Lots of works have big endings.
which do you think is the most epic? lmao

I'd say:
- Barber second essay
- mahler 1, 2, 6, 8
- prokofiev 3 and 5
- stravinsky rite of spring
- britten cello symphony
- tchaikovsky francesca da rimini
- mussorgsky/ravel pictures at an exhibition
- dvorak 9
- elgar enigma variations
- Shostakovich 1 and 5
- Respighi pines of rome
- Britten peter grimes 4 sea interludes

And, as a bonus, John Cage 4'33", which also as an epic opening haha jk
But please, feel free to say anything!

Britten's War Requiem really has an epic ending if you don't mind quiet endings being counted as epic.

I definitely agree with your Mahler recommendations... How about the third?

Shosty 7 is pretty much the most epic ending I've ever heard in my life, no joke.

Ravel's Bolero, despite its repetitive nature, has a very smashing ending, and the repetition only adds to the tension. The E major right at the end is like an explosion.

So yes, those are what I think of as definitely epic.

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 immediately comes to mind (as does the Lemminkainen Suite, to a degree - but the whole thing can be described as 'epic' really). Also, Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy & Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 'The inextinguishable.'

The ending to Sibelius 2 is fairly epic...massively heroic, anyway. Also the ending to his Kullervo is pretty big.

Much of Ifukube ends with a bang. One ending that comes to mind is the balley Salome. When Herod tells the guards to seize and kill Salome, one gets the impression from the music they are tearing her to shreads.

Beethoven's 9th...Pictures at an Exhibition...

__________________
"Music is not philosophy." --Akira Ifukube

Bruckner's Symphony no 8.

Hmm--Epic. I suppose that also means "Satisfying?" If so, I'm definitely with Mahler #1 and 5, and Sibelus #2(and while we're at it, the Tchiakovsky #2 "Little Russian") but oddly enough, one of the most satisfying endings to a symphony for me is the climax of the Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony. He really wraps everything up in the last moments of the finale, turning that eerie 'motto' theme that begins the symphony into a blazing E-Major Chorale, and then 'unbuttoning' himself contrasting it with a variation on the opening 4th movement dance. It's just a ZINGER, IMO. I lift out of my seat with a big grin every time I hear it.

On another, more 'serious' note, the final bars of the Brahms Fourth just leave me gasping. How he manages to turn a Chaconne into a Sonata-Allegro finale still makes me admire that work more and more, every time I hear it. And the ending is just devastating for me.

Tom

On the subject of Bruckner (and I absolutely agree with the 8th being on here, which almost embodies epicness for many people), I think the 4th can also be epic in the right hands (and by that I really mean Celibidache...).

I'd also like to nominate the searing ending of Sibelius' 7th. It always leaves me totally satisfied and emotionally exhausted.

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Also Sprach Zarathustra played backwards.

I can't top that ^

(If epic is used in its real meaning, I'd say Gotterdamerung is an epic ending. I can't honestly remember its ending though. Almost all of Beethoven's endings are epic in that they go on and on and on . . . The most epic ending to me is "Fuga a 3 Soggetti /Contrapunctus XIV" from The Art of the Fugue )

Big, epic endings for me:

Debussy - La Mer
Ravel - La Valse

and these two especially:

Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe
Stravinsky - Firebird

Mind-blowing.

Absolutely brilliant. One might be able to say that about The Planets, too...

NIELSEN - 5th symphony - to me no other symphony has such a competely unspoilt surge of energy building up to a perfect blazing conclusion

SHOSTAKOVICH - 7th sympohny saw live - loudest thing i ever heard but 11th better and morepowerful withthe bass clarinet then the Bells

VW - 9th symphony has a very magnificent and original ending

BAX - long magical epilogues of the 2nd and 3rd symphonies are unbeaten in long twilight fading endings

sibelius - i have always felt let down by the endings of symphony 2 and 5 they leave me feelig distinctly dissatisfied but 6 is to me the quintessential slow and dark ending - perfect

BRUCKNER 8 - cant really beat it for granduer

Tchaikovsky 5
Elgar 1
Sibelius 5
Schumann 3
Mozart 41
Beethoven 7
Haydn 103

Yes Stravinsky's L'Oiseau Du Feu - The Firebird is epic ending.
Since we are confining ourselves to orchestral endings, I would like to add:
Rimsky Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol
Mussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique
Bruckner - Symphony No. 8
Mahler - Titan - Symphony No. 1
Shostakovich - Leningrad Symphony No. 7.

I'll add Brahms 2.