The most intense ending in a piece of music

[Bonehelm]

Rachmaninoff Piano concerto #3 - Finale

[pjme]

 If we expect a loud climax :anything with extra :

wordless chorus, 2 sets of timpani, sidedrums "mehrfach besetzt", thundersheet, large & small tam tams /gongs, more than one pair of cymbals ( William Schuman symph. 9), bells ( tubular, plate, church...),organ, backstage brass, backstage percussion ( Richard Strauss) , windmachine, hammers & wooden board( Mahler, Milhaud,Ustvolskaya), whistles, tenordrum, very large bass drum, Wagner tubas, more than 4 harps, watergongs, ondes Martenot, revolver, bagpipes, tape, computer.


Olivier Messiaen's In expecto resurrectionem mortuorum ( very large wind orchesra & perc;) ,last mov. Et j"entendis la voix d'une foule immense


Copland :symph. nr 3
Respighi, Rozsa, Panufnik...

On the other hand :

Chostacovitch :symph nr 15 
Frank Martin : Requiem and Petite symphonie concertante....
Ravel is a master : le jardin féerique, Alborada, Daphnis,Boléro (of course!)
Bartok: The miraculous mandarin (complete - last part with chorus )

[Grazioso]

Mahler 2 for the sheer sonic spectacle, volume, and major-key emotional release
Pettersson 7 for the hushed, almost eerie tranquility after a gut-wrenching emotional journey

[Christo]

The final, about 8 minutes, of Peteris Vasks' Second Symphony. Fragile, sheer beauty, revelling:

[prémont]

A few from JS BACH that come to my mind now...
Contrapunctus 14 (unfinished fugue) from The Art of Fugue

This springs to my mind too. Nowhere has sheer silence "sounded" so intense.

[PSmith08]

Wagner's Götterdämmerung.

The end of the gods comes to pass. I don't think much more intensity can be found, from a thematic sense. Wagner's music captures the theme perfectly, as usual.

[not edward]

How about La Valse, with that final bar in 4/4? Or the apocalyptic close to Prokofiev's third symphony?

[Tsaraslondon]

  I have always found the ending of Puccini´s Tosca to be very intense.  I am surprised no one mentioned this, am I alone on this one?

  marvin

Well Joseph Kerman (he who called Tosca "a shabby little shocker") probably wouldn't agree. One of his gripes is with the end of the opera, when the orchestra reprise fortissimo the tune of Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle, for no apparent reason. He's right of course. That tune, theme, leitmotif, call it what you like is completely wrong in terms of the drama (Scarpia's theme, which opens the opera, would be more appropriate), but I can't deny it works wonderfully well in the theatre.

[LaciDeeLeBlanc]

That last chord of Ives' Symphony No.2 (as conducted by Bernstein). 

Hahaha, yeah, I agree.

When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of the ending of Gotterdammerang. It's just amazing, all of Wagners motifs from the whole Ring come back and fit together as Valhalla falls to it's doom.

I also thought of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, "Make Our Garden Grow".

Bruckner's 8th

Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra

Philip Glass - Symphony no. 2

Respighi - Pines of Rome

Mahler - Symphony no. 1 "Titan"

[Renfield]

Hahaha, yeah, I agree.

When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of the ending of Gotterdammerang. It's just amazing, all of Wagners motifs from the whole Ring come back and fit together as Valhalla falls to it's doom.

I also thought of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, "Make Our Garden Grow".

Bruckner's 8th

Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra

Philip Glass - Symphony no. 2

Respighi - Pines of Rome

Mahler - Symphony no. 1 "Titan"

I second Bruckner's 8th, which came to my mind second: first was Mahler's 8th. Also, off the top of my mind, Mahler's 6th and 2nd, Tchaikovsky's 6th, Beethoven's 9th and, indeed, Brahms' 4th - though mostly in that amazing Furtwängler/BPO recording on EMI.

My opera experience isn't enough for me to mention anything "that way", but if I were to do so, I would likely second the person who mentioned the ending of "Tosca". Of course, I'd also imagine Götterdämmerung is at least as memorable, but I haven't touched the Ring, yet.

[Valentino]

Rolling Stones: Brown sugar Those last few bars of LvB 9, Furtwangler in '42.

[Bonehelm]

I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?

[Renfield]

I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?

In one word, memorable. Huge build-up of music, until at the very last moment everything comes together, and a succession of three brass notes brings the piece to a close. 

More or less, that is. I'm sure all those musically-trained people around here can describe it much more accurately and/or with better terms than I just did. But that's the general impression of it, I'd say.

[mahlertitan]

I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements,

how come?

[Larry Rinkel]

how come?

maybe he had to go to the bathroom

[mahlertitan]

maybe he had to go to the bathroom

weak! it's only 24 minutes

[George]

I thought we settled this weeks ago....

...it's Forty Six and Two, I tell ya! 

[LaciDeeLeBlanc]

I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?

It's got a great trombone part. You'd love it.    I sure do.

[Bonehelm]

how come?

I was in a hurry...but the first 3 movts. are memorable, to say the least.

I hope the ending of the symphony is loud...I don't like quiet, fading endings 

[mahlertitan]

I was in a hurry...but the first 3 movts. are memorable, to say the least.

I hope the ending of the symphony is loud...I don't like quiet, fading endings 

it's bruckner, what do you think is going to happen?