# Worst Orchestral Endings



## mahlernerd (Jan 19, 2020)

For me, what makes an ending bad is when it doesn’t give that sense of completion, like there could be more added on to the ending, or maybe even the whole piece in general. For me, I would have to say the symphonies of Bruckner, and the reasons are the qualities that I listed above. I love Bruckner very much, but his endings are his weak points, IMHO.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Otto Klemperer so disliked the coda of Mendelssohn's Scottish symphony that he wrote his own. When it came time to record it, only the forceful efforts of Walter Legge persuaded him to do it as Mendelssohn wrote it, however if you check out some of discs from his broadcast concerts of the work from Germany, you can hear his version.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

mahlernerd said:


> For me, what makes an ending bad is when it doesn't give that sense of completion, like there could be more added on to the ending, or maybe even the whole piece in general. For me, I would have to say the symphonies of Bruckner, and the reasons are the qualities that I listed above. I love Bruckner very much, but his endings are his weak points, IMHO.


What, all of them? Have you heard the ending of the 4th? Sublime, especially conducted by Celibidache (whom I otherwise don't really like). But any conductor worth his salt can reach heavenly heights with that coda. The whole symphony is building up to it!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Bruckner? I've always found the endings to be the highlight, the grand cathartic blazing brass thrill. The coda of the 3rd is one of the most electrifying things ever written. The 8th also thrills me. Maybe the 5th is too matter of fact.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Newton did not really observe this, but I think we can agree that for every opinion, there is an equal and opposite opinion (just one that is not as good as our own).


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Becca said:


> Otto Klemperer so disliked the coda of Mendelssohn's Scottish symphony that he wrote his own. When it came time to record it, only the forceful efforts of Walter Legge persuaded him to do it as Mendelssohn wrote it, however if you check out some of discs from his broadcast concerts of the work from Germany, you can hear his version.


Wow!! Didn't know that...I love the final coda of Mendelssohn #3...


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

mahlernerd said:


> For me, what makes an ending bad is when it doesn't give that sense of completion, like there could be more added on to the ending, or maybe even the whole piece in general. For me, I would have to say the symphonies of Bruckner, and the reasons are the qualities that I listed above. I love Bruckner very much, but his endings are his weak points, IMHO.


It's almost as if you have listened to different Bruckner symphonies in a parallel Universe 
One of the most satisfying endings in Romantic symphony tradition.

But if you consider Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, then the ending (beginning at about 2 minutes into the whole work) is definitely on the weak side :devil:


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Beethoven

Wellington's*

Can one actually laugh while throwing up?

( . . . or maybe the correct wording is "Can one actually throw up while laughing?")


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## mahlernerd (Jan 19, 2020)

Azol said:


> It's almost as if you have listened to different Bruckner symphonies in a parallel Universe
> One of the most satisfying endings in Romantic symphony tradition.
> 
> But if you consider Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, then the ending (beginning at about 2 minutes into the whole work) is definitely on the weak side :devil:


Interestingly enough, I actually find Bruckner's endings to be extremely unsatisfying, but that just might be my taste in endings.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I’m not a particular fan of endings where the home key is pounded home to an excessive degree. Ironically, though Bruckner 8 is my favorite of his symphonies (and a candidate for my favorite symphony of all time) I find that’s the only time where he does it, whereas all his other finales have a perfectly logical and satisfactory coda. The lead-up to the coda of the 8th, with the themes of all four movements played over each other, is breathtaking however. Also Beethoven’s 3rd, 5th, and 7th - yah, we get it, we’re back in the home key, just get it over with! On the other end of the spectrum in terms of “greatest endings” - Messiaen’s Turangalila. That monstrous final F# major chord is like a massive burst of blinding, purifying light.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

The last two notes on Mahler's Titan Symphony make it sound a little incongruous to my ears, even silly. Mahler could have written something more arresting, but that ending puts me off.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Best or worst ending? The ending of Sibelius 5 convinces the listener that the music hasn't ended at all and that somewhere - but where? - it continues.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

mahlernerd said:


> For me, I would have to say the symphonies of Bruckner, and the reasons are the qualities that I listed above. I love Bruckner very much, but his endings are his weak points, IMHO.


_Worst_ endings? Are you kidding? 
Bruckner 5 is one of the greatest endings in all music. Bruckner 8 is way up there too.
Bruckner 9, incomplete, but what about that earth shattering ending of the first movement?
You are wrong.


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## perdido34 (Mar 11, 2015)

The ending of Beethoven's Fifth has become a source of mirth to me after hearing this Dudley Moore gem.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I'd never say it is "the worst" -- such a concept escapes my way of musical-thinking, but I've long been uncomfortable by the closing page of William Walton's _Belshazzar's Feast_. Yet perhaps it is fitting, as a metaphor (in a few bars) for the decadence and wastefulness of that feast itself depicted in the musical work. Still, that the fellow who wrote the magnificent Symphony No. 1 in B-flat minor could end his _...Feast_ in such a way perturbs me. And, oddly enough, both works have similar endings; yet, the Symphony's seems gloriously right ….


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I am afraid the final bars of the Sibelius 5th (a composer I absolutely adore btw) really really embark my paridae.

And some of Rachmaninov's closing pages are a bit contrived too, particularly in the Piano Concertos.

Dudley Moore did a huge huge disservice to Beethoven (post No.15 ), still makes me laugh though!!


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## Machiavel (Apr 12, 2010)

Beethoven fifth symhony last mov.OMg Will this end, no, again, no, this time for sure, no, this time Im sure he has said what he wanted, no...


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

The end of Smetana's Vltava!
The river meanders off into the sea, becoming fainter, losing its identity....then a whopping great perfect cadence, just in case we had forgotten the home key and gave a damn what it was anyway. Clumsy.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> The end of Smetana's Vltava!
> The river meanders off into the sea, becoming fainter, losing its identity....then a whopping great perfect cadence, just in case we had forgotten the home key and gave a damn what it was anyway. Clumsy.


Yes, and it just goes on forever, geezus, enough already...lol!!


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## coling (Jun 13, 2020)

Machiavel said:


> Beethoven fifth symhony last mov.OMg Will this end, no, again, no, this time for sure, no, this time Im sure he has said what he wanted, no...


Ma Vlast is certainly a contender. The first 4 movements are sheer orchestral perfection and deeply moving but there it could end..

But to Czech people there is a relevance and meaning to the last 2 movements. I remember Jakob Hrusa give a supportive talk about them before conducting it with the Philharmonia last year.

I have heard the complete Ma Vlast live 6 times in the past year. It is actually No.5 that seems most unsatisfactory. But one performance, in Prague on independence day in the Municipal Hall almost cracked it. The Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) under their Dutch PGC made it flow to the end better, faster, more dynamic, I almost forgave the ending.

It is certainly one that requires the rare mastery of conducting almost gone today.. the kind of skilful pacing and balance of masters such as Jansons or Karajan.


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