The Five Greatest Symphony Endings...according to me

[@Kije.Jekyll]

Thank you Stalin, for inspiring so much awesome music for us!

[@CommonSwindler]

Genuinely made me laugh aloud.

[@starfoxmccloud64]

The fugue at the end of Mozart's 41 is beautiful.

[@sufuskoba4491]

I just absolutely love fast and wild endings like Beethoven 3&7 and Dvorak 8 - I‘ve also got a soft spot for Mahler 1 because this melody played by the horns is just magnificent

[@janflewelling6277]

You've hit my favorite Beethovens, and I love Dvorak's 9th. Will have to revisit the 8th to refresh my memory. Also really love the final movement of Saint Saens 3rd, Organ Symphony. It's the journey to the surprisingly quiet ending that I love. There is a you tube of this performed at the 2013 Proms, conducted by Paavo Järvi. The massive organ is so impressive.

[@leestamm3187]

Ditto for Mahler 1.

[@jayarbe60]

I know it’s not big, ballsy or loud but I absolutely love the end of Sibelius’s almost criminally underrated 4th. Downbeat and throwaway, almost contemptuous. Utterly glorious.

[@scottgilesmusic]

Good one! And that is my favorite Sibelius symphony.

[@jayarbe60]

Much as I love 4, it‘s the 7th that really does it for me. And what an ending!

[@speminalium8]

Mahler 2nd, Beethoven 9th

[@kristian6566]

Bruckner 8!!!!

[@ashleythorpe7933]

No match for his ninth (the end of the Adagio). Quiet endings are extremely underappreciated and Bruckner there pulls it off.

[@kristian6566]

@ashleythorpe7933 Bit silly to put that as a fact, But I do agree that the ending of the ninth is amazing. It's just that all examples in this video are loud endings, so naturally I thought of Bruckner 8 (and not 9)

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

@@ashleythorpe7933 The adagio is not the ending.

[@mathguy1015]

The Ninth was to have a finale. The Adagio isn’t the ending. There’s an excellent reconstruction of it by John Phillips. A MIDI version is available on KZbin and it’s being performed by some excellent conductors and orchestras.

[@jamesboswell9324]

Very interesting choices and Sibelius 5 always has to get a look in on any list of great endings - although some people may find it disappointing of course. Thanks also for reminding me of the Prokofiev 5 which I hadn't heard in many years. But where's the Mahler? Honourable mentions only. That came as a big surprise. If this was my own list, then I'd honestly struggle to include anyone else at all because when it comes to finales (in my view) nobody does it better. So here's my list of top Mahler endings which is actually a tough enough call in itself: Honourable mentions: Das Lied von der Erde: I never know if I'm supposed to surrender to the tranquility or feel the sadness of absence, both I think AND also the fireworks of the 1st symphony are wonderful and provides a better ending than most composers ever achieve throughout their entire symphonic output. 5) Mahler 6: Bang. Shattering. Existential. There's nothing in the whole of music quite like this ending. I can hardly listen to it to be honest. 4) Mahler 9: Reminds me of Das Lied in many ways. Another slow but beautifully serene death that resolves effortlessly into nothingness 3) Mahler 2: Triumphant indeed. Just an incredible final mmt right through with some of the most extraordinary climaxes in all of music. 2) Mahler 8. On a good performance I've never heard anything quite like this. It carries you in an unknown and unimaginable bliss like entry through the gates of paradise and into heaven. (I'm not a Christian and I don't even believe in heaven in that sense yet somehow you go there anyway such is the power of the music). 1) Mahler 3. It always seems that the whole final mmt is meant to be enjoyed a sort of ending. Somehow it just ascends and ascends and ascends. To a mountain top where you stand in awe of the world and your own majesty as a human being. A total whooper from start to finish. Something like that! Any chance you could do a list of slow mmts. I mean besides endings, aren't the low mmts also the parts we most adore about symphonies?

[@jgesselberty]

The thing, for me at least, about the Prokofiev 5th, is that the ending of the first movement is crushing. It is like a finale, so the almost hellish, mechanical clock ending of the symphony is a real surprise.

[@derrollendefernseher7150]

I know it's not the ending of a symphony but I really really love the ending of the first movement of sibelius 5. Those trumpets and violins work together so beautifully. If I had to choose an actual symphony ending I'd probably choose dvorak 9, it's so beautiful how the flute holds the note after the orchestra finishes with a big forte

[@wbehlen]

Add Mahler's 8th and Schubert's great C major Symphony

[@elizabethhadi2382]

What about Rach 2?

[@malcolmfraser2066]

Bruckner 8, heard it last night at the Berlin Phil

[@peteronnasch6341]

Yeah, me too, just came home from the perfomance - that final coda is such a miracle!

[@MariuszDrzazga-o8m]

Come on. The 5th ends as if Beethoven didn't know how to wrap it up.

[@dzinypinydoroviny]

To me it's like a psychological trick on the audience - keeping you in suspense and anticipation.

[@Kyle-ur4mr]

Moreso the Eroica, Beethoven didn’t know how to end it

[@rexz3409]

He probably really didn’t lol

[@Elena-jcwtm]

😂

[@Godbluffer]

To me it sounds like he didn’t WANT to wrap it up, likely because he knew the audience wouldn’t want it to end either!

[@hoangkimviet8545]

I wish the 1812 Overture was a symphony. For me, it has one of the most unique endings.

[@stevekudlo1464]

Tchaikovsky 4th is my fave!❤

[@mathguy1015]

The Bruckner 5th should be on this list. The coda is incredible.

[@OttoHorst888]

Yes, most people here mention the 8th, but for the reason that they didn’t listen to the 5th i think. Sadly it is overshadowed by his later Symphonies. The Finale is incredibly well written with the double fugue leading towards the mentioned coda.

[@maestroclassico5801]

Shostakovich 7th over 5th? Very interesting!

[@scottgilesmusic]

5th of Shostakovich! Absolutely! I've never heard anything so subtle and bombastic. A weird combination, to be sure, and only a genius can manage it. The Shostakovich 7th, really? It is obviously super but one of the greatest? And the Mozart 41st...well, the last movement is great but the very end is a typical Mannheim ending. As for Mahler: 1st, 2nd, 9th...it's hard to choose.

[@bobshaffrinson5509]

crime not to put poem of ecstasy on here

[@robertparry4331]

THE END OF VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 4TH IS REMARKABLE.

[@grisgriz85]

No Brahms? Or Bruckner?

[@leestamm3187]

I was wondering that, too. Not that his choices are bad, but the Brahms 1 coda blows away several of these, as does the Bruckner 8.

[@dedikandrej]

@@leestamm3187 My thoughts exactly! Brahms 1 coda is def my fave as well

[@skypesos]

Brahms 3's ending is one of my favorites. A peaceful, quiet ending after all the dramatic moments from the rest of the symphony

[@michaelhanrahanmoore1622]

I have to admit im unfamilar with nearly everything prokofiev wrote including this symphony which im hearing for the first time.

[@VarisSirisook]

6:43 Thailand Philharmonic Mentioned!

[@Kyle-ur4mr]

Mahler 8 is the greatest in every sense of the word

[@altoclef6688]

About Stalin, the end of Shosta 4. I don't know any musical work that leaves you with such an eerie feeling, you exit the concert hall or put down your headphones while constantly looking over your shoulder. But ok, it's not about being great, it's about an emotional impact.

[@Richard-b5r9v]

The ending of Sibelius 5th Symphony is actually played as grace notes by the timpanist and not as single strokes as some others Conductors would have it their way.

[@caseylwr]

I sort of knew Mahler got a mention somehow, and he did. Nice choice of endings these..

[@marcelllenart7578]

These are really good too, but i def. would put (even if its basic and everyone knows it) Beethoven 9. And Tchaikovsky 5. Yes its a 5 again Those are really triumphant ndings, and for a more "calming" one i would go brahms 3

[@palpalonpalpalon]

Beethoven's 9th symphony:

[@raguifarag7709]

I like Mozart but I wouldn't add any of his endings in my top 10

[@FueganTV]

I approve of Prokofiev and Sibelius, but definitely not Beethoven :D He made the list but Mahler's 9th is just an honorable mention?

[@marcossidoruk8033]

Beethoven's third >>>>>>>>>>> Mahlers whole output.

[@wjones28]

Sibelius 5 in top 25 is a crazy take. such a goofy uncharacrertic end

[@joelleforelle5274]

But it weirdly fits the Symphony in my opinion

[@jonathanandrewoods277]

Raff's Symphony No. 3

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

The ending of Bruckner's 9th is too good to be true. No one's written it.

[@charleyhibschweiler4555]

Shostakovich Symphony 4!!

[@raguifarag7709]

Sibelius 2nd 😊

[@JWP452]

You're blabbing through the music, signifying you're a fool.

[@ExxylcrothEagle]

Rosenkavalier??? oh shooot it's a opera!! not fair

[@thomasstanford8456]

Dvorak 7's ending is spectacular

[@michaelhanrahanmoore1622]

Ive never liked sibelius 5. I prefer his swan of tuonela and little besides.

[@CommonSwindler]

Shostakovich 7th is where it should be… but I have to say… whose ever performance that is hilariously too fast. And respectfully, having no Mahler at all is criminal.

[@jamesoliver6625]

The Beethoven is a winner if you want loud and bombastic. The Prokofiev is okay but trite as is most of what he wrote after choosing to live under a madman. The Sibelius is a gimmick and a pretty weak one at that. Shostakovich 7 is the most commercial of the war symphonies, most of it was written before the seige of Leningrad. Propaganda rather than inspiration IMO. The Mozart is okay but limited by his era. Number 1 IMO is the ending to Shostakovich's 4th. Nothing portrays the terror of what he was living under to your core like it.

[@ainsa8746]

no Brahms, no Bruckner, no Schmidt... NO BUENO!!! 😤😤😅

[@rexz3409]

The jupiter is literally no 1 on his list.

[@ainsa8746]

​@@rexz3409 😂 ok, i just skipped and saw mahler and didn't follow after that, my bad 😅

[@henrykaspar3634]

Benita just shouldn’t talk about Classical Music. It’s not their cup of tea.

[@duck_gang35]

My top 5 symphony endings: 5: Tchaikovsky 5 4: Mahler 8 3: Mahler 2 2: Mahler 1 1: Tchaikovsky 4 This list is nowhere near perfect for me, there is so much more stuff I could cram into my top five that it’s humanly impossible

[@FueganTV]

Seeing Tchaikovsky 4 and 5 but NOT his 6 is eyebrow-raising tbh. The 6th might be the most original and emotionally impactful endings of any Romantic piece.

[@duck_gang35]

@@FueganTVI didn’t think of that, thanks. As I said, it is impossible to have a firm top 5 symphony endings as there are so many great ones out there.

[@michaelhanrahanmoore1622]

To me the end of beethovens 5th is absolutely about his own musical powers. Its as if he hasnt just beaten his adversaries hes then rubbing their face in the gravel. It always sounds like hes saying ive been rejected and ridiculed and avoided but im here i live and eat this!!!!