What are some of your favorite endings or finales?!
Question: Which ones blow you away...or leave you hanging...or give you goosebumps?...or whatever? I would say that one of my favorite endings is the final movement of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, the Fairy Garden, I believe it's called. It's so beautiful! And I also love the finale to Stravinsky's Firebird. It just comes out of nowhere, and is completely stunning.
There's two of my favorites...what about yours?
Ravelinsky
Answers: Which ones blow you away...or leave you hanging...or give you goosebumps?...or whatever? I would say that one of my favorite endings is the final movement of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, the Fairy Garden, I believe it's called. It's so beautiful! And I also love the finale to Stravinsky's Firebird. It just comes out of nowhere, and is completely stunning.
There's two of my favorites...what about yours?
Ravelinsky
OH! That piece gives me goosebumps too! And it makes me feel like time has stopped at the end.
Prokofiev's Cindrella Suite does the same to me. And Ravel's La Valse.
And...hmmmm...lemme see Schumann's Piano Sonata (don't remember which one; sorry!).
Prokofiev's Toccata lives me in midair. I walked into a wall when I was listening to it at school! LOL!
And his Piano Concerto No.3 makes me feel like....hmm...time has stopped again!
Une bonne question, mon amie!
It's not classical but I love the ending of At Wit's End by Hans Zimmer it is the Pirates of the Caribbean at worlds end soundtrack.
The conclusion of Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold"(The Entrance of the Gods Into Valhalla).
From the moment that Donner strikes the rock with his hammer - incredible, loudest sound in all classical music - the Gods gather, and whilst the Rhine-maidens down below wail the loss of their precious gold, they begin what they at the moment don't realize, is the march to their doom.
Das Rheingold is the first opera in Wagner's epic Ring cycle(4 in all), and Die Gotterdammerung concludes it.
My other choice, is its final scene, generally referred to as "Brunnhilde's Immolation": a monumental ending, to a monumental operatic creation.
Alberich
One of my favorites is the Beethoven's Egmont overture ending.
I love how Beethoven suddenly after seemingly "loosing the battle", suddenly, like light peeking threw the hill, where the cavalry comes to aid and saves the battle with tremendous energy.
hopefully you understand my analogy =)
Well, I can think of a lot...
If it's grandure you want, try the ends of Mahler's first, second, sixth, seventh and eighth symphonies (especially two and eight) and Das Lied von der Erde.
For mystery, try the end of the first movement of Shostakovich's fifth symphony. The glockenspiel scales at the end are haunting.
A triumphant feeling can be found at the end of Beethoven's ninth, as anyone can tell you, but also at the end of the (very similar) choral fantasy, as well as the fourth and fifth piano concertos.
The most beautiful endings can be found in Vaughan Williams' First Symphony, 'A Sea Symphony'.
On a note of outright exuberance, you may try almost any work for piano by Franz Liszt, who wrote much more than necessary just to show off his stuff. Try the etudes.
Some more characteristic flare (in the manner of Ravel's suite that you mentioned) can be found in Holst's 'Planets', Grieg's 'Peer Gynt', Orff's 'Carmina Burana', Rachmaninoff's 'All-Night Vigil', Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' and his orchestral suites, Gershwin's 'An American in Paris' and 'Cuban Overture', Saint-Saens' 'Le Carnaval des Animaux', and of course, Respighi's Roman Trilogy. The end of the last movement of the Pines of Rome is one of the most inspirational moments in music.
And finally, to cap it all off, my two personal favourites;
The ends of each of the movements in Dvorak's Ninth Symphony; and the end of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth. This last is a slow brass and winds choral over bouncing strings; one of the most profoundly emotional exerpts I've heard to date.
about the last 2 mins of the 5th movement of Berlioz' Symphony fantastique are pretty intense
It's hard to think to only at a couple of endings.
I'll give you just two examples:
- the last movement of Bruckner's "Romantica" (Symphony no. 4);
- the conclusion of the Wagner's "Der Ring", of the entire cycle (the conclusion of the "Twilight of the Gods").