Wow.  I could talk about this for hours.  The end of the Sibelius 5th
has already been mentioned, but don't forget the truly exciting end of the
1st movement.  For me, it is not the odd hammer blows at the end of the
symphony that excite me so much as the gradually increasing dissonance and
resulting tension that lead up to them, although it is altogether a truly
striking ending.  The end of the third symphony, my other favorite Sibelius
symphony, I find truly remarkable in how perfect it is while being anything
but overstated.  No grand, exaggerated gesture, just a perfectly conceived
piece of musical architecture...  (I would make the same comments about
the Schumann piano concerto, in the ends to both the first and third
movements.) Also while on Sibelius there's the violin concerto, with a
close just as original and impressive as its opening; in the coda the
fortissimo chords in the brass and winds followed by the descending string
figure recalling the icy, majestic world of the first movement.  And my
inexplicable affection for the mysterious ending of Tapiola I will leave to
my psychiatrist to contemplate, but I think it is among his greatest.  But
moving on from Sibelius...

Need I mention once again Tchaikosky descending into gloom, despair and
resignation at the end of the Pathetique? I seem to keep coming back to
this.:)

The coda of Chopin's fourth Ballade introduces new material, like the 1st
and 2nd...  somehow it seems to fit perfectly.  I find this exciting coda
to be among the greatest in piano literature...  and while it does not
compromise the structure of the work, the harmonic language is fairly
bursting at the seams, and this was only 1841!  (For example, in the
ascending figure on an F-minor9th chord, repeated twice, passing-tone
G-sharps and D's give the impression of alternating A-flat and D-major
chords...  major chords a tritone apart!  One of many harmonic treats
crammed into these few bars.)

Rachmaninov ended the second and third concertos with a rhythmic
spelling-out of his surname, as did Rimsky-Korsakov in Scheherazade.
(Any other examples of this device?)

Just a quick foray into musical theatre:  the final scene of act one of
Sunday in the Park with George, where the people in the park promenade,
singing the slowly building "Sunday", then freeze into the poses of "A
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (on which the musical
is based), one of the most exciting moments for me on the musical stage,
including in opera.  Also by Sondheim:  the closing bars of Sweeney Todd,
both musically and dramatically.  (Did anyone catch Bryn Terfel singing
Sweeney at Avery Fischer Hall? Comments?)

For truly bewitching endings by a performer, Shura Cherkassky (ever
my favorite pianist) had a habit of tossing off his closing chords,
particularly after a grandiose coda, as if he was just sitting at home
playing some chords for fun.  Many people may find this unsettling or even
distasteful; I'm not *always* fond of it but it is often quite refreshing.
There is of course his live recording of the Chopin B-minor, where he plays
the cadential chords at the end in double time!  Very few performers could
pull such a musical stunt and make it sound natural.

dominant, tonic, dominant, tonic, drum roll, sustained tonic...
Michael Cooper ([log in to unmask])