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Musical Pick-Me-Up 6
The Big Bang
Everyone loves a big finish.
Be it the explosive climax of a Hollywood blockbuster, a close world cup final, or the gripping last pages of a thriller, a good strong ending always seals the drama that preceded it.
A brilliant conclusion always leaves you feeling a little stronger, wiser and ready to take on the world. Classical composers were not immune to the basic human desire for the big ending, and ever keen to keep their audiences and commissions coming.
Writing music well before the advent of recording technology, composers were doubtless also aware that they only had one chance to make their message stick.
(Interestingly, pop music has always struggled with musical endings, in my opinion, frequently opting for the less satisfying fade out.)
So, to end in an inspirational blast, here are five of the biggest bangs of the concert hall...
Although it is not the official ending of The Planets, Jupiter is a brilliant finisher. It has virtuoso writing for orchestra, great tunes, including a great big tune in the middle, and a fantastic conclusion.
5. Holst – The Planets, op.32 – 4. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity
After Beethoven laid down the challenge, few composers could fail not to respond to the challenge, producing some of the most over-the-top, noisy endings of all time. Respighi was a notable culprit. To end his Pines of Rome suite, he summons up the spirit of the Roman empire for a triumphal march that grows and grows, concluding in ear-splitting glory.
4. Respighi – Pini di Roma (“The Pines of Rome”) – 4. I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way)
Finding that a big orchestra simply wasn't enough for his aims of raising the roof, Saint-Saëns threw in a tinkling piano and an organ at full throttle.
3. Saint-Saëns – Symphony no.3 in c minor, op.78, “Organ” – 2. Maestoso (Organ entry)
Ever the pioneer in his striving for musical immortality, Beethoven came up with the radical idea adding a choir and soloists to the orchestra for a symphony. They combine and then belt out a big tune in this, his final symphony.
2. Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 in d minor, op.125, “Choral” – 4. "Ode to Joy"
Tchaikovsky excelled in writing big endings. He takes the cake for writing the most over-the-top, bombastic music of all time, the 1812 overture.
To his defence, I guess he was celebrating a great victory of the Russians over Napoleon.
No performance of the 1812 is worth listening to if it doesn't have a big orchestra, a brass band, a chorus, and, naturally, a set of canons.
1. Tchaikovsky – Ouverture solennelle “1812”, op.49 (1812 Overture) (& Canons)
Ka-boom!
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