The most intense ending in a piece of music

[Philo]

Gravedigging a fantastic thread:

Messiaen's Apparition de l' église eternelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhjjl6EfxFo

[amw]

Beethoven - Grosse Fuge

Also the most intense beginning and middle.

[EigenUser]

A few, in terms of drama:
-Messiaen's "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum" (gongs)
-Ligeti's "San Francisco Polyphony" (whip-crack, sounds like whvdjwqonvlcasjhifbowejibSNAP!)
-Bartok's "The Miraculous Mandarin" suite
-Shostakovich's "String Quartet No. 8"
-Ravel's "Rhapsodie Espagnole"
-Borodin "Polovtsian Dances"
-Ravel's "Mother Goose" (orchestral version -- gets me choked up every time)
-Dvorak's "Symphony No. 9" (one of my favorite endings -- I love the E major chord that fades away in the woodwinds)
-Bartok's "Sonata" (for one piano and no percussion -- exhilarating piano writing)

In terms of endings that (for me) seem to burst at the seems with an intense joyousness, nothing beats the ending to Bartok's "Piano Concerto No. 2". Literally, the section with the lilting piano arpeggios during last 10 seconds of the piece makes me smile every time. The second violin concerto and third piano concerto come close, too. My violin teacher always said that Bartok wrote some of the best endings, and I have to agree.

If we're talking about the last minute or so (as opposed to the last few measures), I'd also nominate Debussy's "La Mer". Man, that brass chorale at the end of the 3rd movement! It's like the storm clouds clear and rays of sun break through and reflect on an endless, sparkling, shimmering ocean surface.

[ritter]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but it is very hard to beat in terms of intensity ("Nur eine Waffe taugt..." from 0:55 through to the end)...

http://www.youtube.com/v/yu0IQxIVF6g

A crowning moment in the history of music... I was lucky enough to see Stefan Herheim's staging in Bayreuth the year this was filmed... Amazing!

[Sergeant Rock]

A crowning moment in the history of music...

Sarge

[Madiel]

Well, I know I've mentioned elsewhere that the ending of Holmboe's 8th symphony makes me want to stand up and applaud.

[TheGSMoeller]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but it is very hard to beat in terms of intensity ("Nur eine Waffe taugt..." from 0:55 through to the end)...

http://www.youtube.com/v/yu0IQxIVF6g

A crowning moment in the history of music... I was lucky enough to see Stefan Herheim's staging in Bayreuth the year this was filmed... Amazing!

Amazing.
The ending leaves me teary eyed, when I saw the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production last November I was blown away with how moved I was when it finished. Has easily become my favorite from Wagner.
Thanks, ritter, for sharing the video.

[ritter]

Amazing.
The ending leaves me teary eyed, when I saw the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production last November I was blown away with how moved I was when it finished. Has easily become my favorite from Wagner.
Thanks, ritter, for sharing the video.

Glad you enjoyed it,  GSMoeller!  Yes, this is music that is just amazing!!! Those choruses ("Höchsten Heiles Wunder! Erlösung dem Erlöser!") !!!    ... Curiously, I also saw Parsifal at the Lyric Opera, but some 27 years ago!   

[knight66]

That was terrifically played and sung, thanks ritter.

Mike

[Ken B]

Well the end of Walkure is pretty good.
The endings of MGV or Synchronising by Nyman are pretty adrenalating.
But my first choice is the quiet reprise at the end of the Goldberg variations.

[TheGSMoeller]

Reviving old thread....

Barber: Symphony no. 1
Respighi: Church Windows
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 11 "Year 1905"
Vaughan Williams: Symphony no. 4
Martinu: Piano Concerto no. 4 "Incantation"
Nyman: MGV - (Musique à Grande Vitesse)
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 3

these are pieces that end loudly, so I will pick some endings with a soft intensity.

Well the end of Walkure is pretty good.
The endings of MGV or Synchronising by Nyman are pretty adrenalating.
But my first choice is the quiet reprise at the end of the Goldberg variations.

Not that this should surprise you, but I whole heartily agree! Even three years ago I did.

[TheGSMoeller]

One that I've always found electrifying is Britten's Violin Concerto. The way the violin begins to wailingly plea in anguish, only to be left with an orchestra unwilling to resolve the plea while the soloist continues on into silence. This is the best ending to a VC I've heard, and Jansen might be my new favorite interpreter of the Britten.

Go to 31:00 for the ending...

http://www.youtube.com/v/CPMm0CumIx8

[Ken B]

One that I've always found electrifying is Britten's Violin Concerto. The way the violin begins to wailingly plea in anguish, only to be left with an orchestra unwilling to resolve the plea while the soloist continues on into silence. This is the best ending to a VC I've heard, and Jansen might be my new favorite interpreter of the Britten.

I really like her in this. There was some guy who used to listen to Britten who didn't like her that much. I am trying to remember his name. Photo Negative?  Reflection?

[EigenUser]

I really like her in this. There was some guy who used to listen to Britten who didn't like her that much. I am trying to remember his name. Photo Negative?  Reflection?

Hmm, must have just been the wind...

[not edward]

One that I've always found electrifying is Britten's Violin Concerto. The way the violin begins to wailingly plea in anguish, only to be left with an orchestra unwilling to resolve the plea while the soloist continues on into silence. This is the best ending to a VC I've heard, and Jansen might be my new favorite interpreter of the Britten.

It's an astonishingly intense ending, I agree, and for me the finale of this concerto is a major expressive breakthrough in Britten's oeuvre. The way the violin theme slowly disintegrates into nothing more than a pair of notes is incredibly powerful. It's probably fair to add that it's thoroughly prophetic of some of Schnittke's slow finales.

I wasn't a big fan of the Jansen recording the one time I heard it; I felt she rather overplayed the ending, but that might reflect imprinting on the Lubotsky recording and his combination of big tone and comparative emotional restraint.

[TheGSMoeller]

I really like her in this. There was some guy who used to listen to Britten who didn't like her that much. I am trying to remember his name. Photo Negative?  Reflection?

My first impression of Jansen's Britten wasn't as favorable as other's first impressions, but she has grown on me a lot, I think it drives towards the final movement brilliantly.

[madaboutmahler]

Coleridge Taylor Violin Concerto - such a sense of intense tragedy after such lyricism that really gets me.. Seriously one of my favourite pieces of music.

[Lisztianwagner]

Granville Bantock's Celtic Symphony; so lyrical, beautifully overwhelming music, with a touch of elegance and heroism, depicting such evocative, nostalgic worlds. The strings really create a magical atmosphere.

[NJ Joe]

Speaking of Britten, I've liked this one since I was a kid, and it still gets to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waP1N446Zb0

[Kontrapunctus]

I find the ending of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony to be very intense if properly done (to my satisfaction, of course!)  I heard Gergiev conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra in a performance that nearly blew the roof off the hall several years ago--way better than his fairly recent recording of it.