{"id":8878,"date":"2020-01-04T16:11:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-04T15:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=8878"},"modified":"2020-01-10T17:13:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T16:13:10","slug":"the-10-best-beethoven-symphony-finales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2020\/01\/04\/the-10-best-beethoven-symphony-finales\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best Beethoven Symphony Finales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 10 Best Beethoven Symphony Finales<\/h1>\n

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  1. Yes, I know, he only wrote 9 symphonies, but nobody does \u2018top 9\u2019 lists. So: best Beethovenian finale in a non-Beethoven symphony<\/strong>? It could be Brahms 1, in which Brahms masterfully integrates some of the formal complexities of LvB9 into an instrumental setting. It\u2019s both an homage to LvB9 and a critique of it. It could be Shostakovich\u2019s 5th<\/sup>, which is probably the most Beethovenian finale by a symphonist other than Beethoven. However, it probably won\u2019t surprise long-time Vftp readers if I award the prize to Schumann 2<\/a>. It\u2019s music which, in its early pages, abounds in Beethovenian rhythmic ecstasy and drive, and is full of meaningful thematic homage to Beethoven, with a telling quotation from An die ferne Geliebte<\/em>. But Schumann finds a way to take the music in a direction completely his own, both formally and emotionally. His most Beethovenian choice is to embrace the legacy of his forbears by finding a path of his own. Explore the score here.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n