Six great endings in music.

[Dax]

Many of the above examples are endings which are probably designed to make the listener comfortable with the way the argument has gone - which is fine of course. However there are other solutions which may be rather more subversive or striking which may or may not be lateral.

Scriabin - Prometheus (ends on a loud unexpected chord)
Busoni is a composer who specialises in unlikely solutions - like modulating in the last bar eg., Carmen fantasy (Sonatina 6) and that's not the only example. Not many composers make a habit of this apart (peculiarly?) from Duke Ellington, another master of the unlikely solution.
Ives is a master of the fizzle-out, but also the extended tonic pedal. Medtner's 1st piano concerto also.
For its sheer preposterousness, the Gary Graffman performance of Korngold's left hand Piano Concerto takes some beating. A dog-with-a-bone repetition of an unlikely cadential progression rounded off with over-the-top trills from the brass. I've heard a couple of other versions which inexplicably attempt to cover up this up.

[Chaszz]

Two by Bach:

A chorus from the B Minor Mass: Cum Sancto Spiritu. IMO, one of the most powerful allegro movements ever composed, with a stunning ending climax highlighted by repeated triplets from the Baroque trumpet.

The Chaconne, on piano

[Ten thumbs]

By way of variation, here are some of my favorite endings in piano music.
Where else can I start but with Beethoven: Sonata Op. 110. So triumphant!
Next: Schubert, Sonata Op. 42 (D845) with its frenetic accelerando.
Now something beautiful: Fanny Mendelssohn: Melody Op. 3/4 No. 6, the simple melodic line floating down to end not on doh but on soh.
A piece that ought to be as well known as Claire de Lune: Bonis' Phoebe. Begins and ends in the black note pentatonic. Unearthly ending on Ab Bb Db.
Real finality: Scriabin's preludes Op. 74. The last crashing down onto Eb Db G. No wonder he died thereafter!
Lastly the entry into heaven: Medtner's Skaska Op. 43 No.4. If only those cross rhythms weren't so diabolical to play!

[schweitzeralan]

Oh Yes, Sibelius symphony No 3 - Sibelius 'becomes Sibelius' in this work I think.  There is something about that last movement - some connection with the elemental power of nature. This is one of the few works I can listen to regardless of how I feel.

Mahler's 9th, Holst's Neptune are also choices I agree with.  Miaskovsky Symphony No 6 - deeply moving and poignant (see it in London next April  )

Very interesting replies - thank you. Sibelius Symphony No 2 ending yes,yes,yes. I'd have chosen Vasks Symphony No 2, which has a most eloquent and haunting ending.

So many works have been mentned.  I just wanted to add Bax's 3rd ending.  Quiet, enigmatic, tranquil and somehow transcendental, not unlike an epilogue to the trials and tribulations of life.

[val]

The coda of last movement of Bruckner's 5th Symphony.

The last movement of Beethoven's string Quartet opus 131.

The coda of the last movement of Brahms First Symphony.

The "crescendo" and coda in the first movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

The "crescendo" and coda of the last movement in Sibelius 2nd Symphony.

The coda of the last movement of Beethoven's Sonata opus 53.

[The new erato]

Ives is a master of the fizzle-out, but also the extended tonic pedal.

But also in the 2nd symphony he ended with a chord where all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded within the framework of a relatively conservative, solidly tonal, work.

[Grazioso]

Two that immediately spring to mind:

Pettersson 7: delicate, muted, ambiguous, haunting. A small ray of hope amidst the gloom?

and on the opposite end of the spectrum

Mahler 2: a totally over-the-top, Grand Romantic, quasi-religious sonic apotheosis

[offbeat]

But also in the 2nd symphony he ended with a chord where all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded within the framework of a relatively conservative, solidly tonal, work.

this reminds me of another totally off the wall ending by Ives in the highly dissonant second movement of the fourth symphony - theres no attempt at an ending but just stops as if in the middle of an argument - totally insane but pretty cool

[techniquest]

You know, I've a feeling we've done this topic before...But it's always great fun. My 6 today would be:

1. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.2 - after the harp does the 'Big Ben' thing, the symphony changes direction completely and meanders it's way to a lovely, somehow distant, conclusion.

2. Ravel: La Valse - manic race to the end stuff with pounding bass drum; like banging your head against a wall (which is how I feel much of the time).

3. Prokofiev: Symphony No.5 - that clockwork, factory-type, absolute rhythm. For me it is essential that the two bass drum / cymbal accentuated chords prior to the quiter 'ticking' just before the slightly off chord at the end, are really hit hard. That's the proper end; the rest is the subversive stuff.

4. Shostakovich: Symphony No.15. Others have mentioned this - I loved the description of percussive drizzle! An astonishingly original ending which has a ray of light amid the gloom by turning minor to major with just a note from the glockenspiel. Delicately brilliant.

5. Shchedrin: Anna Karenina. Thoroughly descriptive music; the best orchestral representation of a thundering steam train, complete with Doppler effect! Scary, effective and devastating.

6. Mahler: Symphony No.2 - What more is there to say? However so many get this completely wrong. Examples of how this works perfectly; listen to Oleg Caetani, Leif Segerstam, even Antoni Wit...

[Joe Barron]

But also in the 2nd symphony he ended with a chord where all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded within the framework of a relatively conservative, solidly tonal, work.

The dissonant ending was not added until 1952, just before Bernstein premiered the work. There is no manuscript source for it. Ives may have dictated the ending to Cowell, or Cowell may have made it up. Lou Harrison did the orchestration. Ives's original ending, from about 1904, was a standard V⁷-I cadence.

[jowcol]

I'd have to echo a few of these choices-- Pictures at an Exhibition, Shostakovitch 4 and 5, RVW 6  without a doubt.  Here are some others that come to mind.

Scriabin had several memorable ones-- Prometheus was mentioned, but Poem of Ecstasy is also up there.  Wagner on acid.
I also love the ending of the 9th Sonata ( I would have loved to hear that puppy orchestrated)-- totally cataclysmic, but then the hit of a brief mysterious coda at the end.
Vers La Flamme gives me chills-- the ending is so apocalyptic and fiery.  May be his best.

Penderecki's Polymorphia for 48 strings.  After several minutes of avante-garde freakout, it ends on a simple major chord.

Orthel's 3rd Symphony has a fantastic ending. The first movement starts with a wonderful  brooding theme. (It was written during the German occupation, FWIW). The last movement has this really powerful march that very edgy and discordant- it's hard to tell if its trying to sound heroic, or its power out of control.  3 or 4 great minutes of this, and THEN it returns to the brooding theme the symphony opened with, making a circular structure.  The first time I listened to it on repeat it flipped me out.

The ending of Prokofiev's seventh symphony is a tale of two endings.  ALthough I'm not nuts about this work as a whole, the ending is one of Prokofiev's most brilliant statements-- a wistful, elegaic, valedictory farewell (VANDERMOLEN ALERT!).  The proferred soviet ending added a happy recap from the first theme that totally killed the mood. I love the original version.

A couple by Stravinsky.  I'll never tire of the ending of the Firebird (and the Berceause(sp?)  before that).  The percussion at the end of the Soldiers Tale lingers in the mind long after the peace is over. And, although Apollo tends to bore me, the last couple of minutes are, to me, some of the most profound music Stravinsky ever wrote.


If we have to pick the favorite ending for a movement, I'd have to take the middle movement of Atterberg's 5th for write now.  At the end a nice, slow elegaic it has a terrific climax that pulls everything together, and then has a more mysterious fade. 


(Outside of "classical" -- you have to love the sudden ending to She's So Heavy by the Beatles!)

[abidoful]

Nice thread

- Tchaikovsky String Sextet op.70, that's some finale!
- Sibelius 5th symphony, i'm speechless- that's my "numero uno" i guess
- Sibelius Violin Concerto, hahaa i like his endings apparently: kind of abrupt  but cool... and suprising gestures
- perhaps when I was younger it was Tristan und Isolde definately- well it is amazing how that love-theme hymn just penetrates everything little by little. And then: "...mild und leise...". Gave me shivers
-Beethoven 9th

[Christo]

Orthel's 3rd Symphony has a fantastic ending. The first movement starts with a wonderful  brooding theme. (It was written during the German occupation, FWIW). The last movement has this really powerful march that very edgy and discordant- it's hard to tell if its trying to sound heroic, or its power out of control.  3 or 4 great minutes of this, and THEN it returns to the brooding theme the symphony opened with, making a circular structure.  The first time I listened to it on repeat it flipped me out.

Thanks for the tip! One doesn't read that often about Léon Orthel's music, let alone his martial Third Symphony. I tried it out immediately and yes, you're rigth, the finale after that brutal march is sheer magic.

[abidoful]

Oh, one more;
- Berg Wozzeck- after that culmination and big orchestral intermezzo those children playing, among them a boy of Marie's; "Du, dein mutter ist tot" and "....hop hop-hop hop..." 

[Brahmsian]

I'll add, as I think these hasn't been mentioned:

Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op.25

Dvorak - Cello Concerto

[False_Dmitry]

Gotterdammerung. How could anyone compose an ending to a cycle of four operas of such vastly ambitious scope, and make it not seem like an anticlimax? Yet Wagner did it.

And if we are judging on a purely empirical basis, it has the longest stage-direction in the entire operatic repertoire

Six Great Final Curtains:

I) Janacek, THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN - when you realise we are all caught in a cycle of death and rebirth

II) Wagner, THE FLYING DUTCHMAN - never has "Screw you all!" been said with such glorious suicidal conviction...

III) Poulenc, DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES - gripping, terrifying, compulsive viewing to those final pianissimo chords.

IV) Ligeti, LE GRAND MACABRE (original version) - a real danse macabre, including the scatalogical closing couplets

V) Menotti, THE TELEPHONE - verismo meets film noir, as the curtain falls on a woman who hasn't just shot an entirely innocent boy, but is shaking his dead body to find out if he rigged the seance?  Pitiless stuff.

VI) Verdi, FALSTAFF - the most generous of farewells to the stage, as the older generation graciously pass the baton to the bright young things...  the world may be nuts, but it's a grand place to be   [And the original "Quincy" ending, where we're all in the restaurant afterwards laughing off all that's happened.]

[starrynight]

I agree with some of those mentioned, but no mention yet of Schumann 3, Tchaikovsky 5...and let's not forget earlier ones like Mozart (symphony 41).

[Popov]

I'll restrict it to one composer per piece.

1. Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5. My all time favorite!

2. Popov - Symphony No. 5. My favorite quiet ending (Prokofiev's 7th and Shostakovich's 15th come close). Absolutely blissful music.

3. Shostakovich - Symphony No. 4. The most fascinating ending I know. What a wonderful way to end such a symphony.

4. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 30. Dawww!

5. Martinu - Symphony No. 3. I love how the chord in the piano disrupts that placid solution in the strings. I feel it somehow sums up the atmosphere of the work.

6. Tishchenko - Symphony No. 5. Those two flutes make for one awesome ending!

[vandermolen]

Must listen to the Orthel which I have. Thanks Jowcol for the 'VANDERMOLEN ALERT' (hehe). Actually I love the end of Prokofiev's 5th Symphony, which sounds (to me) like a couple of drunks interrupting a plenary meeting of the soviet politburo. Nielsen's 6th - YES, great fart-like ending (excuse language), Pettersson VC No 2 (inevitably has me in tears - after all that despair a wonderfully lyrical conclusion). Bartok PC No 3, very moving in the circumstances. Tchaikovsky 'Francesca da Rimini' - just gets more and more exciting, especially in Stokowski's famous old recording.

[schweitzeralan]

What are your six (or so) favourite endings in a piece of music - and why?

1 Shostakovich Symphony No 4 - ends in the deepest gloom, haunting, very moving and powerful, especially in its historical context of The Great Purges of the 1930s in which millions disappeared into gulags or died. (also his Piano Quintet)

2 Havergal Brian Symphony No 8 - haunting, enigmatic - wonderful.

3 Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 Pathetique - heartbreaking - ends in glowering darkness.

4 Vaughan Williams Symphony No 6 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on' ends on the up chord - drifts off into eternity 'like an Amen which does not resolve itself' (Stephen Johnston). His choral work 'Hodie' ends with a wonderfully life-affirming section 'Ring out ye crystal spheres). His Symphony No 9 I find very moving at the end where three huge monolithic chords rise up and then drift away to the sound of harps.

5 Mahler Symphony No 6 - earth-shattering, epic conclusion

6 Shostakovich Symphony No 11 'The Year 1905' - just very noisy and exciting.

Daft topic but there you go 

This is a former thread, and I was perusing the one on great openings.  I just finished listening to several Bax works, and I am still mesmerized by the wonderful ending to his 3rd. So I thought I'd simply add this.  Then I recalled i mentioned the Bax before. Wonderful symphony the 3rd.  As indeed are all seven symphonies of Bax.