# What is the greatest climax in classical music?



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

I have been listening to Mahler's 2nd 1st movement and I am always blown away at that passage that leads from the development section to the recapitulation. But there are many climaxes like this littered across music. Others I can think of are Tchaikovsky's 6th 1st movement, the Bruckner coda of the 6th 1st movement, and Bruckner's 9th last movement. I suppose you could also include the storm movement from Beethoven's 6th. And Saint Saens includes some interesting climaxes in his 3rd Symphony.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Among the 3rd symphony interpretations Kondrashin's stands out as a climax on its own...


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

Ravel comes to mind, especially the climax of Daphnis et Chloe.

The climax of Shostakovich's 11th, with those clanging bells, is hair raising.

Another personal fave is the climax to the first movement of Bax No. 1, especially as performed by David Lloyd-Jones.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Bruckner's 8th is hard to beat. Bruckner's symphonies are the apotheosis of what you're talking about IMO.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Do not forget the famous terrifying climax in Landscape:Lento of Sinfonia Antartica by RVW:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Easy. Mahler Symphony No. 8, the last 5 minutes.


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## Anankasmo (Jun 23, 2017)

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony has great climaxes in the three first movements but overshadowing them is of course the big one at the beginning of the 4th (2nd) movement with ist big C major chord coming from the organ fortissimo. In the same movement just ahead if the coda i think there is one organ chord which somehow acts like an orgelpunkt (german dont know the english translation  ) that is also quite a shattering experience.

Other great climaxes are imo the climaxes of Saint-Saëns 2nd piano concerto int rhe first and last movement. Especially the build-up to the first climax with fortissimo octaves in both hands and cresendo as well as added strings etc is gorgeous. 

Other grear climaxes are Francks climax in his symphony where out of all the Franck typical chromatism there comes a beutiful theme in the horns(?) which has a complete tonal basis and which shines like a light admist aöö the chromatism which can be quite tiring after a while.
Of course the climax of Ravels Daphnis and Cloe Suite 2 at the beginning is great. Than there is a great one in the Mahler Adagietto. Beethovens climaxes in his 9ths, 4th movement and 7ths, 2 movement. And so on and on and on........


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

_Tristan und Isolde_.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Sibelius's 2nd Symphony, last movement. The return to D major toward the end is simply spine-tingling.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

For me, this takes some beating:


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Anankasmo said:


> Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony has great climaxes in the three first movements but overshadowing them is of course the big one at the beginning of the 4th (2nd) movement with ist big C major chord coming from the organ fortissimo. In the same movement just ahead if the coda i think there is one organ chord which somehow acts like an orgelpunkt (german dont know the english translation  ) that is also quite a shattering experience...


One of my favorite pieces in part for those reasons.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

There are a lot of great climax in classical music, really, impossible to just name only one or a few as the greatest.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Tallisman said:


> Bruckner's 8th is hard to beat. Bruckner's symphonies are the apotheosis of what you're talking about IMO.


This. Mahler's 8th as well.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

'Praise to the Holiest' from Elgar's 'The Dream of Gerontius' when chorus and orchestra crescendo on the final chord. Barenboim in his new recording does this well.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Mahler's 8th almost unbeatable.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, Mahler's 2nd and 8th symphonies, Ravel's La Valse, Holst's Mars and Uranus to name a few


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

How could I forget Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Ramini? It seems every conductor does something a little different with the climax, too, so you never know exactly how it's going to play out.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Scriabin's Prometheus & Poem of Ecstasy. Especially in these performances:











And all the others...

It's partially similar to the greatest finales. Although Bruckner's 8th Adagio is one of the greatest climaxes I've heard that's not a finale at the same time.


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## Forss (May 12, 2017)

_Tristan und Isolde_ is probably unsurpassed in this regard, as Nereffid said so eloquently. Stephen Fry's facial expression(s) at about 4:00-4:20 in this video is a rather accurate description of its climax.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Forss said:


> _Tristan und Isolde_ is probably unsurpassed in this regard, as Nereffid said *so eloquently*.


Owww... _burned_! :tiphat:


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I've listened to Liebestod for the first time quite recently, indeed extremely powerful and beautiful. I'm sure even more so if you've listened to the entire opera, which I'm not about to do anytime soon.


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## Forss (May 12, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> Owww... _burned_! :tiphat:


I have always preferred few (or no) words prior to long-winded expositions, so it was actually a compliment.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Delicious Manager said:


> For me, this takes some beating:


Are you referring to the Varese, the Rachmaninov or the Copland? Either way they're all fantastic. The GB youth orchestra are possibly one of the greatest youth orchestras.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

In the 1st movement of Beethoven's 9th, there is a fortissimo passage which is excellent. Sometimes I listen to that movement only to experience those moments of excitement.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

shangoyal said:


> In the 1st movement of Beethoven's 9th, there is a fortissimo passage which is excellent. Sometimes I listen to that movement only to experience those moments of excitement.


Actually the passage in Beethoven's 9th you speak of is rather notorious. Most find it impressive and almost overwhelming, but others hear it differently. Musicologist Susan McClary wrote, "The point of recapitulation in the first movement of the Ninth is one of the most horrifying moments in music, as the carefully prepared cadence is frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release."


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

We just had this topic a little while back. I'll post what I posted there...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

The trombone glissando from the bedroom scene in Shostakovich's _Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk Disctrict_ perhaps? :devil:


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## lehnert (Apr 12, 2016)

The first ones that come to my mind are Mahler's 8th, Mahler's 2nd and Beethoven's 9th.


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## Czech composer (Feb 20, 2016)

Final bars of Ravel´s Bolero makes the piece!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

lextune said:


> We just had this topic a little while back. I'll post what I posted there...


I believe that topic was about endings, which are often climaxes but not necessarily.
Do you like Salonen's version of the Poem of Ecstasy as well? (see above)


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> I've listened to Liebestod for the first time quite recently, indeed extremely powerful and beautiful. I'm sure even more so if you've listened to the entire opera, which I'm not about to do anytime soon.


I'm not really interested in the words (I never am), but in Liebestod (without knowing anything of the opera) I hear a profound longing for the unreachable. This piece and its themes haunted me for days after I first heard it.


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

DeepR said:


> I believe that topic was about endings, which are often climaxes but not necessarily.
> Do you like Salonen's version of the Poem of Ecstasy as well? (see above)


Yes. I basically love everything that Salonen does.

That said, in all honesty, I love many parts, of many different Scriabin Conductors interpretations, but I've yet to hear what seems like a perfect Scriabin Symphony, or orchestral Poeme to me.

That might be part of my obsession with his works.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

The last two chords of Mahler's 1st are a great way to end the symphony.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

lextune said:


> That said, in all honesty, I love many parts, of many different Scriabin Conductors interpretations, but I've yet to hear what seems like a perfect Scriabin Symphony, or orchestral Poeme to me.
> 
> That might be part of my obsession with his works.


Welcome to my world.  Jurowski's Prometheus (which I also posted in this thread) comes as close to perfection as it could possibly get. He takes it a little slower than usual and brings out all sorts of nuances and emphasis that I haven't heard in any other recording and I believe it does justice to the music.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Wagner, Bruckner and Mahler just thrive on this - the tension-release formula...so many examples - 

Wagner - Rheingold - the final "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla", as they cross the bridge....."Siegfried's Death", Siefried's Rhine Journey, the conclusion of Act III Siegfried, Tristan & Isolde - Love-Death.....so many

Bruckner, also - his symphonies are just overflowing with them - one of the greatest - Climax of Sym #7/II - 

there are just so many - 

Mahler - End of Sym #5, concluding pages of Sym #2, #3, and of course, the aforementioned #8. Big climax in #9/IV as well...


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> The trombone glissando from the bedroom scene in Shostakovich's _Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk Disctrict_ perhaps? :devil:


that'as certainly a "climax" - literally - of course, the descending glissandi soon after indicate the following "deflation"......


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

DeepR said:


> I'm not really interested in the words (I never am), but in Liebestod (without knowing anything of the opera) I hear a profound longing for the unreachable. This piece and its themes haunted me for days after I first heard it.


Liebestod is one of the greatest of all musical climaxes - many good renditions - but you've really got to hear Toscanini/NBC/ from 1/52 - the ultimate - amazing orchestral control, great string section work - they absolutely nail the climax perfectly - a real eruption...


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Actually the passage in Beethoven's 9th you speak of is rather notorious. Most find it impressive and almost overwhelming, but others hear it differently. Musicologist Susan McClary wrote, "The point of recapitulation in the first movement of the Ninth is one of the most horrifying moments in music, as the carefully prepared cadence is frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release."


Interesting. I have always found it impressive, and naively thought everybody else did too.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Beethoven "Appassionata" sonata: the complete final movement.

From the first second it's moving towards it's end like a mythological (beautiful) beast that keeps finding a second breath in a fight to it's end. It's heroic in reverse, a heroic fight, not from the view of the victorious hero but from the tragic viewpoint of the beast soon to be defeated.

At least that's how I see (hear) it.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bolero is the only answer :tiphat:


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I'm staying away from this thread...:lol:


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Bettina said:


> I'm staying away from this thread...:lol:


afraid of climaxes?


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## bigboy (May 26, 2017)

One that intrigues me is the climactic moment in Ives's Central Park in the Dark.

With most of the pieces mentioned here there is somehow something inevitable about the climax, and I don't mean to suggest that this is a bad thing, just that one as a listener has a fair idea of how the climax will unfold.

But every time I listen to Central Park in the Dark, I am always surprised when this colorful tumble of sound erupts or spills forth from the orchestra. It's almost like I believe there is the possibility that this moment might not occur- that the night would continue on undisturbed. In some ways it seems to be a deliberate antithesis to the usual climax structure, and I find it all the more effective because of that.

I have in mind a ribald metaphor one could employ to contrast what Ives does with the usual climax structure- but I'll save it for when I'm working blue.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Mahler 10 Opening Adagio. There's one big climax, I can't remember exactly where, but it is completely breathtaking.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> I'm staying away from this thread...:lol:


Yes.... we think alike. I could have done wonders with that in the old days of the chaotic wild west, before the Calvinists took over and turned smiles into frowns.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

In a way, Beethoven's 3rd Symphony starts out with a climax. A punch in the face.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

shangoyal said:


> Interesting. I have always found it impressive, and naively thought everybody else did too.


same here - I hardly subscribe to this bizarre synopsis:

"frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release.""

Really?? Beethoven #9?? I don't think so.....


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

hpowders said:


> Easy. Mahler Symphony No. 8, the last 5 minutes.


Yes. I have had the fortune of hearing it live, and the moment when the pipe organ joined in, on the words "Alles vergängliche..." it nearly blew me out of my seat.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Yes. I have had the fortune of hearing it live, and the moment when the pipe organ joined in, on the words "Alles vergängliche..." it nearly blew me out of my seat.


Wow! That must have been terrific. No stereo system can do it justice.

I can do without Part One of the Mahler 8, but Part Two is incredible. That's one piece I would take a plane anywhere to witness live.

As a matter of fact I must do a search and see if any orchestra has it coming up this season.

I believe even Bettina would be impressed.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

^ Our NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg performed it last April, with an orchestra and choir of 350 musicians in total - my first night at the new concert hall, and an absolutely mind-blowing experience. It is a huge pity that it was not recorded. 

They are planning to play more Mahler in the upcoming season - the 9th and the 3rd which for me are just about as wonderful, and the 5th. The last movement of the 9th is another one I would nominate for one of the greatest musical climaxes. If they ever decide to repeat the 8th, I will let you know so you can book your flight in advance. And I will even stand in line for your ticket


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

DeepR said:


> I'm not really interested in the words (I never am), but in Liebestod (without knowing anything of the opera) I hear a profound longing for the unreachable. This piece and its themes haunted me for days after I first heard it.


How about a "Liebestod" without words, bonus a "Death Hunt" too.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> ^ Our NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg performed it last April, with an orchestra and choir of 350 musicians in total - my first night at the new concert hall, and an absolutely mind-blowing experience. It is a huge pity that it was not recorded.
> 
> They are planning to play more Mahler in the upcoming season - the 9th and the 3rd which for me are just about as wonderful, and the 5th. The last movement of the 9th is another one I would nominate for one of the greatest musical climaxes. If they ever decide to repeat the 8th, I will let you know so you can book your flight in advance. And I will even stand in line for your ticket


Okay, thanks! Deal!!!


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

beetzart said:


> and Bruckner's 9th last movement.


Which last movement? The one that isn't supposed to be ... or the one that is?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would have to add the climax of the duet of Siegfried and Brünnhilde which brings Wagner's Siegfried to a close.

Wagner creates orgasmic passion and ecstasy in singing and music. An overwhelming climax!!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

hpowders said:


> Wow! That must have been terrific. No stereo system can do it justice.


Really!! no sound reproduction system can handle it, for sure...never heard it live, would love to....


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Heck148 said:


> Really!! no sound reproduction system can handle it, for sure...never heard it live, would love to....


I saw it in a movie theater on a live stream with the combined LA Philharmonic and Simon Bolivar Orchestras along with well over 1000 voice choir! Even in that environment with big screen sound system, it felt that there was something lacking

(go to 52.05)


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## Scott in PA (Aug 13, 2016)

Two I'm surprised have not been mentioned:

- Die Walkure: Siegmund pulling the sword from the ash tree - a none-too-subtle metaphor.

- Beethoven 5, fourth movement, measure 144 in your Barenreiter


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm a sucker for the climax of Death and Transfiguration...


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

The climax from the last movement of Shostakovich 8 maybe.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

ST4 said:


> Bolero is the only answer :tiphat:


I stand by this answer


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

Mahler's "climax's" are more like anti-climaxes in a way, his music's amazing and powerful but when it reaches the high points in one of his symphonies, you reach for that gun. Mahler is just too powerful in the melancholy section but somehow I keep putting him on.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Heck148 said:


> Really!! no sound reproduction system can handle it, for sure...never heard it live, would love to....


2020 Mahler festival year in Amsterdam.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

What about the last movement of Grieg Piano Concerto or in the last movent of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, climax before the Cello plays few bars.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

The ending of the 2nd movement of the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique does it for me.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I'd have to say the final scene of Mozart's Don Giovanni, where the Commendatore comes back from the dead and casts the evil Don into Hell, is the greatest scene in all music with the greatest climax. This version isn't the most effective I've seen but it has English subtitles:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The final five minutes of Mahler Symphony 8, no doubt about it. Nothing else comes close.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The end of the orchestral interlude 2/3rds of the way through the last movement of Das Lied von der Erde. In Klemperer's recording it's absolutely terrifying.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Several climactic endings that come to mind: The already mentioned Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. The ending of Respighi's _Saint Gregory the Great_ from Church Windows. The whirlwind ending of the Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

A great climax in piano music can be found in Horowitz's explosive, neurotic, over the top performance of Rachmaninoff's Etude Op. 39 No. 5. You'll know when it's coming. I had to close my eyes and brace for impact.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Glazunov*
Symphony no. V (finale)
Symphony no. VI (first movement)
Symphony no. VIII (mesto)
Tsar' Iudeyskiy (Hymn)

*Rachmaninoff*
Symphony no. II (first movement)
Vespers (part X "Resurrection of Christ")

*Sir Arnold Bax*
Symphony no. II (second movement)
Symphony no. III (first movement)
Symphony no. VI (finale)

*Myaskovsky*
Symphony no. XX (second, slow movement)
Piano Sonata no. IV (slow movement)

*Eduard Tubin
*Symphony no. II (finale)

*Kabalevsky*
Piano Sonata no. II (slow, second movement)
Symphony no. II (second movement)


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Always, forever, the Everest moment of the symphonic repertoire (and probably beyond):

Beginning at 15:45, climaxing at 17:42, and then ascending even higher into the alpine peaks of sheer musical ecstasy at 18:15. It towers above.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Another great classical music climax besides the obvious: the endings of Mahler 2, Mahler 8 and Beethoven 7, would be the culmination of Movement One from Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor; for me, one of the greatest moments in all music.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Probably this one has been mentioned yet: *Alpine Symphony - At the Summit*.

Nothing like achieving the summit of the Alps, contemplating the magnificent mountains. Well, I have not been there physically but thru R. Strauss beautiful musical painting.


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## Jacob Brooks (Feb 21, 2017)

Haydn 103, finale


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## Rmathuln (Mar 21, 2018)

I would add the finale from the Beethoven 5th Piano Concerto ' Emperor' as a contender.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Forget Tristan and his Soda. How about the greatest climax to classical music? On second thought that's probably not a good idea. I don't wanna know!


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> A great climax in piano music can be found in Horowitz's explosive, neurotic, over the top performance of Rachmaninoff's Etude Op. 39 No. 5. You'll know when it's coming. I had to close my eyes and brace for impact.


Another great climax in solo piano music can be found in Scriabin's Fantasie Op. 28, to be precise in Sofronitsky's godlike performance of it.


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## Ben777 (Jan 30, 2019)

To me the most mind-blowing climax in classical music is the last movement of Bruckner's 4th symphony, as interpreted by Celibidache and the Munich Philharmonics. Check out the EMI live recording from 1998 (it's on Spotify), starting at minute 23:43 ...


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

I'm going to look at this thing from a slightly different angle, and throw the tippy-top of Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ into the mix, hm?

Not that the ending of "Mars," from Holst's _The Planets_ doesn't have something going for it.

And the final "Great Gate of Kiev" from Mussorgsky's _Pictures at an Exhibition_ is no slouch either, done right.


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## ojoncas (Jan 3, 2019)

I often find a good circle of fifths progression to be the ultimate climax. I know it’s an unpopular opinion, it may sound very basic to most people, But whe all the instrument give their part, interchanging lines, there’s something just beautiful about it.

My favourites in that matter, Bruckner’s symphonies. 2nd Mov of the Fifth, Finale of the 7... there are so many. Schumann’s end of the finale from his Piano concerto.

It tickles my heart and charge my batteries all the time.

And they think wireless charging is revolutionary...


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Tristan and Isolde! The slow burn of passion at the beginning and the big momentous climax later. All that’s missing is the baby to show for it. Every man deserves to experience an Isolde in his lifetime and I was lucky enough to experience mine.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

How about this excerpt from an obscure work:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

For all you fans of musical climaxes, especially those of the Mahler 8th Symphony, I contend Mahler himself would be more awed by the final measures of Bach's uncompleted Art of Fugue, BWV 1080. I'm not sure if a silence can be a climax, but I consider such to be so in terms of the unfinished Fuga a 3 Soggetti ("Contrapunctus XIV"). Nothing in music haunts me more than hearing the Art of Fugue come to that surprising ending of stark, mid-sentence silence -- certainly not the intended ending of the work, but a climactic one nonetheless. And a shattering climax at that!






Our Mahler fans, I'm sure, can better inform us of the profound respect the composer of the _Symphony of a Thousand_ had for his German predecessor.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Marvelous Bach. I believe that he may have deliberated left his final fugue unfinished to suggest that even when music is not being written down, it still continues in the invisible ethers and exists in that dimension...


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

Nielson No.5, end of first movement...


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

This might be a bit unconventional for being considered the greatest climax, but I sincerely believe that the Bach chaconne has one of the best climaxes in classical music.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Sibelius's 5th Symphony, third movement:


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

janxharris said:


> Sibelius's 5th Symphony, third movement:


excellent candidate....esp Betnstein/NYPO...really outstanding!!


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

janxharris said:


> Sibelius's 5th Symphony, third movement:


Yes, good choice.

But is that really more pent-uply orgasmic than the last movement of his 2nd?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Yes, good choice.
> 
> But is that really more pent-uply orgasmic than the last movement of his 2nd?


yes, I think so, if done right....2nd is pretty good, tho!!


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Yes, those two Sibelius symphonies' endings are terrific. But my candidate for this topic is the finale of Mahler's 2nd


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## Mifek (Jul 28, 2018)

For me, the most exciting finale is from the *5th symphony by Prokofiev*:





However, it is *Tchaikovsky* who is the true master when the climax is needed. My favorites are the love theme from *Romeo and Juliet*:




and, of course, the famous *Pas de deux from the Nutcracker*:


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Mifek said:


> For me, the most exciting finale is from the *5th symphony by Prokofiev*:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


By chance do you know who are performing Pas de deux here?


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## Mifek (Jul 28, 2018)

jdec said:


> By chance do you know who are performing Pas de deux here?


I suspect it is the Philharmonia Orchestra directed by Michael Tilson Thomas.
EDIT: Actually, my suspicion was based solely on the fact that this particular recording was used by the same YouTube blogger for Valse des fleurs, but then I realized he was using different recordings for specific parts of the Nutcracker.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Honorable mention: Jon Leifs - Hekla





It ends a little abrupt but the entire piece does get increasingly climactic. 
Maybe not the greatest, but probably the loudest. I love it anyway. So, where can I get tickets (and earplugs)?


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Live I would suggest any piece conducted by Valery Gergiev, clearly the Tsar of Climax

The more classy climax #1 would be the Grosse Fuge by Beethoven Op 133, meant as the final piece of a string quartet but existing in its own right. I appreciate the Alban Berg Quartet version on EMI. 

The more downright #1 would be the final part of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, which is dedicated to the SUN. Only by sheer number of musicians, this even outnumbers Mahler 8.


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## pianoville (Jul 19, 2018)

An honorable mention to the big climax about halfway through Bluebeards Castle. The climax is at 32:30 in this video.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Probably in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Vaughan Williams - Tallis Fantasia

Reaches its climax at 11:20, but start listening at 9:30, or better: from the start 

A most wonderful video. I wish I could've just laid down there, in that cathedral during this performance. 
This should be a yearly event or something, considering the piece was meant to be performed at this cathedral.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Try Petrenko's take on Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. The final crescendo in the last movement takes a full five minutes. It's glacial but unstoppable, in big-screen Technicolor!


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## Forsooth (Apr 17, 2018)

Just reading through this thread, I did not see a reference to the comment Bernstein supposedly made about Bruckner's symphonies. From: "The Label, The Story of Columbia Records," by Gary Marmorstein. (Thunder Mouth Press, 2007; pp. 406-407):

"Look, there are no real orgasms in Bruckner's music,' Bernstein said. 'He doesn't reach a climax. He's always gonna be, but it never happens..."

With so many mentions in this thread of the power of the climaxes in Brucker's music, how could Bernstein say that?

Got the quote from *THIS SITE*.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^^ Someone else (Beecham?) referred to pregnancies and miscarriages.


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## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

Final part of the Passacaglia from Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582.

I would choose the other 4 best climaxes in Bach's organ works.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

There is a work that hasn't been named yet: the final section of the Sanctus-Benedictus from A Symphonic Mass by George Lloyd. Now, that is a climax!!


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