Six symphonies where the final movement is the best.

[Jo498]

Bruckner 8th finale is beaten by its slow movement, Bruckner 5th is not and I have a fondness for that one. But they are both somewhat too long and massive, the one from #8 is definitely too long for me, I cannot concentrate so long.
Beethoven 5th is beaten by its first movement, I think.

I tend to agree with nominations of Mahler 3 + 6 (not 2, though!), Brahms 3 (but not 1 and it's a very tough call in 4), Sibelius 2 and Schumann 4. I probably prefer the first mvmt in Tchaikovsky 6 and Mahler 9 (noone has mentioned that one). Many others I don't know well enough. If Das Lied von der Erde counts as a symphony this would also be an obvious choice.
Dvorak 9... I probably prefer the slow movement.

Haydn #70 a serious fugal movement
Rachmaninov #3 a piece I do not know very well but was quite impressed with the finale a few weeks ago.

[vandermolen]

Sibelius 2
Beethoven 5
Schumann 4
Mahler 3
Bruckner 8
Mendelssohn 5

Agree about Sibelius.

[Brahmsian]

I probably prefer the first mvmt in Tchaikovsky 6 and Mahler 9 (noone has mentioned that one).

I agree with these, even with their incredible finale movements.

[vandermolen]

I agree with these, even with their incredible finale movements.

I can fully understand this view.

[Brian]

Nobody has mentioned Symphonie Fantastique.

We are all fools!



P.S. Also Shostakovich 9.

[Brahmsian]

Nobody has mentioned Symphonie Fantastique.

We are all fools!

  I thought about this symphony's last movement.  Undoubtedly the most popular, and certainly the final two movements being the most memorable.   However, over time, I've come to enjoy that long middle movement enormously.  And was always a great fan of that opening movement.

[Mr. Three Putt]

  I thought about this symphony's last movement.  Undoubtedly the most popular, and certainly the final two movements being the most memorable.   However, over time, I've come to enjoy that long middle movement enormously.  And was always a great fan of that opening movement.

Bravo!

[Karl Henning]

Yes, the Scène aux champs is exquisite.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Best? ...well, favorite movements of these symphonies anyway.
Ives 2

I'll give you that one.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Nobody has mentioned Symphonie Fantastique.

No, because I consider the first and third movements the strongest in that work.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Bruckner 8th finale is beaten by its slow movement

I would not say so. I consider the whole symphony very strong, but I can't think of a stronger finale than that one in all of Bruckner - both in itself and how it culminates the work.

[Jo498]

I would not say so. I consider the whole symphony very strong, but I can't think of a stronger finale than that one in all of Bruckner - both in itself and how it culminates the work.

As I said above, even after more than 20 years I do have some difficulties to grasp that finale. It's simply too long for me especially after the long slow movement. And I personally prefer both the slow and the first movement to the finale. And the question was not about the best finales but about the merits of the finale vs. the other movements in a particular work
Objectively, you are probably right. But I prefer the finale of the 7th, deemed too short and too slight by many, whereas I like it particularly because of those features. Of course it is not my favorite movement from that symphony.
The finale of Bruckner 5th is overblown, sure, but for some reason I like it and, mainly because the other movements are not as good as in the 8th it's for me a candidate where the finale is best.

[Sergeant Rock]

Yes, the Scène aux champs is exquisite.

An exquisite soporific, certainly 

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

An exquisite soporific, certainly 

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Tough crowd! 

[Jo498]

I do not want to imply that it's strictly downhill from there but my favorite of the SF is the first movement and particularly the intro...

[(poco) Sforzando]

Yes, I think Rock has made the best case yet for the Second Amendment.

[Sergeant Rock]

Yes, I think Rock has made the best case yet for the Second Amendment.

Sarge

[jochanaan]

Well, arguing that one thing or another is "best" is problematic at "best." But there are many symphonies in which the finale is more than merely the movement last heard, where it sums up and resolves all that has gone before.  Beethoven 5 and 9 are two of the earliest and best examples of this. (Yes, many music fans say the finale of 9 is structurally and musically the weakest, but I've found that in performance it always draws a thunderous audience response, the sort that only comes from an intense musical catharsis. )  Bruckner's, Tchaikovsky's and Mahler's symphonies also show an increasing tendency for the finale to sum up what came before it.

And there are also symphonies in which the finale tries and fails to do this.  The aforementioned Symphonie Fantastique is one; as brilliant as the finale is (I chose to conduct it for my final exam in my college conducting class), it is by no means a summation but merely a dramatic "scene."  And the final movements in Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" and "Reformation" symphonies are not particularly strong, although he tried to make them the summation of their respective symphonies.

[Jo498]

I like the "Reformation" Finale with "Ein feste Burg" but it seems quite unrelated to the rest. Probably the reason why Mendelssohn never published this symphony was that there was very little coherence among the movements, as fine as especially the first and last are.

I think amw should write a thesis in defense of the finale of Beethoven's 9th against the Philistines since Louis Spohr... I would quote it frequently