# Best ending to a song or piece?



## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

When we remember pieces, it is usually because of their beginnings or ends. There is usually something so memorable that it stirs a curiosity in us. Granted, there are exceptions where the middle is quite memorable too (Holst's Jupiter from The Planets comes to mind at the moment.)

Anyway, for any song or any other classical piece, what do you feel has the best ending?

And of course, there may end up being multiple answers, but try to limit them to 3...and not 20.

Personally:

Song: Ol' Man River - Jerome Kern
Piece: Nimrod from Enigma Variations - Elgar


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

_When we remember pieces, it is usually because of their beginnings or ends. _

I would say this is generally true except for operas. Often the best part of an opera is near the middle. And no I'm not going to limit my choices to 3, because these are all equally spectacular:

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3 (truly dazzling)
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 3
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Liebestod)
Wagner - Tannhauser (choral finale)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (prestissimo part)
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 30 (simply sublime)
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4
Mahler - Symphony No. 2


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Mussorgsky - The Great Gates of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition. Hoo-ey! We got bells and brass blasts and cymbals crashing -- and that's just the piano version.

Liszt - Les Preludes with the triumphant reprise of the "Flash Gordon" theme at the end. It sends chills up my spine.

I'm sure I could think of many more, but these will do.


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## Comus (Sep 20, 2010)

I choose Arnold Schoenberg's Ode to Napolean Bonaparte given the musical and historical contexts. It's a pretty wild piece, but if my memory serves me it ends with a major chord. It's kinda humorous in a way.


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## Ian Elliott (Nov 15, 2010)

The last 6 or 8 minutes of Taras Bulba, by Leos Janacek. The ending of Martinu's 2nd symphony.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3 (truly dazzling)


You remember what he does with the piccolo? LOL really.


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## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

Schönberg's *Second Chamber Symphony* (eb-minor, Op. 36), largely completed in 1906 in his First Period, ends with a long drawn-out crescendo which is breathtaking.


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

Song - Vaughan Williams' Silent Noon. The word painting is sublime.

Piece - Beethoven's 9th. The soprano line in the last 4 minutes squeezes your emotion dry.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini has the best ending I can think of.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Scriabin's 3rd symphony, and I think Barenboim and the French orchestra capture it beautifully.


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## Zubin (Nov 22, 2010)

Opening to Milhaud's Creation du Monde.
Opening of the second movement of Bruch's violin concerto in Gmin. Pure bliss.

The last thirty seconds of Brahms' first symphony. The return of the brass in A major.
Ending of Firebird. Gotta love that B pedal.


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## Gymnopédie (Nov 22, 2010)

Ravel's _Ma Mère l'Oye_, particularly the orchestral version.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Because I'm a huge Schubert fan, I choose his song, *Der Erlkönig.*

In seinen
Armen das Kind
war tot!

Then, a perfect cadence. The song was chilly and the ending is really brilliant. When the child was crying for help and the Erlking is gonna kill him, the piano changes the whole mood. The last verse is striking for it's emotional impact.


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## LindenLea (Feb 4, 2007)

This (the heaven-storming ending of Mahler's miraculous Resurrection) eclipses - by a mile - ALL great finale's in music in my view...the most moving and uplifting 5 minutes of music that I know, and surely nobody ever did it better than Rattle and the CBSO/Chorus do it here, apologies for the Japanese subtitles!!


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

If the last movement of the Mass in B Minor counts as an "ending," then I'd like to mention that as well. In Bach's hands, D Major is perhaps my favorite key.

This version is on modern instruments:


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Again perhaps obvious choices: the finales of Mahler 6, Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathrustha and Sibelius 5 are very memorable.


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## Ian Elliott (Nov 15, 2010)

Ian Elliott said:


> The last 6 or 8 minutes of Taras Bulba, by Leos Janacek. The ending of Martinu's 2nd symphony.


Also the ending (in fact, the whole last movement) of Enescu's First Symphony, especially if played by Lawrence Foster and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, a masterful orchestra.


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## PianoCoach (Nov 28, 2010)

The "Amen" Chorus to Handel's Messiah.


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