Epic Classical Music: Top 10 Most Dramatic Endings

[OisirM]

Personally, I think the most powerful ending in classical music, bar none, is Shotakovich's 7th. But, well, Shostakovich really knew how to close the deal. There's at least 5 of his symphonies which could compete for that honor.

Kudos to you for choosing Sibelius' 2nd. It amazes me how often people overlook the power of his pieces.

[Writer10389]

I absolutely love the peanut gallery at the bottom of the vid ;P

Also, Firebird Suite is my favorite (because I've played the bass drum in the finale)

[Junjou789]

Now you must listen to this other really AWESOME and completely EPIC piece. I mean it, it's really, really good. The string instruments are just so...so........just please listen to it.

/watch?v=R6w_3oKsh5g

[Interioroutbreak69]

Why aren't Beethoven and Mozart and the other composers on the radio?

[JayJokesAlot]

WHWERES REQIUEM FOR A DREAM

[sponge917]

@JayJokesAlot lol

once again... this is classical music. Soundtracks don't count (requiem for a dream, star wars, ben hur, etc). Most of these pieces were written as standalone pieces, except for the firebird (a ballet) and In the Hall of the Mountain King (a play - not a broadway musical)

[baronofhawkland]

me gusta

[MrMoviesEpic]

lol germany haters of classic lul wut?

[Maltcider]

Napoleon 'disslikes' this video.

[1GunKnight]

did anyone else find it ironic that the composer of Gandalf has Meij in his name?

[MrPsychicNoodles]

@1GunKnight Ironic? Makes perfect sense :)

[1GunKnight]

epic compilation mate

[BrassFan13]

I liked the video, but there was only one problem: It's the sixth movement, not the fourth movement on the Mahler's 3rd Symphony part of the video. But anyways, my favorite is Mahler's 1st. But I think the most dramatic ending of his is his 5th symphony. The last minute and a half that is. Also the 8th symphony finale is brilliant! :-) But I just wanted to tell you about the video error.

[sponge917]

@BrassFan13 Oh dear, did I really write IV? I promise you I know that is it in fact the sixth movement. You're the first to catch that though in over 30,000 views, so congrats :P I'll add an annotation.

And yes, most of Mahler's symphonies have ridiculously awesome endings. I like the 3rd best, but that's a personal preference. I just listened to the 5th's ending, and I have to say I didn't think it was epic per se, but that's of course just my opinion.

Glad you liked it!

[Lovisa116]

"without disturbing other people"? It'd do my family and neighbours some good to hear this. That's why I blast this at full volume, facing the living room.

[sponge917]

@Lovisa116 lol

[veldmar]

video blocked in Germany you say? It's obviously nazi

[FrequentCast]

just saying i was waiting for pizza and when it finally was finished and the final piece was also going and it was just perfect timing it was godly

[Leoptxr]

Mussorgsky's original Night on Bald Mountain finale can easily enter this hall

[sponge917]

@Leoptxr I definitely agree. Before I made this, I had only heard non-dramatic finales to the piece. But the dramatic finale is fantastic! (Though I do think Great Gate of Kiev is more dramatic, and I didn't want to have more than one song by the same composer)

[Leoptxr]

@sponge917 Ok, so you are forgiven xD I'm a Mussorgsky fan and Night on Bald Mountain is my favourite music, but Great Gate of Kiev is also a great music.

Amzing video and wonderful collection btw.

[connaghananthony]

Love the first piece since first seeing the film V for Vendetta. The world waits with baited breath til it happens for real.... ;-)

[Danthaman1971]

Dramatic endings and yet no Wagner? Mr Drama himself he was....

[TheUkulelePanda31]

I loved the video! Awesome music!

[JWentu]

I found your video because i wanted to do exactly the same and i wanted to know what else already existed. I think it's a good idea to write comments explaining something about the different pieces. good job

[JWentu]

i don't agree with at least half of the seletion but i like it nonetheless as an expression of another's person good taste. Actually, i heard quite many times the finale to Mahler's 3rd but never with this attention and i loved it incredibly, maybe it's Bernstein's merit. I also didn't know anything about a Lord of the Rings Symphony. I didnt like it very much (very... conventional, so to speak), but i am glad i widened my music knowledge. thank you !

[luisgonzalez121]

i listen to this when im doing homework because it makes it epic

[jomsky123]

@luisgonzalez121

doing the same too

[tati79]

Awesome, awesome video... Great selection! And loved your comments throughout the video.... I don't play unfortunately, I'm just a lover of good music! Thank you!

[pascha120]

This is brilliant... who needs coffee in the morning when you can wake up to these endings? Thank you so much for sharing this sponge917! :)

Not sure if this can be considered an epic ending but the finale of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony is pretty damn exhilarating to me.

/watch?v=PLHj-eekdNU

[Altoclarinets]

Dvorak 9 and Maslanka 4 both have pretty epic endings as well, Maslanka 4 especially

[EV5852]

I remember when I played Gandalf...I dropped my mute in the middle of the song

 -__-

[Hagbard0]

No Wagner? Endings of Rhinegold (entrance of gods to Valhalla) and Valkyrie (Wotan's magic fire) are pure epicness.

[MisterComunista]

what about 9 symphony of L. van beethoven?

[FutureMrsPercyJ]

Omgs! I love 1812 overtune

[beaglemanzzz]

I can tell you play timpani. :P Greetings from tuba land, and excellent choices.

[MissInformati0n]

never heard the mahler. now i want to.

[wingchundad]

My God it's quiet in here now that this is over.

[superscope27]

wow your vid helped me out a lot. Was watching an anime when this pretty epic classical music popped up that was familiar to me but I just couldn't place the name. "Pictures at an Exhibition" what a great piece, thanks a ton.

[lewars1912]

06:45 Just heard this excerpt: "Lord of the Rings Symphony." Whoever wrote it has been listening to the finale of the first movement of Bruckner's 6th Symphony.

[151louboy]

so outa curiosity why banned in germany?

nice choices by the way

[sponge917]

@151louboy YouTube copyright issues with Pictures at an Exhibition. :(

Thanks!

[saxquest]

Some old favorites and some new ones to listen to. much appreciated

[red0tape]

OMMMG 1:05 commentary at the bottom of the screen just MADE MY DAY

thank you kind stranger for posting this lovely collection of epic sound

[zenlikestate96]

my last names Gerhardt.... COOL

[SDCondon86]

ugh. ...I hate GEMA... all they do is give me a good excuse to use my VPN back to the states. ...idiots.

[sabritas182]

But Beethoven 9th symphony 4th movement is epic

[MrSaad1932]

THESE ARE ON I-TUNES IN HEAVEN

[TheImplerazure]

I enjoyed this very much. Thank you for making this!

[Jezetha]

Nice work! I think the final peroration of Bruckner's Fifth (in the performance of Jochum with the Staatskapelle Dresden) is tremendous. And the conclusion of Havergal Brian's Ninth Symphony is as uplifting as it gets...

[Decont89]

WHY IS THIS BLOCKED IN GERMANY?

[joe59788]

@Decont89 Prob because of the code. Find a location changer for firefox and you can get around it.

[joe59788]

@Decont89 or whatever browser you use.

[Decont89]

@joe59788 I still don't get why it is blocked in Germany.

[hgjfkd12345]

pictures at an exhibition FTW!!!!!

[srzar]

great video, thanks.

[happieroc]

You germans are sure missin somethin :(

[AnkieForMinecraft]

V for Vendetta <3

[ShakirulAlam]

This is great .. Check out some of the dramatic music by my composer, Jon Brooks for my upcoming film 'Fears and Foes'.

[AK1MB0SL1C3]

I feel like the comments on this video are going to be educated

[alexface211]

Shostakovich 10 and 12 would also be great additions :)

[bgurl075]

I LOVE U CLASSICAL MUSIC!!!

[nts4906]

die Germans ban das video. nicht gut

[NMC21887]

You know, for my money, I would say the finale to Shos7 beats 5 and it's for these reasons.Shos7 nips at the ankles of Mahler 3 as far as duration is concerned(1h20m). The third and fourth movements to Shos7 have so much more emotional contrast than Shos5 IMO. So that when you get to the ending, it's much more cathartic. At the end of Shos7, there's a nice big honkin' CMaj chord. But it's not over yet. Dissonance kicks in and the war continues on. Besides that, Shos7 uses double the brass too.

[sponge917]

@NMC21887 Haven't have time to listen to the whole 7th symphony, and truth be told I've only actually heard the last movement to the 5th, so you're probably better judge than me. Just having listened to the endings I like the 5th better but perhaps that's because I'm biased - I've played that movement on timpani myself. I like them both a lot. :)

[lewars1912]

@NMC21887 I never thought much of Shos as a composer. I much prefer Shostakovich who's 7th symphony is much better than Shos's. Shos was a useless composer.

[NMC21887]

@lewars1912 Give me a break here. I had to make room to fit in everything I wanted to say.

[lewars1912]

@NMC21887 I am giving you a break. I just gave your leg a gentle pull. (:o)

[seastiaan19952303]

where's Verdi's Requiem dies irae :|

[scorpiofromhdpc]

I was feeling a little lonely tonight. So i smoked a nice cigar, drank a good whisky and listened to your music and it cheered me up ! Classical music is IMO the next thing to god (or Richard Dawkins, depends on wich side you are). We have a lot of great artist now, but this guys, were far beyond. There sound (not exclusively the one here) is the absolute greatnest. It sounds far away from our so common world and existence.

[WebsurferSA]

I love that word Crescendo

[LawrenceOfBelgium]

Lord of the rings F T W

the alien theme song is also pretty god damn awesome

[CqGD4Yi8fii1CYPa]

You are right about the Shastokovich--once wrote a graduate paper with the fifth playing over and over. Aced the course. Professor commended it and me to her academic mentor. It was all the fifth. Words poured like rain in a Seattle November.

The other nine not too shabby, either.

[edwood666]

Oh you have good taste! Nothing beats the experience of playing Sibelius 2 and shosty 5. As much as I love Carmina Burana, Im glad you didnt add that (too blatantly obvious) I'm not a huge fan of Mahler but I love the ending to the 2nd symphony. I strongly recommend the finale to Beethovens 9th and Saint Saens 3rd symphony.

[sponge917]

@edwood666 I agree the organ symphony is fantastic (that timpani solo!!!) but I've never been much of a fan of Beethoven. Not sure why :(

[c182SkylaneRG]

The finale there seemed to be epic, yes, but not particularly dramatic. Certainly not as dramatic as the rest of the video...

Runners-up that come to mind are Ravel's Bolero and Mahler's 1st Symphony (Titan). Bolero isn't AS dramatic as these are, but it's close. (I feel like I know more, but they're not coming to mind just at the moment...)

Thanks for a great video! :) Fairly well-researched and excellently presented.

[sponge917]

@c182SkylaneRG Maybe I'm just a sucker for Mahler's 3rd because I've played the timpani part - but it's really a toss up which mahler to use :P The finale of the 3rd is rather slow compared to the other 9, but it's so glorious! I'm sorry you didn't like it as much. (and I love bolero as well)

Thank you very much! :) I don't claim to be an expert, being merely an eighteen year old non-music-major student who just really likes dramatic classical music and decided to make a video.

[c182SkylaneRG]

@sponge917 Eh, I'm a 23 year old non-music major (Engineering, actually) who really likes dramatic classical music. :-) Haven't made any videos, though. I'm not that brave, or confident.

[clap4vids]

nice im 15 and i listen to classical like its my crack man i dont know why i like it so much

[RooneySteven]

Nice vid, love the 1812 overture

[alexface211]

1 person went deaf.

[lennysteven1]

i would like to recomend the threnody to the victinms of hiroshima by penderecki.

[sponge917]

@lennysteven1 Hahahahahaha. friggin awesome piece. Most awful and creepy thing I've ever heard, in a good way. But it's very very very modern - not classical.

[WahooAviator]

Amazing Compilation. Honorable mention must be given to Parade of Charioteers from Ben Hur. Unbelievable rendition seen here:

watch?v=DPAkyGluHIw

[sponge917]

@WahooAviator I don't group it under classical music because it's a soundtrack. But I agree, it is thoroughly epic!

[WahooAviator]

@sponge917 I gotcha

[cdimitr0v]

Fourth movement, Dvorak's ninth. Hello-o!

[sponge917]

@cdimitr0v an epic movement for sure, and the ending is beautiful - but it ends rather quietly.

[Cizurator]

watch?v=uI8iTETiSqU

Ultimate epic ending of "Vltava" by Bedrich Smetana. Play from 8:22 till the end.

I always imagine the final battle ending with final victory and freedom for Czech country :-)

[sponge917]

@Cizurator Ah yes I've listened to Ma Vlast before. I love how it gets really dramatic and then suddenly gets quiet and tricks you into thinking it'll end quietly and then blasts those two final chords, But I dunno if I would categorize it as an epic ending. Certainly an epic piece, and a great one :)

[jazzterluvsalice]

Technically, "O Fortuna" IS an ending. The larger work, Carmina Burana, begins and ends with "O Fortuna". There's just a ton of songs in between. Not that this isn't totally epic, but if you wanted to include O Furtuna, you could have.

[sponge917]

@jazzterluvsalice Well I guess I think Carmina Burana is more of a collection of pieces than a single work with a dramatic ending. And yes I have some selections that aren't the ending of a coherent symphony (Mountain King, Gandalf) but I only play the ending of that movement - which all somewhat leads up to the end. Carmina Burana doesn't really lead up to an end the same way - and O Fortuna isn't really in the spirit of a dramatic ending - the most dramatic part is probably the start :P

[Hellocookiedude]

Thank you very much for sharing. I really loved it.

[sponge917]

@Hellocookiedude It makes my day to read comments like this. Glad you enjoyed it!

[Elemeninki]

I sat here for 12 minutes wondering where mars had got to ... so glad it showed up.

[almondbook]

Awesome!!!!

[phoharmony]

is there any pieces very similar to firebird's ending? I cant stop loving the huge epic dramatic ending of the piece with its huge retardondo... ><

[sponge917]

@phoharmony I've looked, but I haven't found anything much like it. Stravinsky mostly wrote much weirder stuff like rite of spring (which is still great, but not in the glorious epic way the firebird is)

[lisa60932]

Your selections are really good, but personally I love the ending of Mozart's Symphony No.9 Posthorn. Its really thrilling to play and gets my adrenaline levels right up! Overall, great video!!

[embla36]

i like shotsakovich's symphony but the ending is a killer if ur playing clarinet

[sponge917]

@embla36 ohhhh boy I can imagine, lol

[darkprose]

The Mahler 3rd was a nice choice, though I think the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth would also have qualified for "most dramatic." The ninth, too, if "dramatic" doesn't mean "loud."

Excellent video! ✯✯✯✯✯

[sponge917]

@darkprose for sure. I didn't want mahler to eclipse the video, so I decided to only have one mahler symphony. I've played an abridged band arrangement of the finale of the 3rd symphony myself, so perhaps I was a little biased.

However, I've seen a video of the finale of the 3rd performed in which there were two timpanists and eight drums - each timpanist tuned two drums to D and two drums to A and then played the D-A-D-A at the end with both hands, together. Pretty Dramatic IMO :)

Thanks!

[darkprose]

@sponge917 Right, no, I think your selections were perfect. And your choice of performances, too, is excellent, especially Bernstein in the Shostakovich and Mahler. Really fine.

[sponge917]

@darkprose why thank you very much :D

[CBPBroker]

How about end of Brahms 1st symphony 4th mov, 4th symphony 1st movement.

[sponge917]

@CBPBroker I've never really been a huge fan of Brahms :(

[Melkiyad]

epicest march has to be the Imperial March ;) but yeah, great selection and thanks for the commentary

[sponge917]

@Melkiyad thanks :) I agree the imperial march is epic, and certainly darker, but Pines of Rome has to be the most triumphant, right? Also, I dunno if you can really call movie scores "classical" (not that you were saying that)

[Melkiyad]

@sponge917 oh yeah, missed that part xD your selection is perfect then ;D especially since you're only looking out for the endings themselves

still, I'd love to see Night on a Bald Mountain from Mussorgsky on it ^^ but at least it's mentioned in the commentary ;)

[sponge917]

@Melkiyad I am a huge fan of night on bald mountain as well (original Fantasia anyone?) - but I already had a piece by mussorgsky (pictures at an exhibition) and NOBM actually has a quiet serene ending after an uberdramatic beginning/middle. Thanks for the comment :D

[skibum5195]

great vid, but for the best version of mars, i reccomend the berlin philharmoniker

[sponge917]

@skibum5195 I have it, it's too fast at the beginning and too slow at the end IMO. and I love the slide the strings do at 12:06, and how the brass lags a little at 12:44 in this recording.

[sponge917]

@skibum5195 clarification: I meant 12:32 to 12:50 when I said "it's too fast at the beginning and too slow at the end IMO"

[rand07]

I should have had tissues ready before watching this.. so much power and emotion.

[ChuiNinji]

My school played In The Hall of the Mountain King for one of our pieces in our marching show. That was fun. ^^

[alexface211]

Rachmaninoff's second symphony and third piano concerto have pretty spectacular endings. They might not be epic in this sort of sense, but they go with a bang and tie off the pieces really well.

[sponge917]

@alexface211 looked them up as well, I agree. I love Rachmaninoff! For relaxing classical music I LOVE Symphony 2 Movement 3 (Adagio). It's so beautiful! :)

[HOMAG32me]

what about beethoven's egmont overture? i think its opus. 84

[sponge917]

@HOMAG32me not exactly epic, but I like it! (I searched for it on youtube)

[fatmanpez]

this is the inspiration i need for metal im writting!!!!! good stuff

[leandrobern]

@fatmanpez idem

[linerage]

hot damn.