Any thoughts? Some that came up my mind instantly are:
Beethoven's 9th symphony 1st movement
Mahler's 2nd symphony finale
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, finale
And just to prevent any arguments: the definition of intense is up to you, a strong ending, an explosive one, one that sends shivers down your spine, speeds up your heartbeat, punches you in the gut....whatever. ;D
Have fun.
Elgar: The Apostles: The Ascension
Beethoven 9th - 1st mvt, 2nd mvt, and finale
Tchaikovsky 4th - finale
Shostakovich 5th - finale
Dvorak Cello Concerto - 1st mvt
Dvorak 8th - finale
Dvorak 9th - 1st mvt and finale
Holst - Mars
Beethoven 7th - finale
Beethoven 5th - 1st and 4th mvts
Rachmaninov PC2 - 1st and 3rd mvts
Quote from: Bonehelm on May 26, 2007, 09:46:41 AM
the definition of intense is up to you, one that speeds up your heartbeat,
.......anything that Hilary plays. ;D
No doubt: the Unfinished by Schubert, first movement.
Barber violin concerto
Quote from: Bonehelm on May 26, 2007, 09:46:41 AM
Any thoughts? Some that came up my mind instantly are:
Beethoven's 9th symphony 1st movement
Mahler's 2nd symphony finale
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, finale
And just to prevent any arguments: the definition of intense is up to you, a strong ending, an explosive one, one that sends shivers down your spine, speeds up your heartbeat, punches you in the gut....whatever. ;D
Have fun.
Prokofiev Piano Concerto 3
Marttinen, Symphony 1 op2
When the organ erupts at the start of the finale to Saint-Saens' Third Symphony. Enough to loosen teeth with the right recording. And possibly one's bowel, with the right hifi equipment. ;D
Quote from: Mark on May 26, 2007, 10:36:08 AM
When the organ erupts at the start of the finale to Saint-Saens' Third Symphony. Enough to loosen teeth with the right recording. And possibly one's bowel, with the right hifi equipment. ;D
For the bowels I am responsable! ;D
My Pass 350X will do that nicely.
Dido's lament! 0:)
A few to be going on with:
Mahler: 6th Symphony
Tchaikovsky: 6th Symphony - can be utterly draining if done right
Verdi: Otello
Bellini: Norma
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Verdi: Requiem
The closing part of the third movement of Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra. Utterly, intensely exhilarating.
Coda of 1st mvt of Brahms 4th Symphony
Coda of 1st mvt of Brahms 1st piano concerto
Ending of 3rd mvt of Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto
Shostakovich String Quartet no. 13. One very long piercing note that crescendos.
Mahler Symphony no. 9. Four very long held extremely quiet notes, where the audience must not make a sound or else break up the tension.
I decided to split this between loud and quiet endings, but all are conclusions to the work rather than the 1st or 3rd movement therein. There are so many, but these are the ones that come to mind straight away.
1. Loud:
Mahler 2 (especially the Segerstam and Caetani recordings)
Mahler 8 (best I've heard are Tennstedt live RFH, 1991 and the old Wyn Morris recording)
Walton 1
Respighi 'Pines of Rome'
Prokofiev 'Zdravitsa'
Ravel 'La Valse'
2. Quiet:
Shostakovich 15
Vaughan Williams 'Sinfonia Antarctica'
Shchedrin 'Anna Karenina' ballet
Rimsky Korsakov 'Scheherazade'
Hovahaness 'Fra Angelico'
I love the intensely gentle final bars of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and Shosty's 10th symphony.
The most intense ending of a piece of music I've ever heard is the conclusion of the third movement (Vivace), Part I, of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony (the First, in D minor). Malcolm MacDonald explains:
"The music heaves like a plain on which great armies are embattled. Side-drum and upper woodwind beat out a manic pounding rhythm against which strings play a tough ostinato. Bassoons and tubas make a bass of the "saurian" theme in altered rhythm, while the rest of the brass have the lions's share of glory in a vast series of canonic entries. Trumpets and cornets ring out proudly above the storm, with a note of victory, a sense of triumph and exultation (which must have been Brian's own as he came to the end of this superb movement). The music soars in boundless confidence; harps, xylophone and organ enter with more ostinati; and suddenly it is the climax of the Part I. Brian flings the music back into the home key of D minor with a cadence of astonishing boldness:
(http://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/gmgpictures/Brian.jpg)
From C major to D minor by way of F sharp, all in three triads: it is the sensational juxtaposition of C and F sharp that is so exhilarating [and shocking, terrifying--Sarge]. Brian has discovered his full powers. He can stride from one end of the tonal universe to the other in a split second: he can make a single cadence bear the dramatic weight of an entire movement. This is the victory of imagination over form.
Back in D minor the music rises to a pinnacle of grandeur before all the instruments hammer home the chord of D, fortissimo, only to be shut out with heart-stopping suddeness. There is a pause, then quietness--a high tremolo in the violins, a soft meditative glow from the bassoons, barely audible timpani to assure us the world is still spinning. Part I of the Gothic ends in a serenely spaced D major triad, adorned with harp arpeggios."
Sarge
Don Giovanni, the chorus of devils is awesome!
Tuo a tue colpe è poco!
Vieni, c'è un mal peggior!
I've seen some great examples mentioned already.
The first three that came in mind were: Mahler 2, Tchaikovsky 6, and Bach's Johannes-Passion: Ach Herr, laß dein lieb' Engelein. That choral is so touching, but it also slams me, as a non-believer, in the face.
I also thought of Bruckner 9, first movement.
But of course, Purcell's Dido and Mahler 9 are very very moving, too. And the final bars of Schubert's Unfinished/part one! Good find!
And what about his Winterreise?
Wunderlicher Alter,
Soll ich mit dir geh'n?
Willst zu meinen Liedern
Deine Leier dreh'n?
Oh I forgot to add Schubert's 9th symphony 1st movement (The one that begins with french horns..is it the 1st movement? correct me if I'm wrong).
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on May 26, 2007, 01:15:13 PM
*** Brian flings the music back into the home key of D minor with a cadence of astonishing boldness:
Back in D minor the music rises to a pinnacle of grandeur before all the instruments hammer home the chord of D, fortissimo, only to be shut out with heart-stopping suddeness.
Nice .........
Sibelius's 7th, when all strings play a unison C.
Respighi - Pines
Mahler - 2nd
Quote from: D Minor on May 26, 2007, 01:42:51 PM
Nice .........
I
knew you'd appreciate it ;)
Sarge
Quote from: Mark on May 26, 2007, 10:58:38 AM
The closing part of the third movement of Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra. Utterly, intensely exhilarating.
Sorry for quoting myself here, but having just listened again to the part of Tippett's work to which I earlier referred, I felt I had to share it with you all. (Apologies, too, for the low bitrate - had to get it under the 500Kb attachment limit.)
Enjoy! :)
The quiet ending to Mahler's 9th. I have Abbado's 2000 9th and the crowd is silent after the last note for a good 30 seconds or so...they they start clapping. Wow.
Mahler's 6th
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings Op. 48
and
Rossini William Tell Overture
Shostakovich 14
For simple joy, exultation and regality, I pick:
The Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms.
Especially as performed by Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
Another vote for Mahler's 6th.
Another vote for Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, and for the depressing end of Schubert's Winterreise.
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on May 26, 2007, 01:15:13 PM
The most intense ending of a piece of music I've ever heard is the conclusion of the third movement (Vivace), Part I, of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony (the First, in D minor)....
Fine choice; actually I'd say all the movement endings in that piece offer something special, and the last five or six minutes of the final movement are quite kaleidoscopically overwhelming as Brian switches faster and faster between sonic extremes. I was already going to add the end of Brian's
Ninth to the list; it has one of those spectacular endings that just keeps on getting bigger, like the climax of Szymanowsky's
Third Symphony or the end of Scriabin's
Prometheus or
Poem of Ecstasy (and add those to the list too, as they certainly qualify!)
Honegger, final measures of his Fifth Symphony 'Di tre re'
Shostakovich, final measures of his Fifteenth Symphony
Nielsen, final measures of his Sixth Symphony
Peteris Vasks, final 8 minutes from his Second Symphony (in one movement)
Samuel Barber, final measures of his 'Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance' and also of his Second Essay for Orchestra
Tubin, Sixth Symphony
Holst, The Planets (Neptune)
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on May 26, 2007, 02:50:54 PM
I knew you'd appreciate it ;)
Sarge
Quote from: lukeottevanger on May 27, 2007, 12:38:42 AM
Fine choice; actually I'd say all the movement endings in that piece offer something special, and the last five or six minutes of the final movement are quite kaleidoscopically overwhelming as Brian switches faster and faster between sonic extremes. I was already going to add the end of Brian's Ninth to the list; it has one of those spectacular endings that just keeps on getting bigger, like the climax of Szymanowsky's Third Symphony or the end of Scriabin's Prometheus or Poem of Ecstasy (and add those to the list too, as they certainly qualify!)
Good work, gentlemen! ........ :D
Mahler 6 and Sibelius no 2
Quote from: rach on May 27, 2007, 07:42:03 AM
Sibelius no 2
Whoa ......... good one ........
The end of the first movement of Bax's symphony No. 1.
The ending of Wozzeck.
There's this almost unbearable tension and sense of menace in the last few scenes that never ease up. Then the orchestral interlude before the final scene builds up, and pow, kids chanting ring-a-ring-a-rosie :o. Whoa! Totally unheimlich, as the Captain says.
I always feel emotionally drained when I listen to this. I'm not sure what kind of 'intense' this would be - psychological, perhaps?
Having just come back from a performance of Fidelio at Covent Garden (not the greatest production in the world, but musically excellent), I'd nominate the last scene of the opera. After the sublimely beautiful and moving music for Leonore's severing of Florestan's chains, it moves into one of the most uplifting and joyous moments in all opera.
The end of the Kyrie of Mozart's Requiem
Quote from: Haffner on May 27, 2007, 09:34:49 AM
The end of the Kyrie of Mozart's Requiem
Nice call!
That last chord of Ives' Symphony No.2 (as conducted by Bernstein). :o
And, Sarge, I've avoided Brian's Gothic Symphony for so long now (I'm not entirely sure why...). Your enthusiasm for this music has convinced me to check it out, however.
Adding 2 more:
Beethoven's 9th symphony, finale
Handel's Messiah, ending of Hallelujah
Quote from: Bogey on May 27, 2007, 09:41:46 AM
Nice call!
I always heard something "dark" in that Kyrie,
Bill. But, I
am weird.
Quote from: Haffner on May 27, 2007, 09:50:09 AM
I always heard something "dark" in that Kyrie, Bill. But, I am weird.
I am there with you on this one.
Quote from: Haffner on May 27, 2007, 09:50:09 AM
I always heard something "dark" in that Kyrie, Bill. But, I am weird.
Weird or no (I say no), it
is in d minor. :-\
Quote from: George on May 27, 2007, 10:33:00 AM
Weird or no (I say no), it is in d minor. :-\
The favorite key of our estimable friend...hey, where's he
been?
ummmmmm
how come no one has mentioned the Rite of Spring and the Penderecki Threnody after 3 pages?
In addition to the ones already mentioned, there are several by Varèse: Ameriques and Poème electronique on the loud end of the spectrum, and Ionisation and Déserts on the quiet end. If anyone here still finds modern music "lacking in expression," I recommend s/he get check these out for a perception adjustment. ;D
Also "Neptune" from Holst's The Planets.
Quote from: jochanaan on May 27, 2007, 11:02:34 AM
In addition to the ones already mentioned, there are several by Varèse: Ameriques and Poème electronique on the loud end of the spectrum, and Ionisation and Déserts on the quiet end. If anyone here still finds modern music "lacking in expression," I recommend s/he get check these out for a perception adjustment. ;D
they might still say that....
that's why everyone is weird :(
Mahler's 6th. The others really don't come close, except maybe Mahler's 9th.
Quote from: greg on May 27, 2007, 10:53:39 AM
ummmmmm
how come no one has mentioned the Rite of Spring...
Because I didn't want to dilute my post about the
Gothic. But yes, the Rite sprang instantly to mind when I saw the subject of this thread.
Sarge
Quote from: Haffner on May 27, 2007, 10:45:19 AM
The favorite key of our estimable friend...hey, where's he been?
He's been listening to the
Gothic Symphony in d minor ........ :D
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on May 27, 2007, 11:17:16 AM
Because I didn't want to dilute my post about the Gothic.
Damn right you don't ........
Gothic dilution is forbidden ..........
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on May 27, 2007, 11:17:16 AM
But yes, the Rite sprang instantly to mind when I saw the subject of this thread.
Sarge
........
The Rite of Spring sprang ........
anything that ends in D Minor sucks
Quote from: Ubloobideega on May 27, 2007, 11:46:15 AM
anything that ends in D Minor sucks
(http://66.34.10.12/aaamembersnew/zac/alexi_flame_2_son.jpg)
Quote from: D Minor on May 27, 2007, 11:52:27 AM
(http://66.34.10.12/aaamembersnew/zac/alexi_flame_2_son.jpg)
JA!
;D >:D
Quote from: Ubloobideega on May 27, 2007, 11:46:15 AM
anything that ends in D Minor sucks
Thankfully only the first movement of the Gothic does end in that benighted key, though ;D. The movement described above ends in D
major; the whole symphony ends in E major. The piece as a whole traces the trajectory away from the dark oppresive forces of D minor >:D to the light and consolation of E major 0:). It is a close call, though, I agree. ;)
Quote from: James on May 26, 2007, 10:24:39 PM
A few from JS BACH that come to my mind now...
#1 Donna nobis pacem from Mass in B min
#2 Contrapunctus 14 (unfinished fugue) from The Art of Fugue
#3 Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2 in D min
i was just thinking of the second minor part of that chaconne. on some recordings (the good ones) the ending reminds me of a storm... a storm of notes :P & then finally it goes back to the theme, but at the end it sounds much more dramatic than at the beginning. out of the art of fugue i would pick contrapunctus 9 as the one with the most intense ending.
Quote from: D Minor on May 27, 2007, 11:52:27 AM
(http://66.34.10.12/aaamembersnew/zac/alexi_flame_2_son.jpg)
looks like Twisted Metal :o
yeah, i'd like to do this to Ubloobideega, oh yeah- i like anything that ends in D Minor 8)
Quote from: greg on May 27, 2007, 10:53:39 AM
ummmmmm
how come no one has mentioned the Rite of Spring and the Penderecki Threnody after 3 pages?
Say, you know
The Rite of Spring has got to have the most intense ending in all music.
Hmm.........I dunno, really. For chaos, I think the end of Prokfiev's Fifth Symphony suffices. For intensity, the end of Shosty's First and Seventh are good examples. Beethoven's Appasionata probably takes the cake, though.
Forty six and two by Tool. 8)
I'd like to add Shostakovich 10 and 11 as well :)
Mahler 6 and Prokofiev 6 are good examples in the symphonic realm. Shostakovich 14 too.
Scriabin's a reliable choice here too, as witness Vers la Flamme, Prometheus, [l]Le Poeme de l'Extase[/i].
Quote from: Ring_of_fire on May 27, 2007, 06:55:13 PM
I'd like to add Shostakovich 10 and 11 as well :)
Yes, you should! :D
Turangalila may well have the loudest ending in music.
Quote from: Danny on May 27, 2007, 06:51:30 PM
Beethoven's Appasionata probably takes the cake, though.
You beat me to that one! What an amazing coda!!!
Another ending that is "intense" in a very different way: Poulenc's
Dialogue of the Carmelites.
And yet another: Chopin's d minor prelude. I here refer to the piece itself as the finale to the set, and also the last three low D's to finish the work (probably the most intense three notes I know in all of music).
And how about the B minor fugue at the end of WTC 1?
The coda of the first movement of Beethoven's 3rd and 9th Symphonies.
The coda of the first movement of Bruckner's 3rd and 6th Symphonies and the coda of the 4th movement of the 8th Symphony.
The coda of the last movement of Sibelius 2nd Symphony.
The coda of the last movement of Schubert's string Quintet.
Mahler Symphony no.8
Mozart's "Jupiter" Finale, "Marriage of Figaro" Ouverture
Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
Quote from: aquariuswb on May 27, 2007, 11:21:36 PM
Another ending that is "intense" in a very different way: Poulenc's Dialogue of the Carmelites.
Good one. Add to that the Shostakovich 13th string quartet (end perhaps a few other of his late quartets).
I forgot one other: the coda of the last movement of Beethoven's piano Sonata opus 53.
Quote from: Mark G. Simon on May 27, 2007, 05:58:42 PM
Say, you know The Rite of Spring has got to have the most intense ending in all music.
i'd say second most, that i've heard
but i don't think anything beat Penderecki's Threnody, which ends in a fff megacluster that sounds like a diesel engine which gradually fades out..... and the events which lead up to it are- whoa! impossibly expressionistic
Quote from: aquariuswb on May 27, 2007, 11:21:36 PM
Another ending that is "intense" in a very different way: Poulenc's Dialogue of the Carmelites.
Yes. My sister the opera fan, jaded listener that she is, says that she sobbed aloud the first time she saw that opera live.
ok, i renamed the title to be "GMG appropriate"......
yo, check this out, the first time it was performed, it was microphoned into speakers that were as big as cities, turned all the way up, yo yo yo
Quote from: James on May 28, 2007, 08:20:59 AM
er, but thats not the ending of the piece is it....
i thought of that, but so many people were listing endings of movements of symphonies, etc so i didn't think it mattered. ???
I vote for the conclusion to Acts I and II of Die Walkurere.
'Agnus Dei' from the Kronungsmesse, Mozart
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Or at least one head ........
Here's another good one (though the way I define intensity, nothing beats the Threnody):
Tristan and Isolde ;)
just heard it on TV a few hours ago (just the ending). When I heard if for the first time, over a year ago, I thought the whole opera was kinda boring but the ending was one of the most exhilariting endings ever! That's where Mahler learned my favorite parts of his musical language, the B Major with the C# extension being held, then finally resolved to a B major chord, then using chromatics F# G and G# (the aug 4, per 5, aug 5), that "transcendant" heartcrushing sound 0:)...(if only the rest of Tristan was so good)
- Bartok 3rd piano concerto (!)
- Mendelssohn 3rd symphony
- Brahms 2nd piano concerto first movement
The coda of the first movement of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto.
The ending of the Verdi Requiem.
The endings of the Gloria and Credo from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
The ending of Götterdämmerung.
The ending of Wozzeck (though perhaps the final scene is anti-climactic; I'm not sure).
Quote from: Larry Rinkel on August 13, 2007, 03:59:43 AM
The endings of the Gloria and Credo from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
What about the ending of the Agnus Dei, Larry? :)
some additions:
- coda to Bruckner 5's finale
- coda to Bruckner 6th's first movement "Majestoso". Glorious!
- coda to Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony
Quote from: Gabriel on August 13, 2007, 04:07:50 AM
What about the ending of the Agnus Dei, Larry? :)
I was thinking of the
very ending of those movements. But the martial interruptions and anguished recitatives in that Agnus Dei may indeed be the most intense music in the entire Missa.
Quote from: Larry Rinkel on August 13, 2007, 03:59:43 AM
The ending of Wozzeck (though perhaps the final scene is anti-climactic; I'm not sure).
If the scene is anti-climactic, perhaps it's this anti-climactic nature that makes it so intense because there's no release for the tension that's been building up. The sense of menace and tragedy coupled with the kids chanting - now that's intense.
Quote from: Larry Rinkel on August 13, 2007, 05:09:54 AM
I was thinking of the very ending of those movements. But the martial interruptions and anguished recitatives in that Agnus Dei may indeed be the most intense music in the entire Missa.
Yes, I was taking a bit longer concept of "ending". (The last 4 minutes or so).
Now I am listening to the fugue "et vitam venturi saeculi" of the Mass in C major, conducted by Gardiner. What the choir does in this recording is really amazing. Intense. ;D
I second Bruckner's 5th finale
I have always found the ending of Puccini´s Tosca to be very intense. I am surprised no one mentioned this, am I alone on this one?
marvin
The apotheosis in Das Wunder der Heliane. I was shaking by the end of it — so gorgeous!
Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet In B minor. Those piano chords in the end, are just something.
Shostakovich's 7th. And please refrain from calling it a pamphlet.
Don Giovanni!
The Epilogue of Boito's Mefistofele
Finale of Prokofiev's Fiery Angel
Ending of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy
Quote from: jurajjak on August 13, 2007, 05:05:11 PM
Ending of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy
Wow, forgot about that! I get the same feeling of "layered time" that I often get with Sibelius in that piece.
End of Rautavaara's first PC anyone?
Rachmaninoff Piano concerto #3 - Finale
If we expect a loud climax :anything with extra :
wordless chorus, 2 sets of timpani, sidedrums "mehrfach besetzt", thundersheet, large & small tam tams /gongs, more than one pair of cymbals ( William Schuman symph. 9), bells ( tubular, plate, church...),organ, backstage brass, backstage percussion ( Richard Strauss) , windmachine, hammers & wooden board( Mahler, Milhaud,Ustvolskaya), whistles, tenordrum, very large bass drum, Wagner tubas, more than 4 harps, watergongs, ondes Martenot, revolver, bagpipes, tape, computer. ;D
Olivier Messiaen's In expecto resurrectionem mortuorum ( very large wind orchesra & perc;) ,last mov. Et j"entendis la voix d'une foule immense
Copland :symph. nr 3
Respighi, Rozsa, Panufnik...
On the other hand :
Chostacovitch :symph nr 15
Frank Martin : Requiem and Petite symphonie concertante....
Ravel is a master : le jardin féerique, Alborada, Daphnis,Boléro (of course!)
Bartok: The miraculous mandarin (complete - last part with chorus )
Mahler 2 for the sheer sonic spectacle, volume, and major-key emotional release
Pettersson 7 for the hushed, almost eerie tranquility after a gut-wrenching emotional journey
The final, about 8 minutes, of Peteris Vasks' Second Symphony. Fragile, sheer beauty, revelling:
(http://www.pungwoldang.co.kr/tt/board/db/board/boardaz/upload/1_10000/769/vasks1.jpg)
Quote from: James on May 26, 2007, 10:24:39 PM
A few from JS BACH that come to my mind now...
Contrapunctus 14 (unfinished fugue) from The Art of Fugue
This springs to my mind too. Nowhere has sheer silence "sounded" so intense.
Wagner's Götterdämmerung.
The end of the gods comes to pass. I don't think much more intensity can be found, from a thematic sense. Wagner's music captures the theme perfectly, as usual.
How about La Valse, with that final bar in 4/4? Or the apocalyptic close to Prokofiev's third symphony?
Quote from: marvinbrown on August 13, 2007, 01:35:49 PM
I have always found the ending of Puccini´s Tosca to be very intense. I am surprised no one mentioned this, am I alone on this one?
marvin
Well Joseph Kerman (he who called
Tosca "a shabby little shocker") probably wouldn't agree. One of his gripes is with the end of the opera, when the orchestra reprise
fortissimo the tune of Cavaradossi's
E lucevan le stelle, for no apparent reason. He's right of course. That tune, theme, leitmotif, call it what you like is completely wrong in terms of the drama (Scarpia's theme, which opens the opera, would be more appropriate), but I can't deny it works wonderfully well in the theatre.
Quote from: daPonte on May 27, 2007, 09:42:27 AM
That last chord of Ives' Symphony No.2 (as conducted by Bernstein). :o
Hahaha, yeah, I agree.
When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of the ending of
Gotterdammerang. It's just amazing, all of Wagners motifs from the whole Ring come back and fit together as Valhalla falls to it's doom.
I also thought of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's
Candide, "Make Our Garden Grow".
Bruckner's 8th
Bartok's
Concerto for OrchestraPhilip Glass - Symphony no. 2
Respighi -
Pines of RomeMahler - Symphony no. 1 "Titan"
Quote from: LaciDeeLeBlanc on August 14, 2007, 03:34:58 PM
Hahaha, yeah, I agree.
When I saw this thread, I immediately thought of the ending of Gotterdammerang. It's just amazing, all of Wagners motifs from the whole Ring come back and fit together as Valhalla falls to it's doom.
I also thought of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, "Make Our Garden Grow".
Bruckner's 8th
Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra
Philip Glass - Symphony no. 2
Respighi - Pines of Rome
Mahler - Symphony no. 1 "Titan"
I second Bruckner's 8th, which came to my mind second: first was Mahler's 8th. Also, off the top of my mind, Mahler's 6th and 2nd, Tchaikovsky's 6th, Beethoven's 9th and, indeed, Brahms' 4th - though mostly in that amazing Furtwängler/BPO recording on EMI.
My opera experience isn't enough for me to mention anything "that way", but if I were to do so, I would likely second the person who mentioned the ending of "Tosca". Of course, I'd also imagine Götterdämmerung is at least as memorable, but I haven't touched the Ring, yet. ;)
Rolling Stones: Brown sugar Those last few bars of LvB 9, Furtwangler in '42.
I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 05:55:53 AM
I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?
In one word, memorable. Huge build-up of music, until at the very last moment everything comes together, and a succession of three brass notes brings the piece to a close. 8)
More or less, that is. I'm sure all those musically-trained people around here can describe it much more accurately and/or with better terms than I just did. But that's the general impression of it, I'd say. :)
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 05:55:53 AM
I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements,
how come?
Quote from: Larry Rinkel on August 15, 2007, 11:35:48 AM
maybe he had to go to the bathroom
weak! it's only 24 minutes
I thought we settled this weeks ago....
...it's Forty Six and Two, I tell ya! $:)
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 05:55:53 AM
I have only heard Bruckner 8th's first 3 movements, what is the end of the finale like? Can somebody describe it for me?
It's got a great trombone part. You'd love it. ;) I sure do.
Quote from: MahlerTitan on August 15, 2007, 09:47:44 AM
how come?
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 :)
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 08:51:18 PM
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 :)
it's bruckner, what do you think is going to happen?
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 08:51:18 PM
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.
Quote from: Larry Rinkel on August 17, 2007, 07:38:12 AM
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. ;D
I think you'll like it, Bonehelm. ;)
Quote from: LaciDeeLeBlanc on August 14, 2007, 03:34:58 PM
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? ;)
Quote from: LaciDeeLeBlanc on August 14, 2007, 03:34:58 PM
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.
Quote from: Renfield on August 17, 2007, 07:41:55 AM
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. ;D
I think you'll like it, Bonehelm. ;)
Thanks, Ren :). I just finished listening to Celly/MPO and his 8th.
It, indeed is very loud. :D I'm more than satisfied.
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.
Quote from: sidoze on August 19, 2007, 01:58:58 AM
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? :)
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
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.
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'
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.
Quote from: Haffner on August 19, 2007, 10:26:38 AM
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?
@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!
Quote from: George on August 19, 2007, 05:39:09 PM
Have you heard "Forty Six and Two" by Tool?
Good one! Throw that one on my list.
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 19, 2007, 09:07:30 PM
@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):
poem of ecstacy a la gergiev
Bruckner - Symphony 8 (already mentioned numerous times)
Dvorak - Scherzo capriccioso
Brahms - Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
Ravels Borelo ;D since 30% of the total musical progression happens within the last two bars of that 15minuttes long piece!
Anyone for Strauss' Death and Transfiguration?
Shostakovich Symphony 4
Bruckner Symphony 9
Quote from: marvinbrown on August 13, 2007, 01:35:49 PM
I have always found the ending of Puccini´s Tosca to be very intense. I am surprised no one mentioned this, am I alone on this one?
It's because not many people listen to opera I guess :( I certainly can't recall much of Tosca...
Edit: Oh, and Bruckner 8, naturally. DUH-DUHH-DUHHH!
Quote from: Lethe on May 28, 2008, 01:33:28 PM
It's because not many people listen to opera I guess :( I certainly can't recall much of Tosca...
Lethe Tosca is not to be missed. In my opinion it is the darkest, most intense opera Puccini ever wrote. Easily one of the best verissimo operas ever conceived it has intense passages that I find emotionally very overwhelming.
marvin
I would like to nominate Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie.
There are a lot of other pieces I'd name, but most have already been posted. One which I am fairly sure nobody has thought of is Atterberg's Third Symphony (though of course the clear winner is the Sibelius Fifth...).
EDIT: Also Sibelius 2 and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances (WITH chorus). And it seems to me nobody has mentioned the Sibelius 5 yet!?! :o :o
Funny, I can hardly ever finish a Bruckner symphony, especially 7 and 8. I finish the slow movement of those two and I'm done. They just exhast ya...
Quote from: Dm on May 26, 2007, 11:01:40 AM
Coda of 1st mvt of Brahms 4th Symphony
Coda of 1st mvt of Brahms 1st piano concerto
Ending of 3rd mvt of Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto
I reassert these as though freshly minted
ab initio ..........
Quote from: Dm on May 28, 2008, 05:46:32 PM
I reassert these as though freshly minted ab initio ..........
Indeed, the coda of Brahms 4 first movement certainly qualifies!
How about that final 4/4 bar in La Valse?
Quote from: edward on May 28, 2008, 06:54:50 PM
How about that final 4/4 bar in La Valse?
It was posted earlier, but definitely yes. :)
Forty Six and Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tja6_h4lT6A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tja6_h4lT6A)
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 28, 2008, 02:30:28 PM
Lethe Tosca is not to be missed. In my opinion it is the darkest, most intense opera Puccini ever wrote. Easily one of the best verissimo operas ever conceived it has intense passages that I find emotionally very overwhelming.
marvin
Personally, though much of
Tosca is very intense, particularly Act II, I find the actual ending a bit of a let down. Why on earth does the orchestra blare out the tune of Cavardossi's
E lucevan le stelle, when Tosca hurls herself from the parapet? It makes no dramatic sense at all. Scarpia's theme would actually have been more appropriate. When it comes to Italian opera, I find the ending of
Otello more intense. The finale of
Norma can also be pretty intense.
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on May 29, 2008, 02:12:56 AM
Personally, though much of Tosca is very intense, particularly Act II, I find the actual ending a bit if a let down. Why on earth does the orchestra blare out the tune of Cavardossi's E lucevan le stelle, when Tosca hurls herself from the parapet? It makes no dramatic sense at all. Scarpia's theme would actually have been more appropriate. When it comes to Italian opera, I find the ending of Otello more intense. The finale of Norma can also be pretty intense.
I really can't explain why Puccini would end Tosca with the tune of Canardossi's E lucevan le stelle but you have admit that that opera ends with a BANG! not a wimper and I find myself emotionally drained (exhausted) by the end of it all.
marvin
I don't recall if I've posted again in this thread, but I do second Tosca's ending as a particularly intense one, in my view.
Ditto Strauss' Elektra, of course.
Although Bruckner's 8th symphony comes before anything else in the repertory I can think of, unless the tranquility and "transcendence" in the final bars of Mahler's 9th symphony can also count.
(Mahler's 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th being not that far behind, ditto Beethoven's 9th and Brahms' 4th - in the right hands. In fact, there is a lot of intensity to go around, in symphonic music. ;D)
A couple of near-death experiences expressed in the final bars of a number of symphonies. I recall:
Shostakovich' Fifteenth
Honegger's Fifth
Nielsen's Sixth (well, according to Robert Simpson's interpretation of it)
Nobody's mentioned Chopin's Ballade No. 4 yet? That last page is something else.... >:D
Bruckner's Te Deum
Berlioz Requiem - Lacrymosa
Somebody mentioned Prokofiev's 5th yet?
The last 1 - 1 1/2 minutes are like taking a vast portion of Ecstasy.
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 29, 2008, 02:22:45 AM
I really can't explain why Puccini would end Tosca with the tune of Canardossi's E lucevan le stelle but you have admit that that opera ends with a BANG! not a wimper and I find myself emotionally drained (exhausted) by the end of it all.
marvin
You dig that? I can't take it. I find the ending of
La Boheme much more moving and intense.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 03:57:52 AM
You dig that? I can't take it. I find the ending of La Boheme much more moving and intense.
And indeed the reprise of Mimi's
Sono andate? is much more apt an ending than Cavaradossi's
E lucevan le stelle at the end of
Tosca. So too is the phrase at the end of
Madama Butterfly, previously associated with Butterfly's father's suicide and repeated when Butterfly, talking to Sharpless, describes her shame if Pinkerton were not to return to her.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 03:57:52 AM
You dig that?
Absolutely! I find Puccini's Tosca the most intense opera he ever composed. Everything builds up to the finale, the music gets darker and more ominous as we approach the end. Whether Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle is an appropriate ending I can not comment but the emotional effect is quite strong. To each his own I guess :-\.
marvin
Quote from: hornteacher on May 26, 2007, 09:54:11 AM
.......anything that Hilary plays. ;D
In the heat of the moment there's always the hope of a wardrobe malfunction? >:D
Quote from: marvinbrown on June 05, 2008, 07:47:03 AM
Absolutely! I find Puccini's Tosca the most intense opera he ever composed. Everything builds up to the finale, the music gets darker and more ominous as we approach the end. Whether Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle is an appropriate ending I can not comment but the emotional effect is quite strong. To each his own I guess :-\.
marvin
I never got into
Tosca much I am afraid. Sometimes to me it is over-the-top and sappy, and sometimes I feel it is not over-the-top enough. For example in Act II when Scarpia is wooing Floria and they are torturing poor Mario in the next room, the music is surprisingly beautiful as if Pucini takes a cue from Mozart that music must be beautiful at all times. It would make more sense if the music is raucous and ugly, something more
Elektra for example. And Mario's famous aria from the final act...what can you say other than that everyone just milks the hell out of that one. To quote Andras Schiff's favorite line you can have
breakfast, lunch and dinner by the time that is over.
If you really want something intense AND moving at the same time try
Der Rosenkavalier. In a good performance I think you will be reaching for the box of Kleenex quite often.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 08:01:16 AM
If you really want something intense AND moving at the same time try Der Rosenkavalier. In a good performance I think you will be reaching for the box of Kleenex quite often.
For me the most intense (heartaching) scene in Der Rosenkavalier occurs at the end of ACT 1 when The Marschallin, Princess Werdenberg laments the passing of time, growing old and the realization that Octavian will one day leave her for a younger more attractive woman.
marvin
Quote from: marvinbrown on June 05, 2008, 08:08:42 AM
For me the most intense (heartaching) scene in Der Rosenkavalier occurs at the end of ACT 1 when The Marschallin, Princess Werdenberg laments the passing of time, growing old and the realization that Octavian will one day leave her for a younger more attractive woman.
marvin
I wonder what's worse (morally anyway): cheating on your husband with a teenager or knowingly having sex with your twin sister?
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 08:12:09 AM
I wonder what's worse (morally anyway): cheating on your husband with a teenager or knowingly having sex with your twin sister?
You must be refering to Wagner's Die Walkure! They are both just as bad but then again this is opera we are talking about- anything goes :-\ ??
marvin
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 08:12:09 AM
I wonder what's worse (morally anyway): cheating on your husband with a teenager or knowingly having sex with your twin sister?
亂論?
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 08:12:09 AM
I wonder what's worse (morally anyway): cheating on your husband with a teenager or knowingly having sex with your twin sister?
Actually, this is like a moral dilemma posed to some folks for a study (can't remember what book I read it in). They asked people to consider a scenario in which a brother and sister, adults, knowingly and consentingly have completely safe, completely protected sex with each other just to see what it is like and just to share the experience with each other. People reading the scenario were asked, "Is this moral? Why or why not?" The finding was that people could say yes or no easily, but those who classified the scenario as immoral couldn't figure out what exactly was so wrong with it.
Anyways...
Quote from: Brian on June 05, 2008, 08:43:21 PM
Actually, this is like a moral dilemma posed to some folks for a study (can't remember what book I read it in). They asked people to consider a scenario in which a brother and sister, adults, knowingly and consentingly have completely safe, completely protected sex with each other just to see what it is like and just to share the experience with each other. People reading the scenario were asked, "Is this moral? Why or why not?" The finding was that people could say yes or no easily, but those who classified the scenario as immoral couldn't figure out what exactly was so wrong with it.
Anyways...
But they need to get "turned on" first before they can have sex. How the hell can one be sexually aroused by their own siblings? It would just feel awkward as hell, wouldn't it?
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 05, 2008, 08:01:16 AM
I never got into Tosca much I am afraid. Sometimes to me it is over-the-top and sappy, and sometimes I feel it is not over-the-top enough. For example in Act II when Scarpia is wooing Floria and they are torturing poor Mario in the next room, the music is surprisingly beautiful as if Pucini takes a cue from Mozart that music must be beautiful at all times. It would make more sense if the music is raucous and ugly, something more Elektra for example.
I think Puccini is giving you beautiful music for the wooing, while you know that offstage Mario is being tortured. The music is not relaxed at this point, the strings have tension in them. Mario's screams are all the more shocking when they explode against the veneer of supposed civilised behaviour being orchestrated by Scarpia. You suggest that sometimes it is too over the top. Puccini ensures there are contrasts in mood and the feel of the music to ensure it is not a one 'note' piece.
There again, although Elektra has what is often a violent sounding score, there are many passages of beauty in it.
Each composer is making choices and for their own reasons; and each concept works brilliantly.
Mike
A further nomination: Dvořák's 7th symphony.
Quote from: knight on June 05, 2008, 10:35:20 PM
I think Puccini is giving you beautiful music for the wooing, while you know that offstage Mario is being tortured. The music is not relaxed at this point, the strings have tension in them. Mario's screams are all the more shocking when they explode against the veneer of supposed civilised behaviour being orchestrated by Scarpia. You suggest that sometimes it is too over the top. Puccini ensures there are contrasts in mood and the feel of the music to ensure it is not a one 'note' piece.
Mike
Yet again, I find myself agreeing with you Mike. This is one of those passages, where both Puccini's musical and dramatic instincts are working perfectly. I find it a masterly piece of musical scene painting and characterisation.
Bruckner's Ninth Symphony
Quote from: Philoctetes on July 22, 2008, 04:34:22 PM
Bruckner's Ninth Symphony
Hi, Philo. Good to see you around again. :)
Quote from: Norbeone on July 22, 2008, 04:55:44 PM
Hi, Philo. Good to see you around again. :)
Glad to be around.
This has been mentioned explicitly only once before in this thread, so here's another vote for the ending of the first movement of Bruckner's 9th.
RUN!!! The world's coming to an end!
I think someone mentioned the dramatic and intense ending of the Sibelius 7th. I would also like to nominate the end of the completed Mahler 10th. The dramatic sweep and leap of the strings to a full chord that fades to nothing. Breathtaking!
Cheating, but the end of the first movement of Bruckner's 9th symphony is like nothing I have heard from even him - immense!
Quote from: Lethe on December 27, 2008, 11:42:05 AM
Cheating, but the end of the first movement of Bruckner's 9th symphony is like nothing I have heard from even him - immense!
yeah that's amazing, makes me feel all spiritual, which is why I rarely play it. Some political party should adopt it as their entrance song to their annual convention
Quote from: ezodisy on December 28, 2008, 04:41:20 AM
yeah that's amazing, makes me feel all spiritual, which is why I rarely play it. Some political party should adopt it as their entrance song to their annual convention
The thing which turned me on to how ridiculously big that ending is was a recording from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, which is already an egregiously large building, and only enhanced those aspects of the work. The 10 (audible) seconds of reverb when the movement ended was just crazy stuff.
Hi Bonehelm,it seems the girl in your head picture is a Asian,are you come from China?
The ending of Nielsen's mighty and unique fifth symphony is pure electricity.
After the chaos, confusion and titanic conflict of the first movement, a depiction of the conflict between good and evil, chaos and order, in which the snare drummer is directed to play as if he had gone berserk and improvise a demented cadenza with total disregard for what the rest of the orchestra is doing at the climax, the second and last movement is a resolution of the conflict and an affirmation of order over chaos.
This finale is in four parts, starting with a vigorous optimistic character, and leads into a fugal section which develops into a an outburst of inexorable whirlwind force,
almost reverting to the chaos of the first movement. But it peters out into a slow fugue using the same thematic material, and then there is a return to the opening. The music generates white heat and and there is a modulation into a triumpant e flat major, a key which had never been reached before in the symphony, and there is a triumphant ,determined and defiant ending.
The modulation into e flat is almost a physical shock !
There are a number of excellent recordings, but I have yet to hear one which surpasses the classic one with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, one of the best recordings he made with that orchestra.
Personally I have never been very fond of the 5th's finale :-\ I love the first movement, though. My favorite intense Nielsen ending would be the Piano Suite's. Anyway, my vote is for the blinding coda of Lyatoshinsky's 1st.
The finale of Mahler's Second Symphony is the only piece of music I currently know that leaves my eyes watery.
Quote from: tanuki on March 29, 2009, 05:59:40 PM
The finale of Mahler's Second Symphony is the only piece of music I currently know that leaves my eyes watery.
Have you encountered the finales of his Eighth and Ninth, yet? ;) :D
Quote from: donaldopato on December 27, 2008, 09:28:19 AMI think someone mentioned the dramatic and intense ending of the Sibelius 7th.
Much more intense, powerful and dramatic ending: Sibelius - The Wood Nymph (Skogsrået). An earth shaking drama.
Prokofiev Symphony nr 6
Humongeous tutti's and nervewracking silences.
Just noticed this thread ...
Three endings spring immediately to mind ... all symphonies
Mahler's 6th ..... total desolation after all the heroic struggle.
Bruckner's 9th, end of 1st movement .... all of Bruckner's endings to first and last movements are climactic, but I always find the end of the first movement of the 9th literally awe-inspiring. The build up creates a sensation of something immense and dreadful heading straight towards you, then suddendly the gates are thrown open and you are looking at the end of the world .... it's terrifying (the screaming trumpet dissonance cutting through the roar !!). Karajan's version is magnificent here. I once experienced a total solar eclipse, and this music always brings back the sensation .....
Shostakovich, end of the 4th symphony. One of the greatest of all orchestral cataclysms ever written (those repeated four note dissonances !) followed by a sustained, eerie, magical twilight. I think the only way to experience something similar is to survive an atomic explosion ....
Quote from: alkan on March 30, 2009, 03:31:39 AMShostakovich, end of the 4th symphony. One of the greatest of all orchestral cataclysms ever written (those repeated four note dissonances !) followed by a sustained, eerie, magical twilight. I think the only way to experience something similar is to survive an atomic explosion
Yes. yes. YES. I couldn't agree more.
Quote from: Wurstwasser on March 30, 2009, 06:26:53 AM
Yes. yes. YES. I couldn't agree more.
Thanks Wurstwasser (what a great name !!).
Since we are in-tune on the 4th, what about some of the other Shostakovich symphony endings?
The 15th is truly appalling in the sense that we are listening to someone die in hospital. It's quite chilling as the monitoring instruments keep clicking as a life expires. Eventually there is a final death rattle and the heart rate graph becomes flat .....
The 5th is quite spectacular too, but I really like Kurt Sanderling's interpretation here which gets slower and slower so that it is absolutely clear that this is NOT a triumphant ending, despite the bombast. The first time I heard this (after Kondrashin) it was quite a shock !!
Not on the same level, but also very exciting is the "tocsin" ending to number 11. Bells clanging, the side-drum hammering away .... you can almost smell the excitement and gunpowder ...
Quote from: alkan on March 30, 2009, 03:31:39 AM
Bruckner's 9th, end of 1st movement .... all of Bruckner's endings to first and last movements are climactic, but I always find the end of the first movement of the 9th literally awe-inspiring. The build up creates a sensation of something immense and dreadful heading straight towards you, then suddendly the gates are thrown open and you are looking at the end of the world .... it's terrifying (the screaming trumpet dissonance cutting through the roar !!).
Indeedie - in a live setting (complete with reverb) that ending surely cannot be beaten, or even equaled.
Quote from: Lethe on March 30, 2009, 08:22:20 AM
Indeedie - in a live setting (complete with reverb) that ending surely cannot be beaten, or even equaled.
Hi Lethe,
I regret never having heard Bruckner 9 in a concert. It must be quite overwhelming ..... Also, one of my other favourites, Shostakovich 4, is one of those works that is so spectacular that a live performance must be electrifying!
Quote from: Bonehelm on August 15, 2007, 08:51:18 PM
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 :)
To Bonehelm,
You might like the last movement of Roussel's 3rd Symphony. Try it.
Sometimes, when a piece is intense from start to finish, it needs a skilled musician to make that finish just a tad more intense ....
http://www.mediafire.com/?80e31cmd83noj2a
J.S. Bach, Choralbearbeitung Jesus Christus, unser Heiland BWV 665.
Organist: Bram Beekman.
Instrument: Schnitger/Timpe organ, Der Aa Kerk, Groningen, NL.
After being in a whirlpool for almost too long, after about 3:00 minutes the piece seems to come to an end. But it isn't .... and Bram Beekman's inexorable performance is engraving in my soul again, for another minute and a half.
Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
who turned God's anger away from us
through his bitter suffering,
helped us out of the torments of hell.
As with f.i. the final chorus of Mahler 2 or the final movement of Tchaikovsky 6, I'm always very shaky after listening to this, in this particular performance none the less.
Quote from: alkan on March 30, 2009, 03:31:39 AM
[....]
Bruckner's 9th, end of 1st movement .... all of Bruckner's endings to first and last movements are climactic, but I always find the end of the first movement of the 9th literally awe-inspiring. The build up creates a sensation of something immense and dreadful heading straight towards you, then suddendly the gates are thrown open and you are looking at the end of the world .... it's terrifying (the screaming trumpet dissonance cutting through the roar !!). Karajan's version is magnificent here. I once experienced a total solar eclipse, and this music always brings back the sensation .....
[.....]
Just listening to Herbert and his forces ..... thumbs up!
The ending of my beloved Popov's 6th is insanely intense:
http://www.youtube.com/v/h3_oMsTFUQI
On the other hand, Varese's Ameriques hasn't been mentioned for quite a while. Let's have our ears cleaned ;D
http://www.youtube.com/v/gAogpFbaAW0
Two not yet mentioned:
Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben (the final song, ""Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan," and the solo piano reprise of the first song that serves as a coda to the entire cycle)
Brahms Fourth Symphony, first movement. Bruno Walter.
Schubert Ninth, fourth movement. George Szell.
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, fifth movement. Heinrich Hollreiser.
Liszt Les Préludes. Wilhelm Furtwangler
Beethoven 3rd piano concerto, first movement.
Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony, first movement. Willem Mengelberg, 1928.
Right at the top with the rest: Lutoslawski's Symphony #3. :D
Ah, we have Chopin's 1st Ballade, an opening into the field of piano music.
I see many works mentioned, each o f which is hard to beat. It is the same on the piano and when playing, you know it. You have to stop and take some deep breaths. The idea of 'most' is of course a delusion but a delightful one, or if you like, an awesome one. Here then is an awesome piece of music that very likely none of you will know
Backer-Grøndahl: Opus 60.1 Praeludium in C# minor
This opens as a prelude in the Bachian tradition on a C# pedal ending with a climactic passage with falling chromatics leading with C#C B. Next follows a development with hand crossing leading to a powerful climax based on the main theme. The opening material returns with an accelerated climax of great ferocity culminating in a deluge of notes. The coda is of the kind developed by the Mendelssohns with a relentless downward drive (in this case chromatic) countered by explosive rising arpeggios. After the fianl blow (fff) the silence is broken by a few bars of deep rumination ending on a bare C# and then (pp) C#C and a long held B. Here the music ends.
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.
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on June 15, 2011, 07:57:58 PM
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 11 "Year 1905"
That makes 5 (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,6231.msg466540.html#msg466540). ;D
Ending? intense?
Last of "Four Last Songs" - Richard Strauss: "Im Abendrot"
Quote from: mszczuj on July 08, 2011, 04:48:23 PM
Ending? intense?
Last of "Four Last Songs" - Richard Strauss: "Im Abendrot"
Ohhhhhh what a great, great choice. Any composer would be proud for those to be the final sounds of his/her career.
I was just thinking of a work whose ending is almost exactly the opposite in effect: the Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra...
Gioacchino Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri, Akt 1, last part of Finale. At least in Gabriele Ferro's mind-blowing HIP recording. (SONY S2K 39 048, CD1, Track 25)
I suppose this could be intense ending which is the exactly opposite in effect to that of Strauss.
Rather hard to choose, there are so many beautiful endings.....
Beethoven Symphony No.9
Mahler Symphony No.6/No.9
Wagner Götterdämmerung/Tristan und Isolde/Siegfried
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe
Tchaikovsky 1812 Ouverture
Respighi Pines of Rome
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
http://www.youtube.com/v/EMJBsoniimE
Look no further...
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on November 22, 2011, 08:30:11 AM
Rather hard to choose, there are so many beautiful endings.....
Beethoven Symphony No.9
Mahler Symphony No.6/No.9
Wagner Götterdämmerung/Tristan und Isolde/Siegfried
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe
Tchaikovsky 1812 Ouverture
Respighi Pines of Rome
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
I have to include Liszt's
Les Preludes and Rachmaninov's
Piano Concerto No.3/Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as well
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 22, 2011, 08:38:49 AM
http://www.youtube.com/v/EMJBsoniimE
Look no further...
Oh, yeah! (Not that performance perhaps... the soldiers are too overpowering and are in a hurry; and by the end, it seems as if they have control. I prefer a more ambiguous ending, in which both the tocsin and the army are equally prominent.)
P.S.: I keep forgetting to add that cor anglais solo to the 'Favourite Melodies' thread.
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on November 22, 2011, 08:30:11 AM
Rather hard to choose, there are so many beautiful endings.....
Beethoven Symphony No.9
Mahler Symphony No.6/No.9
Wagner Götterdämmerung/Tristan und Isolde/Siegfried
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe
Tchaikovsky 1812 Ouverture
Respighi Pines of Rome
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
Great choices Ilaria! You have already included most of the ones I was going to mention! ;)
I'll just add:
Brahms Symphony no.4
Strauss Eine Alpensinfonie
Dvorak The Noon Witch
Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini
might think of some more for later as well...
Quote from: Opus106 on November 22, 2011, 08:57:39 AM
Oh, yeah! (Not that performance perhaps... the soldiers are too overpowering and are in a hurry; and by the end, it seems as if they have control. I prefer a more ambiguous ending, in which both the tocsin and the army are equally prominent.)
True about the performance, was the best video I could find to post though, what's your
11th of choice?
Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 22, 2011, 09:00:53 AM
Great choices Ilaria! You have already included most of the ones I was going to mention! ;)
I'll just add:
Brahms Symphony no.4
Strauss Eine Alpensinfonie
Dvorak The Noon Witch
Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini
might think of some more for later as well...
:) I forgot to mention Holst's
The Planets before....
Your choices are excellent too ;)
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 22, 2011, 09:12:44 AM
True about the performance, was the best video I could find to post though, what's your 11th of choice?
I don't have one, at least not the kind you're looking for. ;) By which I mean that my introduction to this work was through a live concert recording, which is what I usually listen to when I'm in the mood. Of recordings proper, I have heard Haitink's (Decca) but only once.
Quote from: Opus106 on November 22, 2011, 09:17:35 AM
I don't have one, at least not the kind you're looking for. ;) By which I mean that my introduction to this work was through a live concert recording, which is what I usually listen to when I'm in the mood. Of recordings proper, I have heard Haitink's (Decca) but only once.
I have only heard two different recordings myself, both were from Rostropovich, and I really enjoy them. The
11th's ending is such an energetic rush, first time I heard I think i fell off my chair. :o
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 22, 2011, 09:22:11 AM
I have only heard two different recordings myself, both were from Rostropovich, and I really enjoy them. The 11th's ending is such an energetic rush, first time I heard I think i fell off my chair. :o
It was pretty much my gateway into Shosta's oeuvre. :) I once was listening to the work on my iPod but slept midway through the work; it was the ending the woke me up again with a jolt. ;D I'm told Rostrpovich's LSO recording slowly prepares the listener for an intense ending; I should make it a point to listen to it one of these days.
Quote from: Opus106 on November 22, 2011, 09:24:44 AM
It was pretty much my gateway into Shosta's oeuvre. :) I once was listening to the work on my iPod but slept midway through the work; it was the ending the woke me up again with a jolt. ;D I'm told Rostrpovich's LSO recording slowly prepares the listener for an intense ending; I should make it a point to listen to it one of these days.
Rostropovich's LSO recording of the 11th is excellent. I've made it a point to revisit it several times. I've always loved Shosty's 11th anyway. Very unusual symphony, but it has some absolutely furious sections that make the hairs on my neck stand up.
Then there are the Composers who mostly end quietly.
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on November 22, 2011, 09:12:44 AMTrue about the performance, was the best video I could find to post though, what's your 11th of choice?
We have an 11th thread... Yes, way too fast, the Tocsin. My favourite will always be Haitink/Concertgebouw. Perfect in terms of performance and audio quality.
On Youtube, this one is very good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYSNJr4-1kk - Tocsin still too fast, but a very adorable cor anglais solo. I can play it on the clarinet, yeah :)
For a change - in "molto grandioso" endings : Walter Braunfels Te Deum
You can see and hear the whole work, performed in Amsterdam/Concertgebouw. ( + mahler)
http://www.youtube.com/v/Mpn52A3rk4Q
P.
Here is Tournemire (PIerre Bartholomée/Liège PhO perf.) The last 2-3 minutes are quite stunning...
http://www.youtube.com/v/Qq0WO0yCEpo
P.
A personal favorite : Willem Pijper's second symphony ( with mandolins, 3 piano's, organ etc).
http://www.youtube.com/v/7WS16PEN8Jg
Gravedigging a fantastic thread:
Messiaen's Apparition de l' église eternelle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhjjl6EfxFo
Beethoven - Grosse Fuge
Also the most intense beginning and middle.
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.
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!
Quote from: ritter on April 12, 2014, 05:14:34 AM
A crowning moment in the history of music... :)
(http://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/asheville/bUTTHEAD.gif)
Sarge
Well, I know I've mentioned elsewhere that the ending of Holmboe's 8th symphony makes me want to stand up and applaud.
Quote from: ritter on April 12, 2014, 05:14:34 AM
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.
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 12, 2014, 07:38:59 AM
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! ;)
That was terrifically played and sung, thanks ritter.
Mike
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.
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on June 15, 2011, 07:57:58 PM
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.
Quote from: Ken B on April 12, 2014, 12:48:43 PM
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.
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
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 12, 2014, 02:06:35 PM
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?
Quote from: Ken B on April 12, 2014, 03:29:39 PM
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...
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 12, 2014, 02:06:35 PM
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.
Quote from: Ken B on April 12, 2014, 03:29:39 PM
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Monteverdi, Magnificat a sei voci, performed by the Monteverdi Choir & John Eliot Gardiner (with Ian Watson, organ):
http://www.youtube.com/v/nOPQE-rRC-4
The ending starting around 4:57.
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on April 12, 2014, 02:06:35 PM
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 agree. I love the alternation of major/minor in the fade-out ending .... really touching.
My absolute favourite violin concerto ending is that of Prokofiev's first VC. I am always amazed by the the way that the virtuoso, stormy and thrilling conflict in the middle of the last movement struggles to its climax, and then floats up to Paradise. The hullabaloo falls away and the gates open to reveal a peaceful, sunlit landscape, complete with birdsong. It's so unexpected and sooooo beautiful ....
Oistrakh is the master here ...
Can a whole "piece" count, in a "work" that's not meant to be played all the way through? Maybe I'm cheating, but I'll go with Bach, WTC I (i.e., the entire B-minor fugue).
Quote from: alkan on April 18, 2014, 08:54:51 AM
My absolute favourite violin concerto ending is that of Prokofiev's first VC.
My favourite is that of John Adams's violin concerto, because it means the sonic torture of the previous 35 minutes is finally over. ;)
Quote from: amw on April 18, 2014, 07:26:58 PM
My favourite is that of John Adams's violin concerto, because it means the sonic torture of the previous 35 minutes is finally over. ;)
This must be the same work that is renowned for having the most stressful and intimidating beginning (of 35 minutes of sonic torture).
Probably ending of Götterdämmerung, Parsifal and Brahms's 1st symphony.
Quote from: amw on April 18, 2014, 07:26:58 PM
My favourite is that of John Adams's violin concerto, because it means the sonic torture of the previous 35 minutes is finally over. ;)
I've never heard it. You're not a fan of Adams, I take it...
I like him reasonably well, but he isn't a favorite at all.
What about the ending of Schoenberg's "Chamber Symphony No. 1"? Very exciting. The emphatic E-major chords in the strings augmented with shrill Bb-major triplets always make me ;D. And then the horns have that fragment of theme ending with a held fortissimo C-natural and I feel like ??? . It's like one big, heroic struggle!
8)
Mahler 6
or
Mahler 2
There are many endings that one can mention but, although it can be equalled, for me nothing beats the recording of Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra's recording of Saint-Saens Symphony No.3 ( The Organ Symphony). It is simply overwhelming and blows the listener away into another dimension. It was an engineering triumph in its day and has remained so.
Mendelssohn, VC, Op. 64/1, starting at 11:55:
Spotify link (http://open.spotify.com/track/7IDVC5tJLTH8tOydmEdrnh)
Havergal Brian - "Gothic" Symphony - movement V. Judex
No doubt. I've heard this live, surrounded on three sides by about 800 musicians, and it's not only the most intense ending, it might be the single loudest thing I've ever heard. (Of course, its intensity is not all about loudness!)
The only pieces I've seen live, whose endings even come
close, are:
Janacek - Sinfonietta
Sibelius - Symphony No. 5
Berlioz - Symphonie fantastique
Mahler - Symphony No. 3 (first and last mvts.)
Ravel - La valse
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances with chorus
Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 11
And of pieces I still wanna see live someday:
Lutoslawski - Concerto for Orchestra
Mahler - Symphony No. 2
G. Lloyd - Symphony No. 5
Roussel - Bacchus et Ariane
Scriabin - Poem of Ecstasy
Also agree with
Quote from: BachQ on May 26, 2007, 11:01:40 AM
Coda of 1st mvt of Brahms 4th Symphony
and the people who said
La mer.
Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic's Deutsche Grammophon 1966 recording of Richard Strauss's Tod und Verklärung is amazing throughout but the ending is of such epic proportions that there are no words adequate to the description.
For me nothing can compare to the last movement of Bruckner's symphony No. 8. That horn solo near the end is like looking into another universe.
Fortunately intensity is not the only property that can produce a wonderful ending.
I misread #253 as the ending of the *slow* movement of Bruckner's 8th. I'd much rather have that than the brass-blast at the end of the finale...