The most intense ending in a piece of music

[Kullervo]

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

*head falls off*

[BachQ]

Or at least one head ........

[greg]

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)

[rappy]

- Bartok 3rd piano concerto (!)
- Mendelssohn 3rd symphony
- Brahms 2nd piano concerto first movement

[Gabriel]

The coda of the first movement of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto.

[Larry Rinkel]

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).

[Gabriel]

The endings of the Gloria and Credo from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

What about the ending of the Agnus Dei, Larry?

[MISHUGINA]

some additions:

- coda to Bruckner 5's finale
- coda to Bruckner 6th's first movement "Majestoso". Glorious!
- coda to Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony

[Larry Rinkel]

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.

[Novi]

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.

[Gabriel]

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.

[mahlertitan]

I second Bruckner's 5th finale

[marvinbrown]

  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

[Kullervo]

The apotheosis in Das Wunder der Heliane. I was shaking by the end of it — so gorgeous!

[Saul]

Mendelssohn's  Piano Quartet In B minor. Those piano chords in the end, are just something.

[m_gigena]

Shostakovich's 7th. And please refrain from calling it a pamphlet.

[Mozart]

Don Giovanni!

[jurajjak]

The Epilogue of Boito's Mefistofele
Finale of Prokofiev's Fiery Angel
Ending of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy

[Kullervo]

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.

[btpaul674]

End of Rautavaara's first PC anyone?