The 10 Most Amazing Symphonic Endings
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2022
- Is the ending the best part? Some composers would have us believe so. Here are ten of the most powerful (if loud) and poignant (if soft) examples:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (finale)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4 (finale)
Dvorák: Symphony No. 8 (finale)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 (first movement)
Magnard: Symphony No. 4 (finale)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (finale)
Walton: Symphony No. 1 (first movement)
Martinu: Symphony No. 3 (finale)
Haydn: Symphony No. 96 (first movement)
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (finale) - เพลง
The ending of Sibelius’s 5th first movement remains the most scintillatingly exciting I’ve ever heard. It never gets old.
May I humbly also suggest the thunderous ending of the Saint Saens Third Symphony (Organ), the deliriously ecstatic ending of the Rachmaninov Second Symphony, the thrilling endings of the Tchaikovsky Second and Fourth Symphonies, and for sheer poignancy -- if not despair and tragedy - the Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony.
I like Tchaikovsky's crazy endings (specially symphonies 1, 4, 5) and Rachmaninov 1.
The ending of Mozart symphony 41 is also amazing with that fugue that combines all themes at the same time.
I find the last chord of Mahler's 6th to be truly frightening. The first time I heard it I jumped up from my seat of course. Since then I listen to the symphony countless time, the dread and anticipation of it never diminishes.
I agree!
@@DavesClassicalGuide Perhaps you could do a list of the 10 most SHOCKING symphonic endings? One is not enough!
I,d like to add Shostakovich's 15th symphony (the symphony finale with those creepy eternal clocks), Berg's Wozzeck (the saddest opera ending in allí repertory) and Messiaen's Canyon aux étoiles (absolute cosmic ending of the last movement)
Seeing the title of this video, Shostakovich's 15th symphony was my first thought- good call!
Absolutely the Shostakovich 15th!
Shostakovich 15 is one of my favorite of ending - mystical and cosmic, the endlessness of the universe. Absolutely a great call!
I got to check out the Magnard Symphony! Some of my favorite endings:
Shostakovitch: Symphony No. 15
Mozart: Symphony No. 41
Mahler: Symphony No. 6
Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 3
Nielsen: Symphony No. 6
And two others that are symphonic but not symphonies:
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (the revised ending)
Maynard’s four symphonies are quite enjoyable.
Definitely the third
My list would include the ending of Prokofiev Symphony 5 - a riotous summation of all that has gone before, and Honegger Symphony 3 ‘Liturgique’ - a very uneasy quiet after the storm.
The crazy ending of Mahler‘s 7th with all the bells just making noise and the fake out final chord after all that built up momentum is enormously exciting!
(The ending of the 3rd symphonies first movement is just as exciting to me)
I also love the ending of Meassiaen‘s Turangalila Symphony. Had the amazing opportunity to listen to it performed live by the Vienna Philharmonic and Salonen, that final chord kept growing for one minute straight, it felt as though the universe (and my eardrums) were being incinerated!
And as always, a great list :D
That's it. :) Messiaen is a specialist in endings. There is a wonderful performance on youtube with Susanna Maelkki and the orchestra de Radio France. Also Myung Chung in 2008. He is celebrating the last tone......Beside sinfonies :Dieu parmi nous played by Gillian Weir. and the anticlimax : the end of th quartuor la fin du temps. :)
The first movements of Bruckner's 6th and 9th. In the sixth after hearing several themes used in 20rh century blockbuster film scores. We
hear a chorale coda in which I gave up after counting 30 modulations . It is GLORIOUS. Then the first movement of perhaps the finest
first movement in the whole symphonic repertory Bruckner 9. After an early reference we hear in Frank Sinatra's " My Way". Bruckner
composes in his way and by the end of the first movement , he is taking us to HELL. The coda of this first movement is monumental. Watch
Leonard Bernstein on You Tube conducting the Wien Philharmonic a short while before he died , being carried away conducting this
supreme masterpiece.
I think Bruckner tonicizes all twelve keys in the coda of the sixth. It is astounding!
If you want to watch the chorale coda of the the 6th . Watch from 14.15 on the Solti live performance. The
interplay between the trumpets and horns from the Chicago brass is something to die for. However the
1964 Klemperer recording with the London New Philharmonia has an unsurpassed musicality to it. And the updated sound quality is vey good as well.
The first to come into my mind is Nielsen's fifth. The first movement already has a titanic climax, but one that flows over into relative peace. Then, the finale has the most pulse-raising race to the finish in any symphony, ending with a plain major-chord bang, leaving you exhausted and utterly gratified at the same time.
I just revisited the Magnard cycle on my long drive from Michigan to NJ for the holiday. I had forgotten how exquisite and moving the ending of the opening movement of his third symphony is. It’s not the finale of his fourth, but, gosh, it is up there.
wow Mahler’s 4th is a great choice. Other Mahler symphonies would’ve been more obvious (2,3,5,6,8,9, Das Lied) but there really is something quietly and sweetly profound about the 4th’s ending!
Hurrah for Magnard! They must be the most underrated 20th century symphonies. There’s a haunting tragic and very French mood. The violin sonata is a favourite of mine too - big mysterious romantic stuff.
Definitely. I love the third - this reminds me to check out the others.
Some of my favorites.
Mozart´s 41th (Finale)
Schubert´s 9th (1st mov)
Tchaikovsky´s 5th (Finale)
Scriabin´s 2nd (Finale)
Atterberg´s 3rd (Finale)
Grechaninov´s 1st (Finale)
RVW´s 8th (Finale)
The Carlos Chavez 6th Symphony 3rd movement Passacagalia is an underrated and thrilling ending. The last minutes of Mahler's 6th Symphony always manages to startle me, especially Bernstein's VPO version.
The Walton is incredible. Just when you think he's used every available harmonic and orchestral device to crank up the tension, he comes up with a new one. Even if you know exactly what's coming, it's still wonderful.
Brahms symphony No.4. ending. Truely the best ending for a movement based on a variation.
I personally like Mahler No.1. (I love all of Mahler's endings). The last two notes after the long loud majestic finale is so marvelous.
And I suggest doing best endings for non-symphonic orchestral works! I am sure there are tastful ending in overtures, concertos, etc.
Some have already mentioned two of my faves - Shostakovich 15th mystical finale and the Ives 2nd wonderful Bronx cheer. I adore the finale to Rachmaninoff's 2nd - it just gives me chills every time. Brahms 2nd as well, all the winds chugging away and then that trombone chord. Wow that's a great finish.
The end of the last movement of Mahler 7 in triumphant major is a thrilling moment. For those old enough to remember it was played at the very end of Ken Russell's film, "Mahler". Mahler is doing the "my time will come" speech with a post script of "we will live forever" ...cue the last few bars of the 7th. It packs a punch. One of the things Henri Louis de la Grange and I talked about.
For a whole set of marvellously creative endings, my vote goes to Elgar's Symphony No. 2. First movement - a rush of energy. Second movement - quiet lament. Third movement - sheer panic! Fourth movement - a sunset set to music!
Hard for me to think of a finale more ecstatically shattering than those final pages of Mahler 2, especially as realized by Tennstedt in his live 1989 recording with the LPO. Though perhaps shattering in a wholly different way are the finales of Mahler 9 or of Das Lied-- in each case you exit completely undone.
I would certainly add Dvorak's 7th Symphony finale as well.
The Chairman, the Board and all due-paying members of the Magnard Society continue to applaud your advocacy of this great composer, who made one, unfortunate, rash decision in September 1914, which shortened his career. We also salute your undeniable whistling skills
Vaughan Williams end of the 6th can haunt you for hours if not days. (I never realized that factoid about the RVW 4th and its sole bass drum note.) I also love the ending of Atterberg's 6th with that hilarious solo percussion riff before the last sharp chords. The end of Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony is tremendously uplifting IN THE RIGHT HANDS. It must be expansive, grand and broad as with Toscanini's 1953 recording.
Mendelssohn also has a terrific surprise up his sleeve in the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture because it has two endings: the "human world" traditional overture ending complete with ff tonic chords--but then the fairy world keeps scampering and flitting around until coming to rest five pages later.
And Haydn's surprise at the end of Symphony 98 where we suddenly hear the keyboard (pianoforte, harpsichord whatever) at the conclusion.
Who isn't surprised the first time they hear Mozart's piano cto No. 22 where any other composer would end 14 bars before the actual end of it but Mozart feints and veers off in another direction? In fact, it's always a surprise even when you know it's coming.
I almost added the end of the first movement of Atterberg’s sixth to my list, but I was getting carried away with unknown British composers writing between the wars.
Definitely agree, particularly the VW 6th and Haydn 98.
I always get so caught up in the energy and excitment of the ending of the first movement of Mahler 3 that I always come out of the spell amazed that this isn't the end of the symphony and that there are 5 more movements to follow. The ending to movement 3 with all the tam tam is fabulous too. My favorite personal experience of a great [symphonic] ending was my first live performance Das Lied von der Erde. with MTT and San Francsco. Recordings don't do that moment justice. It's written and scored so perfectly that the music and poetic world you have just journeyed through just seems to dissolve and fade away into another time and dimension. Quiet and stunning.
While waiting at the repair shop for my car one afternoon, I did nothing but listen to every performance I could find of the finale of the first movement of Sibelius's Symphony No. 5! It was one of very few times I did not mind the wait!
The last half-minute of Roussel’s Third gets me every time.
What an interesting talk again. Such a joy to watch. And again... afterwards i directly ran to my collection to listen to some of that stuff. That's the great thing about your channel, Dave, that it keeps me on listening. And it has rekindled some flame to discover and rediscover things.
My personal addendum: I think the Shostakovich 15 could be added to that list, just because it's world of sound is like nothing else (as others have mentioned here before me). And I think, talking about quiet endings, there's something about the last two minutes of Mahler's "Der Abschied", I cannot describe it in musical terms, I always come back to it and this fading chord on "ewig, ewig", it really breaks my heart.
If it wasn't just about symphonic endings I would also totally add the ending of "Les noces" to that list, an echo of space music and eternity, similar to Shostakovich, but in a totally different manner.
Your advocacy for George Lloyd is a real highlight of recent episodes. The endings to Lloyd's symphonies 4, 5, 6 & 8 are tremendous in intensity, build up & tunefulness
Lloyd is ridiculously overlooked.
Thanks for all the work and time you put into these videos. Can't stop listening to the ending of Dvorak 8. You are so right about the accelerando. Thrilling! All the best from Australia.
Thank you. Yes, that really is an ending that you can get hooked on!
I love the ending to the Overture to The Magic Flute, especially the chugga chugga chuggas by the lower strings about a minute and a half before the final chords. It’s all so exciting and satisfying, but also so powerful in whetting the appetite for MORE! Whether it is kicking off a concert or the opera, the end of that overture has me saying “Bring it on! Let’s have lots more music!”
Because it's his birthday today, I'll mention Ives Symphony no. 2. The reveille into cacophony is just so fun.
I was thinking of that one too.
Adams: Harmonielehre (Finale)
Certainly Bruckner 5 and Shostakovich 7 should be added.
Beethoven's 5th as well! In my opinion its finale is even more energetic and exhilarating than that of the 7th. I'm also partial to the massive, triumphant rendition of A Mighty Fortress is our God at the end of Mendelssohn's 5th.
Edit: I almost forgot to mention the fading heartbeat of Tchaikovsky's 6th. Possibly the very best "quiet ending" I've ever heard in a symphony.
I would like to add the ending of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony.
It is hard to stop hearing this ending again and again! Monumental!
Vaughan William's 5th
Mahler, first movement 8th
William Schuman, 3rd symphony. Finale
Brahms 2nd symphony, finale
Beethoven's Mass, end of Gloria
Ives, 2nd symphony, finale
Britten, Yoing Persons Guide to the Orchestra
Mahler's 9th, Rondo burlesque
Stravinsky, Symphony in 3 Movements
OK - I have some ideas for a list of great endings:
Mussorgsky/Ravel : Pictures at an Exhibition (The Great Gate of Kiev)
Respighi : The Pines of Rome (Pines of the Appian Way)
Mahler : Symphony No. 3 (Finale)
Elgar: Symphony No. 1 (Finale)
Stravinsky: The Firebird (Finale)
Bruckner : Symphony No 5 (Finale)
Rachmaninoff : Symphony No 2 (Finale)
Tchaikovsky : Symphony No 5 (Finale)
Beethoven : Symphony No 9 (Finale)
Dvorak : Symphony No 9 (Finale)
Saint Saens : Symphony No 3 (Finale)
I know - this is a list of eleven works. Pushed the boundary a bit.
Love this (and all your videos Dave)!
For me I must add,
Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 3 - the entire last movement is super fun and exciting.
Respighi - Roman Festivals "The Epiphany" - there's a LOT goin' on there...
Schmidt Symphony 4, has got to be one of the most incredibly moving endings ever, especially following the gut wrenching back story to the work. So quiet. So powerful. It ranks way up there in my favorite pieces list.
I'll keep on listening! Take care!
My top three would be the end of the first movement of Beethoven's 9th, from ominous buold up to terryfying finish, the finale of Brahms 1st - a humdinger of a finish, and the end to the first movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th - so moving, like a heart beat gradually fading away
The best group of 3 I've seen on this post!
Yes, the coda of the first movement of the Tchaikovsky is perfect: the downward stepping strings accompanying first the trumpets playing an inverted fragment from the main theme followed by the woodwinds, then the horns with just tail end before it all fades away. Just perfect!
@@rbmelk7083 Yes indeed. My fave performance is Ozawa with the Orchestra de Paris, his pacing and his gradual diminuendo is superb. With many recordings I don't hear the same attention to detail
I am not sure it's a great ending, but I have always been taken by the end of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. I have never heard a more desperate piece of music, and the way Tchaikovsky peels off the layers of the orchestra and leaves just cellos and basses in the low register strikes me as something like a Haydn Farewell Symphony from hell. I have always felt bad that this man's last symphonic utterance was so black and devoid of joy, although grateful that someone has voiced these emotions so honestly.
A great episode. Really enjoyed your list too. I would add the finales of the Brian 9th, Martinu 4th, Bruckner 5th & Tchaikovsky 5th. Hindemith's final movement to the Symphonic Metamorphosis is superb too.
One of my favourite endings comes from another VW symphony, the 9th. Soft-loud.
Well, both the endings of Berlioz symphonies are powerful, loud, and exciting, the Fantastique can send chills up your spine...
I always look forward to the col legno skeletons clattering in the strings.
@@bbailey7818 Oh yes! One of the great moments in music...
Many thanks for including Martinů No.3! Not every its recording adequately exposes the cruelty of that dissonant piano finale, perhaps some conductors find it too agonizing after all the darkness in the symphony.
I'd like to add two Havergal Brian codas: to Symphonies 9 and 16, the first festively triumphant, the latter searingly defiant.
I suggest Schmidt 4, which ends as it began, with a solo trumpet.
Hi, Dave! I enjoyed this list. I would add Barber's First Symphony, the end of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Fifth Symphony, Mahler 5 and Beethoven 9! :)
The final minutes of Lloyd's magisterial Eleventh Symphony is on my own list. As the composer
himself wrote - "The light at the end of the tunnel we all hope to see". It never fails to send a
tingle down my spine.
I really do like the raspberry at the end of Ives's #2. And I like the lead up to it even more.
Brilliant choices, particularly Beethoven, Walton, Dvorak, Magnard and Martinu.
My list includes 5 loud and 5 quiet endings:
Atterberg: Symphony No. 3. Glorious and magical beyond belief.
Langgaard: Symphony No. 6 (the Chandos recording with Järvi). I can't get enough of this epic ending, and Järvi does it perfect to my ears.
Casella: Symphony No. 2. I am a sucker for endings with organ and bells, and this is just the right thing.
Holmboe: Symphony No. 8. Sounds dramatic and transcendent to me, bringing back the motif that opens the work.
Respighi: Church Windows. I'm cheating here, but this is the epitome of apotheosis. There's something about the tune that moves me powerfully.
Now quiet endings:
Honegger: Symphony No. 3. A very apt ending that portrays the horrible effects of war.
Bax: Symphony No. 3. Some of the finest Bax music is to be found here. Just endearing.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 (or No. 4). Enigmatic, mysterious, intriguing.
Bloch: Symphony in C sharp minor. After the imposing climax it fades away in the most ethereal and calm way.
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6. Devastating, moving, raw.
Like your list. I am familiar with most of them. For a not quiet ending with Bax I would choose the ending of the first movement of his Symphony No. 1.
That Magnard theme that you whistle reminds me of the theme from the 1940s radio show The Whistler. I've never heard of that composer. Will have to check him out.
I need to look into Magnard. Thanks for reminding me!
Thank you for the interesting list, David. Another viewer mentioned Nielsen, and I was wondering if you have any plans on reviewing the upcoming Nielsen symphony cycle with Luisi conducting the Danish National Symphony Orchestra issued on DG? I believe the CD-set edition is released sometime in spring next year.
Sure.
The two 4th symphony endings are great examples of composers rethinking the purpose of an ending. I would add the first movement of the Brahms 4th. The first movements of his earlier symphonies end quietly, as if the purpose were to go from stability to tension, then back to stability. In the development section of the first movement in the 4th, Brahms lulls us into a mysterious tranquility that dovetails (by augmentation) into a stealthy recapitulation. We rethink the beginning of the movement as an "after" rather than a "before" (as Brahms had originally sketched), but then the tension is taken to an even higher level. The coda's a controlled frenzy, less a resolution than a slugfest stopped in its tracks by a plagal cadence. The tension calls for release in the 2nd movement, which also has its own build-up of tension and soothing release: where the return of "B" section music in spiky staccato is answered by a plush legato version with divided cellos.Then you have that sequence reversed in the fourth movement, when the major-key variations (including the one with flute solo) are harshly brushed aside by that entry on trombones. I mention these abrupt contrasts because they aren't as common or pronounced in the earlier Brahms Symphonies--and because what happens at the ending of one movement can be characteristic of the whole work.
The Sibelius example is a little like the Brahms, except for its exhilaration. What also makes it impressive is how, in its final version, it reflects a rethinking of structure--no longer an end to the 2nd "scherzo" movement but a continuation and ultimate destination for the first movement. I'm at least as impressed by the ending of the last movement of the 6th symphony. I can think of how it goes with the structural symmetry of the finale, but also how it mirrors the opening of the first movement. For some reason, the opening sounds like something early in the day, while the ending seems like twilight. Either way, I flash back to a place where I was in northern Finland, looking out past the pine trees to a wide-stretched view of scattered lakes reflecting scattered patches of sky. That, too, was symmetric.
Bruckner 4th, 7th and Mahler 1st are among the best!
Vaughn-Williams’s 4th for sure. Anyone present at Carnegie Hall about ten years ago will never forget how fantastically good the Oregon Symphony (yes!) was in this work and how overwhelming was the ending.
Okay, here goes (mostly lesser-known works except for the Prokofiev which I'm surprised hasn't gotten more mention). These are all endings of the final movements of these symphonies, by the way:
Arnold 5: As others have mentioned, one of the most shocking endings ever composed. A sumptuous, Hollywood-esque peroration featuring a reprise of that glorious tune from the 2nd movement is brutally negated by a huge E minor chord and deathly strokes on the tubular bell before fading into nothingness.
Atterberg 3: Rather like the first movement of Sibelius 5, the finale of this symphony is a gradual, cosmic buildup of energy and magnificence, culminating in a coda that is just overwhelming in its grandeur.
Braga Santos 4: Does it come too close to banality? Perhaps. But the life-affirming optimism of this stubbornly memorable, anthem-like coda never fails to make me want to shout from the rooftops!
Jean-Michel Damase's Symphonie: A wonderfully inspiriting ending in which the violins play insouciant polytonal runs over a noble C major chorale in the rest of the orchestra.
Honegger 3: A beautifully fragile ray of hope after an emotional maelstrom of a work.
Kalinnikov 2: Many of the themes from previous movements are brought together in joyously festive counterpoint. It's so wonderfully satisfying and fulfilling!
Lloyd 5: An absolute celebration of joyous orchestral energy, driven by a rhythmic snare drum ostinato and the brass entrances spilling over each other in excitement. It just makes me happy to be alive!
Ludolf Nielsen 3: After an absolutely cataclysmic climax, a noble chorale tune emerges from the ashes and ends the symphony in a glowing C major.
Prokofiev 5: Absolutely scintillating! After the huge buildup, there's a thinning out of texture that reveals the "inner clockwork" of the front stands of strings and percussion before the final upward rush - so ingenious!
Tubin 2: A unique, magical coda featuring a solo violin over deep piano chords; a great contrast to the tumultuous energy from earlier in the work.
I strongly agree about Mahler 4, particularly if the soprano imparts the required child-like quality, then the final instrumental bars complete it so perfectly. Pure genius.
I will not mention all the great well-known endings but some rather hidden treasures: Taneyev 4, Krenek 2, Bliss' Green finale and to make the population of Baxia happy: Bax epilogues of 2, 3, 5, 6
Yes, the Taneyev is just wonderful. I always end up humming “My hat, it has three corners” every time I listen to it:)
Bruckner's 4th and Dvořák's 7th too.
Dvořák´s 6th symphony is also like volcano.
The little short fanfare in last movement, reminds me the fanfare of Dvořák´s 9th symphony, but played backwards.
Number 6 is number 9 upside down.
Great list. I can certainly appreciate not including the same 5 endings everyone talks about. Examples; Mahler 2, Beethoven 9, Dvorak 7, Shostakovich 7 and so on. While those are certainly amazing it's good to mix it up every once in a while especially with lists like these.
Well. I love the ending of Walton’s 2nd Symphony. And I mean the very ending, the last bar or two. Because of the exuberant split-second tambourine solo.
My list would have included the ending of the Firebird and Sibelius' Second, as trite as those choices might have been. But I have an attachment to Mahler's Fourth. Both I and the heavenly butcher thank you for mentioning it.
My first exposure to RVW 4 was a Music and Arts release of a Mitropoulos broadcast performance from 1953 with the NYPO. Sound is quite good and Mitropoulos really tears into RVW 4! It is about as far from "cow looking over a gate" as you can get.
Great that Martinů 3 was given a shoutout, it is beautiful
Such a good topic that you’ll need to do another round, where I hope you’ll find room for the ending of Lutoslawski’s Symphony #3 which is simply too good to be true.
When singing Vaughn-Williams 4 your voice is similar to Elmer Fudd. Loved it.
Thanks David. Mahler's Symphony No. 9 (finale) soft ending takes some beating, I think.
If I were to list my favorite endings, I'd have a hard time ending...;-). Great video in response to great request. In the end, it's all about listening.
Interesting - when I listen to the end of mvt. 1 of SIbelius 5, while all of the string and trumpet stuff is going on, I focus in on how the horns are doubling the timpani. Great effect.
Some of my favourites:
Copland Symphony 3
Vaughan Williams Symphony 6
Rautavaara Symphony 8
Pettersson Symphony 6
Shostakovich Symphony 4
Most poignant: Elgar 2. Most exciting: Glazunov 4.
Also, I'd have to add the finale of Brahms 2nd Symphony. I just played my version by Dorati and it is superb!
Not a symphony, but Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No.1 is one of the bests in the repertoire. It always catches me at the end. Maybe make a video about best/worst concerto endings. That would be interesting.
I absolutely love the endings of the Brahms 4… it’s so violent and angry!
I love the ending of Mahler’s 5, I just love it so so much.
And I was hoping this would be on Dave’s list but it’s ok 😂, Haydn’s Symphony 88! One of the most beautiful things he ever wrote.
Implies some extra questions: What is "amazing"? (exciting, dramatic, emotional, unusual?) "ending" (last few bars, last minute or even longer? and of the whole work or just one movement?). I jotted down some thoughts first, but was assuming finales. I included 2 finales of works where you have the 1st movement; Sibelius 5th and Walton's 1st (including the haunting trumpet call). Dvorak 8th was also in my list, it has a great impact live. I would include: Tchaikovsky 6th, Brahms 2nd and 4th, Vaughan Williams 6th (and 7th?), Holst Planets (Neptune), Bartok Miraculous Mandarin Suite (also among most remarkable openings), Beethoven 5/7/9, Ravel Bolero or La Valse, Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures, Mahler 2nd, Saint-Saens 3rd, Mozart 39 (typical of his abrupt endings), Haydn 98. Plenty of Tchaikovsky possibilities such as Francesca da Rimini. And a few concerto endings might come into contention too.
I like the endings of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Manfred , and Francesca da Rimini. They're spectacular.
This is so much fun. My all time favourites are: Sibelius 5, Enescu 3, Tchaikovsky Manfred, Beethoven 7, Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony, Bruckner 4, Shostakovich 4, Mahler 4 (indeed!), Janacek's Sinfonietta and, obviously, Haydn 45
Beethoven's 6th, Scriabin's "Le Poème de l'Extase", Bruckner's 4th and 8th, Mahler's 3rd, 4th, 6th and 9th, Shostakovich's 15th, and Debussy's "La Mer". oops 10 already. + the other 8 in your list.
Mahler 3rd, first movement
I've always thought that movement could easily be a standalone piece, rather like a tone or symphonic poem.
I love Sibelius 5 but the very end always dissapoints after the wonderful build up
Mahler 2 of course
Above all the end of Elgar 1 always brings tears to the eyes
I could go on......
Prokofiev Scythian Suite - just a crescendo leaving it up in the air
Symphonic poems, suites and concertos also have nice endings, Tchaikovsky, Smetana, Dvořák. :)
I truly love your eclecticism, Dave, but I wonder about the double messaging here. I find half of these fantastic: Beethoven, Magnard, Martinu, Sibelius, and Mahler. I'd put the rest in a list of the most bombastic finales.
Im your fan, man :)
Atterberg's 3rd Symphony (West-Coast Pictures) finale
Rachmaninov 1st Symphony finale
Copland's 1st symphony finale
Nielsen's 4th symphony finale
Prokofiev 5th symphony finale
Sibelius Symphony No.2 finale
Bizet's Symphony finale
Mozart Symphony No.41 finale
Casella's 2nd symphony finale
My sleeper .....Melartin's Third Symphony finale
Great choices! I wholeheartedly agree with all of them.
I always found the final movement of Mahler 4 perfectly satisfying, but it somehow never occurred to me to marvel at the fact. The words of the song certainly do their part to justify the scheme, but that alone would not have made it work without musical sense. Perhaps the soft, ethereal ending of the Adagio is part of it, as it ushers in a similarly hushed mood at the start of the 4th movement. I also think it was clever to introduce some rather frenzied music in the middle part of the movement before finally calming down to the lullaby. It's sort of a simplified, miniaturized version of the pattern of the Adagio.
Great quiet ending: Brahms 3. And it may be my all-time favorite ending period.
Great examples. Some others that I love:
Mozart, Symphony no. 41: The contrapunctal pile up in the coda is tremendous.
Beethoven, Symphony no. 9, 1st Mvt: Terrifying. The inspiration for so many of those Bruckner codas.
Shostakovich, Symphony no. 7: Is it a victory or defeat?
Schubert, Symphony no. 9: Just the way he transforms that gentle, repeated theme in the woodwinds into brutal hammer blows is awesome.
Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 3: I never understand why critics (and Otto Klemperer) disliked this dark, noble, beautiful peroration. Is it "tacked on?" Sure. Who cares?
Sibelius, Symphony no. 7: That final crush of C major! What more can be said?
Mahler, Symphony no. 7: Because I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!
I'd include the ending of Scriabin Symphony 5. After twenty straight minutes of unconventional harmony, that final incandescent F# major chord sounds like a completely new universe.
5? I assume typo error. I know nr. 3, but not so well.
@@johannesbluemink4581 I mean 5. Its other title is Prometheus, sometimes it's considered a symphonic poem. Check out Argerich's recording.
Can't get more surprising than final minute of Malcolm Arnold's 5th Sym.
Yes! Possibly the most shocking and devastating ending in all of music!
Haydn's Symphony No 96 was my introduction to classical music as a child in the 1960's and to this day remains my favorite of all his symphonies. Interestingly, on the subject of symphonic endings, apparently Haydn was not totally satisfied with the finale of this symphony and contemplated replacing it with another but never got around to doing so.
Samuel Barber 1, first part, and Nielsen 1, first movement have great endings, too.
My favorite ending is the highly energetic coda to Rachmaninoff’s 3rd symphony.
Re: the great Haydn #96 (I) ending: when I first heard Howard Shelley's fabulous set of the "London" Symphonies (Swiss/Italian Orch on Hyperion), I almost fell out of my chair at this stunning moment (the unison, hammered "A's" by the full orchestra), because Shelley takes a SLIGHT ritard leading into the big D minor measure, which really emphasizes the power of this unexpected moment. IMO, perfectly gauged and appropriate. LR
The ending of Vaughan Williams' 9th would be on my list: the man looks into the face of eternity or destiny or doom, unflinching, and with great bravery.
Some of those I like...
Tchaikovsky: end of 1st movement of 4th Symphony; end of 1st movement of Manfred; end of 4th movement of 6th Symphony
Rimsky-Korsakov: end of 2nd movement of Scheherazade
Brahms: end of 1st movement of 4th Symphony
RVW: end of 1st movement of 2nd Symphony
Mahler: end of final movements of both 2 and 8
Shostakovich: end of 4th movement of 5th Symphony
Dvorak: end of 4th movement of 7th Symphony
Great talk, as always! 👍🏻
Yes, the end of RVW 2 first movement - sheer glorious sound.
Furthermore; if I taught a class in advanced composition and orchestration, which I could never do, I would challenge my MFA students to write an alternate ending to Sibelius' 5th symphony. Perhaps also the first movement of the Mahler 7th. Which I don't much care for. Also, i would like to add to best endings, first movement of VWs 2nd symphony.
Did anybody mention Shostakovich's 4th final? Slow inevitable onerous departure to another Universe...
Yes, it was mentioned, and rightly so!
The ending of Ravel's Ma Mere l'Oye, builing up a moving climax from a gentle, intimate, melody