narrator reciting these directions, and it's wonderful that way, IMO.
I love the 3 beat rests... just barely long enough to make you think it's 100% over, but just as you think that, it starts up again suddenly [and unexpectedly if you're only listening and not looking at the score] XD
@@fiandrhi It goes against Satie's will, though. He expressly said that he forbid people from saying these out loud. They were always meant to be in-jokes between the composer and the interpret (or the person reading the music at least)
@@TyphonBaalHammon yes, that's true. Fortunately, performers sometimes violate the will of composers with novel and interesting results.
@@fiandrhi In general I agree with you. In the case of Satie's pieces I tend to dislike it because it generally doesn't work.
I like the Pertrushka Ending because it is symbolic to the ballet. It ends sinisterly with the dead puppet just hanging. It make senses in my opinion
yeah exactly
It's not a puppet it's a white clown
I agree!!
Absolutely.
I've always favored the ending of John Cage's 4'33". So introspective.
When asked what he thought of John Cage's work, Igor Stravinsky is reputed to have said "I look forward to hearing some of his longer works..."
Only introspective if you consider navel-gazing a form of introspection.
Yes, but how do you know when it has ended (if you don't have a watch)?
@@juanvelez8564 to me it ends before it starts.
hopefully
Best ending:
Leroy Anderson - Sleigh Ride - 'Fade out, fade out, fade out, NEEEIGHHH!!! CLIP! CLOP!, WHIP! DUM DUM'
@@ems4884 It's a piece of high art.
Traditional composer: "Ending a piece is a complex and difficult process"
Video game composer: 😏
Well they do have to come up with a staff roll piece :p
@@basilecortale8076 One big ending to the entire soundtrack :P
As someone who doesn't play video games - I don't get it! Please explain. :)
@@cobrakari Video game soundtracks are often written with most of the tracks endlessly looping. For those pieces you don't have to write an ending, because there is no ending.
@@Kyle_The_Furry Or in musical terms, they are "ostinatos". That doesn't make them inherently bad.
8-bit Music Theory - th-cam.com/channels/eZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw.html ... does a great job breaking down the musicality of video game music. If you aren't familiar with music theory though, his videos will go over your head.
Petrushka is a ballet. The ending is perfect for the narrative. The fact that people choose to perform it in concert does not change that.
I've played Petrushka in concert a few times, and the "concert ending" is too abrupt, clearly an afterthought. If one were performing just the fourth tableau, it might work, but as an ending to the whole ballet score, I don't think it works. The original ending is magnificent.
My top 5 favorite endings:
-Dvorjak's New World symphony (4th movement)
-Bartok's Romanian Dances
-Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
-Shostakovich's 11th symphony finale
-Szymanovski's Etude Op4 no 3.
Dvorjak's 7th and 3rd symphonies are two of my favorites. Great endings in general.
Shostakovich's whole 11th symphony🙌🙌🙌
Stravinsky: DEAD
It's got to be Mahler's 3rd for me. I think I'm referencing one of his 50 3rd movements.
There was a time the Maruntel from the Romanian Dances was stuck in my head for like half a year, no joke
I've always found Shostakovich's endings the best.
The Jingle Bells ending of the 5th.
The Petrushka ending is excellent as the conclusion to the ballet. The problem is the concert suite and Stravinsky tried to address that.
Contrafactum
Hence why it says that the alternative ending is said on the score to be played during concert performances
@@instinctbrosgaming9699 it baffles me because whenever I play it (as a concert piece) we still play the ballet ending. It’s odd. Maybe it’s just coz the conductor knows that one better as it’s played more
One of my favorites is the ending of Holst´s Planets. That female chorus fading behind a closing door is pretty esoteric and leaves a strange trail floating around. Greetings from Argentina 😁
An incredible ending everyone should have heard is Shostakovich 15. Symphony. Can't imagine a more perfect ending for the last symphony.
The clacking bones!
And at the ending of his 4th symphony is really The End.
for me, the best ending is in Beethoven Appassionata, the end of the 3rd movement lasts about 1 minute, but has a crazy buildup and huge descent, then the two final f minor chords.
but why should an ending have to feel conventionally satisfying. isnt the end of petrushka perfectly fitting to the ghost of petrushka looming over the audience as well as his master, where its unsure whether hes still there or not. as if the piece is still continuing even though the musicians stopped playing..
Agreed. Maybe as a concert piece, rather than a ballet, it feels less satisfying but even then, if you know the story, the ending's haunting and curiously emotional
You are absolutely correct. The ending of "Petrushka" is one of the greatest inspirations in all of Stravinsky's music, simultaneously moving and amusing as it depicts the spirit of the puppet wafting away and hovering from above. The person on this video expresses the opinion, shockingly, that this ending is a failure. He has every right to think this. I only hope that younger, impressionable musicians are not influenced by this manner of thinking.
It works well theatrically and in a concert version because audiences know the story.
I was about to comment on exactly the same thing. Everyone here has said it better than I could. The ending of Petrushka is anything but a failure. It's true to the story. It's hauntingly moving, and quite perfect. That the erudite Mr. Bruce doesn't recognize this is puzzling.
Right! The ending of Petrushka is brilliant. Love it!
Certain pieces could benefit from changing the ending - by moving it closer to the beginning ;)
David Perkins cofcofbolerocof
🤣🤣🤣
Bruckner
Claire Lee His endings come so late that I also avoid the beginning and the middle.
Yes, Bruckner - so much potential, but too self-critical.
I must say, I like his last symphony!
"Expectations are a big part of the buildup to an end" - that's flat out marriage advice
“La Valse” ends rather abruptly; took me a little bit by surprise, as if something happened to the pianist (in the piano version). Still one of my favorites.
The ending to Holst's "The Planets" is pretty incredible. The usage of a fade-out changed music possibly forever.
And the ending to the Jupiter movement is awesome. After repeating previous themes in different registers, very dramatically, he makes 2 "near-endings" with a spike and sudden drop in intensity, and then the final ending comes in a very satisfying way.
That is one of my favourite music pieces, I would love to listen to it played live.
was this a first fade out?
@@AndreyRubtsovRU Interesting question. I can't think of many "actual" fade-outs prior to Holst's Neptune. Holst's instruction was for the women's chorus to be placed in a separate room, and for them to repeat the final bar as the door was closed and no more sound could be heard in the auditorium. So Neptune actually has an indeterminate ending - unlike a written-out ending with a definite stop.
Dvorak From the New World.
Hence: most pop music?!
Best ending for me? Mahlers Symphony No 9. Flies up in the air... dilutes... into heaven. Numinous. Makes me cry.
Mahler have the best endings. The 3rd and 9th have two of the most beautiful endings while the 2nd and 8th have two of the most epic and euphoric endings.
Mahler’s ninth is amazing from the first notes to last ones. A great composer looking death in the eye...
It makes me feel a shrinking feeling, but not in a negative way, like my consciousness is going away and I'm able to go back into the womb.
I've been listening to Mahler for the past 5 years. Ive still not heard most of the 8th and only 1st movement of the ninth. Hearing the 3rd symphony ages ago made me realize i was girl...., finally. After 23 years of not knowing. And my maturity as a trans woman has grown with with his music. I'm seeing the 6th in Oregon next week. I'll try not to cry this time. Side note: Ending of the 4th symphony is kryptonite for me with the bittersweet Landler theme that fades. And of course the 6th ends on a desolate minor key drum roll that fades. Finally hearing the 9th (the completed Adagio from 10 of course) will be surreal, as if he was still alive.
@@dfdhgtrss212 2nd part of 8th is stupendous, you'll love it but takes time to assimilate. Last movement of 9th is great. Thanks for sharing your story of Mahler and self-understanding.
To me, Debussy's Claire de Lune (original piano form) has probably the best ending ever. He telegraphs it with the c-flat that shows up in the recap of the A theme. That has to be one of the most wistful notes ever. Then the various ideas make neat little comebacks, and the whole wraps up so beautifully and quietly. An absolte masterpiece.
i always say thats my favorite note in the whole piece
An ending that I personally believe does an amazing job is Holst's Neptune. The "fade out" technique he employed wasn't for the express purpose of finding a trivial way of ending the piece, rather was a listeners journey to the planet Neptune and then beyond. The quiet fade of the choir invokes the illusion of passing out of our solar system into the darkness of empty space.
Exactly my thoughts and opinion about it.
The end of The Firebird is my personal favorite. I get goosebumps every time I hear it.
Me, too--except the time the orchestra's brass section was out of tune, so their final, portentous blast went horribly sour. Nightmare.
I especially love Stravinsky's own recording of it. There's something great about the over accentuated staccato that I adore.
The ending of Sibelius 7th left me in complete awe the first time I heard it.
Me too! You took the words from my fingers.
Is that when Sibelius crashed? -Tantacrul
@@brokenroot7337 please explain
@@feraudyh Fellow creator tantcrul did a video essay about the notation software Sibelius. The program had such a problem with crashing that it turned into a running joke where the answer to everything is "Sibelius crashed."
@@brokenroot7337 Aha. I wonder what he thought about a similar piece of software called Score (by Leyland Smith). One of my friends used to use that to write the scores of Pierre Boulez. I met the author, Leyland Smith. He's dead now. A problem is that he never wanted to turn his sources over to the FOSS community.
I think my absolute favourite is the ending of Vaughan-Williams' 5th Symphony. It is not that bombastic, loud kind of ending, but a warm, comforting ending, with strings fading out in a big D Major chord that feels like a hug with the whole world. This masterpiece has probably changed my life for the better!
Candide Overture is one of my favorite endings. Cute, but satisfying. It's like a speeding train that slams on its brakes for the piccolo/bell flick, then the classic V-I bamp. I like that the ending works well as part of the full opera or the overture by itself.
Yes! Heard it yesterday and was thinking "what a brilliant ending".
I notice how the stretto seems absolutely headed directly for the final cadence, then it's suddenly diverted off on a side track, briefly suggesting a bridge to a new section, only to head straight into the station in a flash. This whole overture is an amazing masterpiece; I think it may be the greatest of its kind ever written. Even though it's not Rossinian in form, it certainly matches any written by that great master.
I've always been fascinated by the ending of the Durufle Requiem. It ends on a V chord, but it somehow works. The feeling of incompletion mimics the ascension to heaven
Actually, it ends in the relative minor, on a VI chord.
I gotta love how at 3:10 one member of the audience already starts applauding during the last chord, as if saying "yeah okay, enough, we got it you're done now"
Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" -- the final solo note. Brings me to tears every time.
One of the best endings in orchestral music is the one to Charles Ives' 2nd symphony.
A brilliant movement, building momentum towards the end and then an abrupt, short dissonance.
The best "fade out" ending I think has to be without a doubt Tchaikovsky's Symphony number 6
I agree
Definitely
Second-best for me; upstaged only by another "6th" symphony, the Vaughan Williams E minor.
Which is I think an ultimate 'as opposed to traditional one ending' of it's time
I would also suggest Shostakovich's 8th Symphony
I think the ending of Tchaikovsky's trio is genius; it cuts the a-major triumph off right at its peak and replaces it with a desolate and anguished repetition of the opening theme, only to lead to a quiet funeral march. It's a bit like the transition from the scherzo to the finale of his own 6th symphony.
My vote for repetition is th-cam.com/video/jWX3Z56_iiA/w-d-xo.html and for another style th-cam.com/video/cEEUqgs5tO4/w-d-xo.html .
wow. this must be the longest entry in this competition. this 'ending' is like... last 4-5 minutes I think? :-)
@@AndreyRubtsovRU Just responding to David's criticism of the piece in this video
Agree Vaclav. The ending is genius and to mix in an image of Homer Simpson I think was a cheap shot.
Both Ravel piano concertos. Two all-time faves, but the endings are weird. The concerto for the left hand in particular. It's like a shimmering hologram that suddenly drops its pants and dances off stage in the last 2 measures.
I agree with the ending of the G major concerto being weird. For me, the ending of the left hand concerto is my favorite part of the entire piece.
My favorite endings: Pines of Rome, Shostakovich 5, Pictures at an Exhibition
I completely agree with Shostakovich 5, and for the others I would say Ives symphony 2, and Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky.
Only Shostakovich 5 if it’s slow though lol
Also Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Tchaikovsky 6 is one of my personal favorites. It fakes you out w a quasi-finale third movement then replaces that with bottomless depression instead lmao
@@ikschrijflangenamen
Beautiful example of repetition of the first notes of a sonata played with modest whimsy after all the power and fireworks are over.
WOW !!
Beethoven's 5th seems to end two or 3 times before it actually ends, but that's why I like it.
I don't, it feels like nails on chalkboard to me
@Paul H How would YOU end it after the transition, while still making it sound natural?
Yeah it would sound out of place/goofy in most pieces but in context it sounds fitting since the whole symphony is about constructing lots of music out of small motivic pieces
feel like it end @ the end 3rd movement but then with a bang.
It has to be at a really brisk, bright tempo to work well, imo.
DVORJAK 9th! New World Symphony! It has the big ending and fade out in one piece! I think it's a brilliant ending to discuss
One of my all-time favorite pieces. Thanks for mentioning it! Gustavo Dudamel conducts the 4th movement brilliantly here: th-cam.com/video/vHqtJH2f1Yk/w-d-xo.html
I was literally about to comment the same thing!
グレゴリーミカン I love his conducting of the last note
It makes total sense. The little echo from the woodwinds seems like a nod back to the second movement. It's like he doesn't want you to forget his favorite part.
I happened to have played the Tschaikovsky Piano Trio and I wouldn't change one note of it. Taken in context, the ending is really appropriate. The fierce intensity noted above is gradually dissipated towards the end, quoting the original theme from the first movement. This is couched in a kind of funeral march, tying up the whole piece which was a tribute to Nicolas Rubinstein who passed away. In fact, this work is really a chunk for a pianist, as challenging or maybe more, than his 1st Piano Concerto.
Great video!!
*_Soft endings:_*
•-• Beethoven, Op. 10, No. 3
•-• Ravel, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
*_”Cute” endings:_*
•-• Rachmaninov, Paganini Variations
"Best Ending"
•-•Erik Satie
@@interrexclamacion *agressive piano smashing in f major*
That graceful, dreamy ending of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune...
I think the end of this piece last longer than it needs
I think that Adams ending is an intentional one, stopping in the moment. Cities after all don't come to a stop, you just get off somewhere :)
This! He presents you with a ride, you get to your destination, you get off the train and think of something else :)
I have no idea what he was thinking, but it did feel appropriate with the city theme to me as well. Still, can be tough to balance conceptual stuff like that with not making it too jarring, unless to be jarring is a theme itself.
My favourite two endings: Scriabin's "Poem of Ecstasy" and Shostakovich's 4th symphony.
Also the end of his 11th and 13th end very well
Great video! Thanks for sharing and editing this so well.
Can’t agree with you on the Petrushka ending. It’s relevant to the “Sad” ending of the story, using distant echoes of passages we’ve heard throughout the work. I feel more a sense of “what just happened.” rather than “WTF”. Nonetheless, I very much enjoy your presentations and insights here. Keep it up! ☺️
I think of the three early ballets, Petrushka is by far the best on stage. It's an absolutely brilliant piece of theatre, and the music is brilliant, too, but it gains immeasurably from its proper context. The concert ending is part of an overall truncation that removes most or all of two of the four tableaux (as Stravinsky himself recorded it in the 1960s). And it removes the music Stravinsky was on record as being most proud of. Even in the concert hall, knowledgeable audiences hear the ballet today with the famiiar theatrical context in mind, even if only imagined from programme notes.
I think what David is missing here is that Petrushka is a ballet that was turned into an orchestra piece. The ending, with the death of Petrushka, is quite sad, and mysterious, in the ballet. It would have been silly and inappropriate for Stravinsky to put big triumphant concluding chords to that. It's also why I really prefer watching the ballet to just listening to the orchestra in this.
The presenter is making a fairly dubious point in the first place (that there are "good" compositions with "bad" endings), but the inclusion of Petrushka as an example (sort of?) of music "with a bad ending" is not only wrong, it's exceedingly facile.
I was just about to post the same thing about the Petrushka ending. I vehemently disagree with Mr. Bruce. It's not just a haunting ending musically, but in the context of the ballet it has real emotional resonance. Context is everything!
Came here expecting Erik Satie. Was not disappointed. :)
The ending of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony (mvt 4) is equal parts exciting, mysterious, predictable, and capricious. In other words, my favorite ending to a piece of symphonic music. I first heard it over ten years ago, and to this day I still remember the shock I felt upon experiencing that ending.
I adore the Prok,5. My first exposure was Ansermet's bouncy version. both movments 2 and 4 have that elixir of classical-sardonic-triumphant (with reservations hehehe) Prokofiev seems to enjoy these games. Piano Concertos 2 (a Rachmaninov Parody) and 3. The depressing collapse and crash of the 6th symhony. One of our greatest composers Jim
The most unexpected ending to a piece in recent musical history, in my opinion, is the closing choral murmur of Havergal Brian's 1st Symphony. The only ending where immediate applause after it is out of place. One of my most favourite endings ever.
Best ending of all time? Obviously Mozart’s “Ein Musikalischer Spaß.” True genius.
Spontaneous polytonality will always warm my heart lol
Yeah the chord is amazing
I thought you were about to say Jupiter's symphony, which would have been legit.
Personally I almost always find it satisfying when a Mozart piece ends :).
I was looking for this comment
Stravinsky’s “Firebird” is one of my personal favorite endings. And his “Rite of Spring” is quite unexpected.
Considering that the program of The Rite of Spring involves a girl being danced to death, the ending is actually inevitable!
Honestly, that entire finale deserves praise, what a movement.
That Firebird ending was awesome. I love the drop from forte to piano and that the brass cuts out then too. Really makes you pay attention to that last crescendo :D Edge of your seat! It reminds me of a Star Wars ending :-)
Rite of Spring makes me think of a cartoon where someone is running away from a terrifying shadow, and then suddenly the camera zooms in on the owner of said shadow, and it's a gopher XD
As far as the 'triumph' sort of ending, it is way up there.
@@e7venjedi In San Francisco, I went to a performance of the SF Symphony playing the music live to a viewing of The Empire Strikes Back. The last note of the whole thing - at the end of credits - is a fp. It's called a fortepiano, where the chord is struck loudly and held, but immediately turns quiet. The chord, in this case, is sustained and then risen in a final crescendo to a triumphant last burst. When the orchestra hit that fp and the volume dropped down, nearly the whole audience, not aware that it wasn't over, broke out in immediate applause while the orchestra was still holding that chord, which lasted for something like ten more seconds. The audience ravenously applauding and covering up the end . . . . god, that was embarrassing. As people were giving standing ovations, many of the orchestra members looked a bit disgusted. They played their asses off that night, and then that.
Also, haha, when the credits started rolling and the orchestra was playing their butts off with the end credit music, quite a number of people immediately got up and started leaving as if they were in a movie theater. They just walked out while the orchestra was still playing! Imagine doing that during any other live performance of a piece of orchestral music. San Francisco, come on, I expect a little better of you.
It's the first time I've come across one of your videos David, looking forward to viewing your other catalogue in weeks to come. Many thanks, Greg.
Man this video awesome ! I love the humorous endings, also your composing tips are helpful. Thank you very much
*John adams ends his piece*
David Bruce: "Not quite my ending"
Hahahahahaha JK Simmons
Great video! The conclusion to Bach's Passacaglia & Fugue in c minor takes the cake for me, I think. That full stop after the thundering Neapolitan 6th, providing the ground zero for this twisting and soaring coda before ending on what sounds like the dominant (due to the coda ending in f minor) gives me chills every time. It's like this grandiose piece has realized it's run out of expressive possibilities, in all of it's passacaglia variations and fugal permutations, and dies off like a phoenix tumbling from the sky in fire and wonder, tragedy and majesty.
ticfortea I didn’t even know Bach wrote a Passacaglia. I only knew Handel’s version...
about the tchaikovsky piano trio, it was written as an elegy to one of his friends who had recently passed which is why after what feels like the end of the second movement he return to the original theme from the first movement as a funeral march which slowly fades away.
Sibelius' Seventh is one of my all-time favorite endings. It's as if the music reaches a tall peak and instead of stopping it continues up into the clouds.
Yes. Totally unexpected.
And, of course, Mahler was Sibelius' nemesis; but I can't help feeling he had M's Adagietto in mind when finishing his 7th: it's the same progression -- a major chord with a lingering seventh resolving to the tonic. And that, of course, goes back to the slow movement of Bruckner's 6th (closing pages). And that: puts me in mind of the first f-major slow movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (very similar leaps in the violas)!
For the John Adams' ending... I'm sure you've watched movies and when they finish you think: hey, that was it??? And then you think about it a bit and you either still feel the same or you add a bit your own interpretation and give closure to what just happened in the movie and then the ending makes a bit more sense. Obviously that is not the ending for our characters but that's where the director wishes to stop, there's something else as well but that's as much as the director will give and you know what, it feels fine...! You can exhale now.
I see it somewhat like that... 🤔
Petrushka has a great ending, simply because it fits the story of the piece. Also, (a nitpick I know) Koussevitzky was not merely the original conductor of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, but also the commissioner.
I think Mendelssohn is a composer that handles his endings very gracefully. He is a part of the classical-romantic "bombastic" scene, but I find that he is often very creative with his finishes as well. One of my favorite closers to a piece is the end of the 1st movement of Mendelssohn's piano trio in C minor. The ending feel starts when the primary theme is played by the piano as it is in the beginning of the piece, while the violin plays a version of it slowed down by half. And of course, before he ends the piece completely, he does one more round about with a minor version of the contrasting B theme from the exposition!
Mendelssohn (and Schumann) toss in an ecstatic theme of the churning ending which always chokes me up...brilliant stuff
I cannot tell how much I love this video. Utterly brilliant concept, and damned helpful.
Haydn's "Farewell" is an interesting one in that you HAVE to see it happening to get the whole narrative. It's beautiful and funny. I'm glad you mentioned Sibelius 5, one of my favorite, weirdest endings that will forever confuse audiences
Another ending that's interesting in its context is of the finale of Beethoven's 8th sonata (the "Pathétique"). But for the context you need to start listening at least about a minute before the end.
And no discussion of Haydn's endings would be complete without a mention of his string quartet 30 in E flat, op 33 no. 2.
Kena Kitchengs It is interesting how people’s perceptions differ; I can hear absolutely nothing at all ‘funny’ in any part of this symphony which to me as absolute music is profound, intense, dramatic and one of the greatest symphonies of the 18th century. It is also one of the greatest and most satisfying endings in all symphonic music as well as, with only two solo violins playing pp, the quietest.
@@elaineblackhurst1509 I found an article that sums up what I mean better than what I could ever write: www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2009/may/29/haydn-playful-composer-tom-service
Kena Kitchengs Thanks for taking the trouble to research that; personally, I find the ‘humour’ aspect of Haydn is often overstated and often quoted in place of proper analysis. I do think the word ‘playfulness’ as used in the article better describes what the composer sometimes gets up to!
Symphony 45 (1772), was written in at the peak of Haydn’s ‘sturm und drang’ period (c.1765 - 1773). To me, there is very little of the oft-quoted humour (or playfulness) in any of his works written during these years: for example in any of the nineteen symphonies written between these years, in the Opus 20 quartets, or the c minor (Hob: XVI 33) or A flat (HobXVI: 46) piano sonatas.
The ending of this symphony breaks all the rules; it is unique, but most importantly, it works fantastically well and is tremendously satisfying.
My favourite ending of a piece is Chopin's ballade in f-minor. The buildup and the descending passage is amazing, feels like something huge is climbing up and then falling down, like idk, King Kong maybe
And the 1st movement of Schumann,s piano concerto ends With virtually the same 4 chords, but preceded With an upward arpeggio whereas Chopin goes Down!
I totally agree. I actually was about to comment about that ballade before I saw your comment. I also really like the ending of the f major ballade too cause it has an amazing dramatic coda but ends in a way that seems like a fading memory of the beautiful beginning theme. While the g minor one is my favorite ballade I feel like the ending is a little over the top... it feels like it is ending two times haha. But that's only my opinion
Yes, the F minor ballade hurtles to a very satisfying end.
I always happen to find a piece that is new to me or that I perhaps might’ve heard before that I completely obsess about for a couple of days. In the case of Chopin's 4th Ballade however it weren’t a couple of days, but rather several weeks or even months I was listening to it several times daily. Still my favorite piano composition. If only I could play it...
I'm learning more about WWII lately, and so this ending makes me think of a descent into madness. It's like Hitler's mindset as he realizes all his grand plans are imploding -- the thread is unraveling... The last 4 chords could be seen as him pulling the trigger. Such great music. Love Chopin.
Your vídeos are great Dave! Greetings from Argentina . 😊
you're such a lovely guy David...thanks for your videos...each one is edited nicely and the content flows just nice :)
Great video David!! ✨👌 In general I love how Ravel ends his pieces
Nahre Sol
Ravel is my favorite “end-composer”. I’ve never felt unsatisfied or “let down” with his pieces. ❤️
Especially Bolero!
The ending of "Chansons Madecasses" is sublime.
I actually love that ending to Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio because of the drastic turn from the frenetic major to the bone chilling minor tragic main theme. The first time I heard it shook me.
Harris' Third Symphony is a good combination of building inevitability, but also injecting suddenness that surprises.
Man, I love learning new things. I know a lot about theory, but hearing you talk about the musica lets me see it more fully. I feel privileged to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you.
I love love love the ending to Beethoven's 7th, which, especially live, always leaves me slightly out of breath and ecstatic.
Absolutely! Earth-shattering if done right.
Greatest ending I've ever heard? Bachs contrapuntus no. 1
Yes! Heartbreakingly beautiful.
So unlike anything by him. The sudden two chords
That's actually one of the reasons I'm so annoyed that Goncz's completion of Contrapunctus XIV isn't standard.
th-cam.com/video/gcRDfiRpuns/w-d-xo.html
Shostakovich Symphony No.11.
Bolero from Ravel , that build up and than total collapse is just amazing .
Whatever...
True. But his bolero also badly needs to end at that point. It's such a promising piece that never gets anywhere.
Ravel himself said: "It's a pity that my most famous piece doesn't contain any music..."
@@egilsandnes9637 It gets plenty of places.
@@MaestroTJS Meh. I get that the imstrumemtation and intensity constantly changes and gets more dramatic, but for me that idea can't go on to long before it gets boring.
That final accord at 4:10 from Berlioz: fantastic! Magnificent! The ONLY way to end such a piece with orchestra & grand organ. Really makes you feel and experience the greatness of the sound you are hearing. Wow.
Your videos are always excellent.
I think unusual endings bring so much depth to the piece. They do not leave you with the answer and feeling sure and certain, they instead ask you a question. Or simply leave you wondering about the last thought you had once the music suddenly stopped?
Sometimes when I listen to contemporary classical music I get the impression that the music is supposed to be a picture, so to speak - audio-picture. The music is supposed to make you feel certain way, transfer you in certain emotional place without telling any stories and hence not having a definite ending.
Very interesting topic, however, most of the examples that you presented at the beginning I consider great endings - so we completely disagree on that part :D. And I am no musician, so I have no idea what I am talking about, so just sharing my opinions :)
Great videos, cheers!
The finale of the score to E.T. is about as perfect as it gets for me.
The whole last 15 minutes of the movie has IMO the greatest cue ever written for a film, both in terms of the brilliance and emotional impact of the music itself in addition to how immaculately it tells the story and fits the action on screen.
Nobody agrees with me, but the fanfare when E.T. flies over the rainbow is very reminiscent of a section of Holst's "Jupiter"...That's not a bad thing.
It's a very different kind of ending, but I'm rather partial to the finale of Star Wars Episode II, which features the love theme played on a high flute with Vader's theme on the basses underneath it, and a whole lot of not much in between. An apt close to a story that was ongoing, and a highlight of an otherwise terrible film.
Well, yes, because it means that steaming pile of shit is finally over!
My favorite ending is 30 or so sequential repeat symbols. Of course, "shave and a haircut" soloed on tuba also works.
Thanks. That's was great examples and thoughts.
I love the ending to Rachmaninoff's 1st Symphonic Dance, non allegro. It's not super dramatic or grandiose, but there's something so incredibly satisfying about it. The reprisal of the initial motive near the very end makes me grin every time. I'd say it's a pretty cute ending!
Also the Ricercar a 6 from Bach's Musikalisches Opfer comes to mind. The final cadence sounds so amazing. Webern has made a wonderful orchestration of it.
Your elocuence and clarity of ideas makes it a pleasure to listen to you David. Thanks for the great work.
Very enjoyable video. Thank you. Totally hear you regarding the great Sibelius and using Lenny for the example of the 7th was perfect, as he did it beautifully.
I really like the ending of Petrushka actually. The way it mockingly peters out works in its favor.
One interesting aspect that I've found myself thinking about from time to time is pieces where an earlier movement ends so magnificently that the real ending later inevitably disappoints by comparison. For instance, Owen Reed's La Fiesta Mexicana has an incredibly rousing first movement that is so good, the other two end up feeling weaker than they are. Also, Charles Ives's Concord Sonata (possibly my favorite piece of music, by the by) has a very low-key final movement immediately after the slow lyrical movement (The Alcotts), which is one of the most beautiful things I've heard, and ends gorgeously.
The interesting things with both of these examples is that I can't fathom a solution to them. Both "too good" movements are clearly in their intended place in the piece (grand opener and slow middle movement respectively) and would never in a million years have come last. But still, they make their pieces feel like they peak early, which makes all the stuff that comes later slightly underwhelming. The only answer I can come up with is that those parts are too good, and that if they were slightly less good, then the full piece would function better, but that just feels wrong. I don't want to lose those parts. It just goes to bring up the question of what's more important:having a lot of good bits, or having a satisfying overall "arc" to the piece.
Petrushka's original ending is masterful!
Chopin's endings were generally pretty good, just the right balance between conclusive and predictable imo
John Chessant except the bizarre revolutionary étude ending
Yt Yt The ending of the revolutionary étude is actually a homage to the ending of Beethoven's Sonata No. 32, first movement! :)
@@johnchessant3012 do you have any evidence of that apart from the use of similar chords? Chopin famously wasn't very interested in Beethoven.
@@RobinLSL To be fair, Beethoven was equally uninterested in Chopin.
RobinLSL I first saw it on the Wikipedia page for the Op. 111. The citation is to a paper which mentions similarities between Chopin's b-flat minor sonata and Beethoven's Op. 111. The author admits the connection is conjectural, but he brings up the polonaise-fantaisie and the revolutionary étude as circumstantial evidence.
"So close are these allusions that they all border on quotation; moreover, they appear at analogous points in each piece, with very similar effects ... Taken as a group, this series of allusions makes Chopin's familiarity with Op. 111 a virtual certainty." from section III of: www.jstor.org/stable/746802
this is so much fun! tnx!!
Wonderfully informative analysis. Thank you.
Mahler 1 ending gets me every time. So good! Cool that he is able to sneak in a joke with the final two chords actually being the beginning of another famous piece of music.
Excellent ending indeed! But I find the ending of Mahler's 2nd symphony even more touching
Was just about to mention Mahler 1! Always blows me away.
1st is genius, but in terms of big endings, 2nd and 8th beat anything. And in the fade-out ending category, what to say about Song of the Earth and 9th?
"...the final two chords actually being the beginning of another famous piece of music"
Which one? Namely?
@@filmlover542 2nd movement of Beethovens 9th. Not a direct quote as it is voiced and orchestrated differently and more fully but it's spot on other wise. I can't remember if it was intentional or not but it's hard to imagine it wasn't.
One of our lecturers at Edinburgh University did a brilliant course on humour in music, her field of expertise being Shostakovich. It was she who first introduced me to the idea of an ending being 'too much' to make a point. Shostakovich's 5th symphony, ironically titled "an artist's response to just criticism" ends, after the most wonderful dominant pile up, on a fixed grin, we're-so-happy, look-how-happy-we-are, isn't-it-great-to-be-here D major for a couple of pages.
Great video, thank you 😊
He's thumbing his nose at Stalin.
The ending of Mozart's Dies Irae always shook me to the core, if it's done right (like the way Bernstein interpreted it). Just one note. It's just violins, but that's all it needs.´It always strikes me like a hammer blow. Probably my favorite ending from classical music. I have yet to see something that compares for me.
Try the ending to Beethoven's Tempest Sonata, 3rd movement.
your discussion of orchestral endings was very informative and entertaining. Thanks
One of my favourites is Mahler 7 with that suspension. Amazing!
Charles Ives' 2nd Symphony scared the bejesus out of me the first time I heard it. In a good way.
That is a great ending. I dislike the modern trend of extending the final chord though, I think it should just be played and then dropped to leave the audience in confusion.
Love that ending. Freaking hilarious.
@@atomicmrpelly Totally agree. It's a collision, not a jazz ending.
Bad taste is alive and well.
Saw the video title, knew this piece would be here
Wow. Wonderful video. Thank you so much.
I love your mixture of humility and bravado. Bravo! ;)