Six great endings in music.

[Sef]

1. Bruckner 9 - 3rd Movement. I had the unfortunate occasion to be taking antidepressants for a few months (not that I needed them, but that's another story) and I could not get the ending out of my head, and for some reason this made me feel very low. So great ending in music? Definitely powerful.

2. Shostakovitch 4 - Final movement. The basses sound like a heartbeat that gradually disappears. Perfect ending given the Symphony's history.

3. Pettersson 7. I think there's a theme emerging!

4. Mahler 9 - 4th movement - I feel as though I'm not allowed to breathe during the fading away.

5. Hartmann - Concerto Funebre.

6. Hmmmm Tchaikovsky's 6th or Mahler's 2nd I suppose. Now which one to choose .........?

[Diletante]

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

Bartók - Concerto for Orchestra

Mahler - 2nd Symphony

Dvořák - Cello concerto

Shostakovich - 5th Symphony

And of course, Mahler's SIXTH!!!

[Lethevich]

If I can choose an ending to a specific movement, then it's Bruckner's 9th, first movement. It has an immensity that I have not encountered in any other music, but without the rooting-tooting qualities that, say, the end of the 8th does.

Also, not to forget the end of the opening movement of Dvořák's cello concerto. It's just so much more grand than the work's actual conclusion.

[Diletante]

Also, not to forget the end of the opening movement of Dvořák's cello concerto. It's just so much more grand than the work's actual conclusion.

Yes, I remember that for a time I was obsessed with that high note on the string section before the final brass fanfare. Every time I listen to a recording of it I pay special attention to that fanfare, because I find it completely anticlimactic if it's done weakly or too fast.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Interesting thread - personally prefer quiet or anti climax endings

Yes, quiet endings can be very powerful. One of my favorites is the ending to Bartok's second violin sonata. The piece closes with the violin playing solo, which then floats up the register to end on a single sustained note.

Rather impressive.

[vandermolen]

Interesting thread - personally prefer quiet or anti climax endings

Shostakovich 8 - after the carnage and emotion it ends on a kind of uneasy peace - its like being emotionally drained
Prokofiev 6 - fascinating final movement starts like a movement from Haydn  and ends in a tragic and abrupt fashion
Honegger 3 - after the discordant barrage its like a trip to paradise
Vaughan Williams 4 - 2nd movement - so bleak and the final woodwind lament is so poetical
Vaughan Williams 5 - the ending just fades away - so beautiful
Sibelius 4 - probably the most negative ending of all but such atmosphere  

Agree with all of these! I should have included the Honegger (wonderful birdsong ending) and Shostakovich's 8th Symphony in my original list. Have just listened to Honegger's film score 'L'Idee' (Naxos) the end echoes that of the Liturgique Symphony.

[Valentino]

There are 4 Wagner Ring operas that end great, and

LvB op. 95, 1st mvt. That intensity, and fade.
Schubert Death and the Maiden Qt, finale. Over the cliff's edge we charge!

[71 dB]

Elgar's first symphony. Not the greatest symphony ever written, but my favourite by a long way; and to hear the great theme returning at the end, so satisfyingly, so optimistically, so nobly, and with such lofty aspirations, has been a major source of inspiration for most of my life.

The ending of Elgar's 2nd symphony is much better imo. The first symphony has maybe stronger beginning.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

surprise me!

I'm gonna refine things a bit, and say that one of the things that makes an ending great is that it is surprising.

Great and surprising endings:

1. Shostakovich Symphony #15 - the percussion drizzle turns the finale from morbid to magical

2. Hindemith Kammermusik #1 - that police siren just comes out of nowhere

3. Schnittke Symphony #8 - after 35 minutes in the depths, a feeling of liftoff

4. Sibelius Symphony #4 - neither one thing nor another; unnerving

5. Brahms Symphony #3 - you didn't think he could end all 4 mvts. softly, eh? Well he did

6. Nielsen Symphony #6 - a loud bassoon fart is always a great way to end something

[Lethevich]

Schnittke Symphony #8 - after 35 minutes in the depths, a feeling of liftoff

I forgot about this spooky one.

[snyprrr]

Endings???...don't I usually lose inter....oh, right....

JUST ONE:

Stravinsky...the symphony (3mvmts?, in C?) that ends in that extended "putting down"...along with that final string chord that just shivers me timbers...reminds me of washingtonD.C. on the brink of the cold war (I wonder if Stravinsky's reading is the only one that captures that "sound"?).

HONORABLE MENTION:

Haydn Op.33/2 "Joke" SQ... at first I thought it was cheezy, but it has a great structural effect.

(It does bother me that I can't think of ANY endings of any music...Jeff Buckley's "Vancouver" has an awesome ending...and Roy Orbison ALWAYS had a cool ending, very dramatic and cinematic)

[offbeat]

Reply 24 DD
re Bartok Violin Sonata - never heard this - sounds really interesting

Reply 28 Spitvalve
Re Shostakovich 15 - it always amuses me the very last note is i think on the triangle or celesta (not sure which)

reply 30 sntprrr
re Stravinsky in 3 movements - love the warlike chant in the strings in first movement

Excuse my reply not sure how to do quotes

[Air]

Reply 24 DD
re Bartok Violin Sonata - never heard this - sounds really interesting

Reply 28 Spitvalve
Re Shostakovich 15 - it always amuses me the very last note is i think on the triangle or celesta (not sure which)

reply 30 sntprrr
re Stravinsky in 3 movements - love the warlike chant in the strings in first movement

Excuse my reply not sure how to do quotes

All you have to do is press the "quote" button on the upper right hand corner of each post.  If you mean to quote 3 people (as you have done above) I would quote 1 post, copy it, quote another post, paste the original quote, copy all of it, quote the third post, and then paste the other 2 quotes.  You will be automatically transfered to the "Post reply" screen.  I hope you follow me  

[Mozart]

Beethoven 7th is the best ending in any piece.

[Berlioziphile]

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - pick any mvt you like!  Yes, it's a concert hall workhorse and overplayed. But, perfect classical masterpieces tend to suffer that fate.

Le Corsaire - lowest fat content of any great overture ever written.

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra - Mvt 5 finale. Bartok was dying from AML when he wrote this his final masterpiece. I like to think he decided to tone down the cerebralness [neologism] a tad and in an effort to be more accessable wound up writing arguably his greatest work.

Robert Schumann - Concertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra - the coda in the final frenzied third mvt proves that Schumann was truly insane and a genius. Any Horn player who has played this work, particularly the principal horn part (I have) can attest to Schumann also having to little regard for the limitations of the horn or hornplayers!

[Opus106]

All you have to do is press the "quote" button on the upper right hand corner of each post.  If you mean to quote 3 people (as you have done above) I would quote 1 post, copy it, quote another post, paste the original quote, copy all of it, quote the third post, and then paste the other 2 quotes.  You will be automatically transfered to the "Post reply" screen.  I hope you follow me  

For multiple quotes: keep doing what you did for a single quote, i.e. click on the Quote seen on the top-right of each post until all the quotes appear in the Quick Reply box at the bottom of the page -- there is no need to copy and paste.

You can also use Insert Quote (for a limited number of posts among the most recent) from the editor/Post Reply page.

[offbeat]

to Rex Richter/Opus106
tks to both of y re quotes - next time i have to quote i will give it a go although bit of a computer novice 

[Joe Barron]

Not all great endings are loud and earth-shattering. My favorite finales include some very quiet moments:

Ives: Symphony No. 4. The chorus gently fading in the distances, the violins descending in fourths and fifths. Haunting, and a great spirutal comfort.

Ives: String quartet No. 2. Beautiful. Top strings fly off into the either, whle the cello slowly sinks into the earth.

Mahler: Das Lied Von der Erde. Ewig ... ewig ...

Some, of course, are upbeat:

Brahms: Symphony No. 2. The finale to end all finales, a sure fire crowd pleaser. Eugene Ormandy believed it was the best piece with which to end a concert.

Wagner: Das Rheingold. Better known as the entrance of the gods into Valhalla. The most stirring of all orchestral marches. Almost makes the rest of
the opera retroavctively bearable.

Nielsen: Symphony Nos. 4 and 5 (tie). For the sheer wow factor.

[Opus106]

Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin, Op. 35

I'm posting them as and when they pop into my head.

[vandermolen]

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique - pick any mvt you like!  Yes, it's a concert hall workhorse and overplayed. But, perfect classical masterpieces tend to suffer that fate.

Le Corsaire - lowest fat content of any great overture ever written.

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra - Mvt 5 finale. Bartok was dying from AML when he wrote this his final masterpiece. I like to think he decided to tone down the cerebralness [neologism] a tad and in an effort to be more accessable wound up writing arguably his greatest work.

Robert Schumann - Concertstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra - the coda in the final frenzied third mvt proves that Schumann was truly insane and a genius. Any Horn player who has played this work, particularly the principal horn part (I have) can attest to Schumann also having to little regard for the limitations of the horn or hornplayers!

I'm sure you're right about the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra - the ending of his Piano Concerto No 3 (completed by one of his students) is also moving in the same way I think.