The most intense ending in a piece of music

[Larry Rinkel]

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 

Very loud.

[Renfield]

Very loud.

Well, "very loud" is somewhat dependable, depending on who's conducting and who's performing. But "quiet and fading" it most certainly is not.

It's more of a question of how abruptly it crashes down on the listener, I guess.

I think you'll like it, Bonehelm.

[Christo]

When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of the ending of Gotterdammerang.

?? Who's ever lived long enough to have actually heard the END of the whole d-d Götterdämmerung? 

[scsinger01]

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

from a preforming standpoint, garden is pretty intense. Stomp Your Foot from the Tender Land (copland) has a pretty insane ending as well.

[Bonehelm]

Well, "very loud" is somewhat dependable, depending on who's conducting and who's performing. But "quiet and fading" it most certainly is not.

It's more of a question of how abruptly it crashes down on the listener, I guess.

I think you'll like it, Bonehelm.

Thanks, Ren . I just finished listening to Celly/MPO and his 8th.

It, indeed is very loud. I'm more than satisfied.

[sidoze]

call me old fashioned but a very intense conclusion to Tchaikovsky's 6th sym always leaves me exhausted. That sound of cries and the fading, it's almost inhuman. Kondrashin or live Mravinsky.

[Renfield]

call me old fashioned but a very intense conclusion to Tchaikovsky's 6th sym always leaves me exhausted. That sound of cries and the fading, it's almost inhuman. Kondrashin or live Mravinsky.

Indeed, the Pathetique is "something else", as far as intensity goes.

Bonehelm, very good choice of recording! Celi is supreme in giving you every single detail of a work, while still keeping the whole intact; so almost ideal for a first listen. May I recommend the Karajan/VPO, Wand/BPO, Boulez/VPO, or even the Barbirolli/Hallé for different (and also, in my opinion, excellent) approaches to the work?

[Ten thumbs]

Here are some from the piano repertoire:
Beethoven Sonata Op 110 - very loud too
Schubert Sonata Amin Op 42 - fiendish accelerando
Fanny Hensel 12 pieces for Felix 1843, No10 - intense all through
Chopin Polonaise Op 44 - heroic too
Brahms Intermezzo Op 118.6 - heartbreaking
Scriabin Sonata No 6 - transported
Medtner Funeral March - spooky

[Mahlered]

Another vote for Mahler 6 and 9 here! But let's not also forget Das Lied von der Erde - that one gets me every time, too.

Shostakovich's 11th Symphony has quite the ending - when I heard the National Symphony do this live in June of 2005, they had the guy hitting the huge chimes up in the choir loft, and the chimes were shaking so hard I thought they'd fall.
Shostakovich's 8th and 15th quartets should also be on this list, I think.

[Haffner]

Mahler 9th

Beethoven last movements "Hammerklavier" and "Moonlight"...tho there are so many pieces by him that fall under this category it's too much to list them. Same with

Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Ouverture, "Jupiter" finale, PC # 21, etc.

Schumann: Piano Quintet...also the String Quartet # 4

Wagner's Gotterdammerung may have the most intense, euphoria-inducing ending in music.

For Rock/Metal:

Black Sabbath: Lord of This World ("Master of Reality"), War Pigs ("Paranoid"),Heaven and Hell (off "Live Evil")
Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven
Deep Purple: Child in Time, Knocking At Your Back Door
Rainbow: Stargazer, 16th Century Greensleeves
Judas Priest: Freewheel Burnin'

[Dundonnell]

Have to agree with so many of the choices people have made regarding the late Bruckner symphonies, the Mahler(Nos. 1 and 2 for example), Wagner's Gotterdamerung, the closing pages of the third movement of Brian's 'Gothic', Shostakovich's 15th symphony and Vaughan Williams Sinfonia Antartica.
No one has mentioned the 'Chorus Misticus' ending of Liszt's Faust Symphony however. That sends the same shiver of intense excitement up my spine as the glorious modulations in the Mahler 2nd and the Brian.

[George]

For Rock/Metal:

Black Sabbath: Lord of This World ("Master of Reality"), War Pigs ("Paranoid"),Heaven and Hell (off "Live Evil")
Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven
Deep Purple: Child in Time, Knocking At Your Back Door
Rainbow: Stargazer, 16th Century Greensleeves
Judas Priest: Freewheel Burnin'

Have you heard "Forty Six and Two" by Tool?

[Bonehelm]

@Renfield: I will, thanks for the suggestions. I have Wand/BPO 8th too actually, as I absolutely LOVE their 4th to death and bought the whole set hoping for more awesomeness.

@Haffner: You forgot Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction from Countdown to Extinction!

[Haffner]

Have you heard "Forty Six and Two" by Tool?

Good one! Throw that one on my list.

[Haffner]

@Haffner: You forgot Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction from Countdown to Extinction!

That's one of the only tracks by Megadeth that I like. I was way more into "Death"(the band):

[wtf]

poem of ecstacy a la gergiev

[ChamberNut]

Bruckner - Symphony 8 (already mentioned numerous times)

Dvorak - Scherzo capriccioso

Brahms - Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25

[mikkeljs]

Ravels Borelo  since 30% of the total musical progression happens within the last two bars of that 15minuttes long piece!

[PerfectWagnerite]

Anyone for Strauss' Death and Transfiguration?

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich Symphony 4

Bruckner Symphony 9