Favorite OPENING/ENDING of all time...

[jhon]

My Favorite Openings...

Introduction from...

Beethoven "Pathetic" Sonata
Saint-Saens PC2

My Favorite Endings...

Coda/Finale from...

Chopin Ballade in Gm
Rachmaninoff Sonata in Bbm

I'll add later...

[happyface94]

I like majestic endings with character so on top of my head :

Liszt - La Campanella
Rachmaninoff - Second Piano Concerto 1rst mouvement

[Barbosa-piano]

 These are some my favorite endings/openings:

Openings:
Beethoven- Piano Concerto No. 5
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 3

Rachmaninoff- Prelude Op. 23 no. 5
Piano Concerto-No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 4

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1

Endings:
Rachmaninoff- Piano Concerto No. 3
Chopin: Ballade in G minor
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata
Apassionata

[theprincess]

I actually like the opening and closing of the g minor ballade of Chopin.

[viking]

Best opening AND ending...

LISZT CONCERTO NO 2!!!!!!!!!!

Actually maybe not the best opening, but extremely effective.  One of the best endings though, its quite amazing!
SAM

[JCarey]

I'd have to say my favorite opening is Busoni's Piano Concerto.

As for endings, I love the endings of Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto and Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. The ending of Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum is quite amazing as well.

[steinwayguy]

Ahhhhh so many.

Openings:
Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto...aaaaaaaaaaaah
Beethoven's Op. 106
Beethoven's Op. 10 No. 2 (so cute!)
Beethoven's Op. 81a (Oh my GAWD that c minor!!!!!!)
Beethoven's 4th Concerto
Chopin's 2nd Sonata
Chopin's 4th Ballade (it's hell to play though)
Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1
Brahms Sonata No. 3
Schubert Sonata D.894
Schubert Sonata D.960
Brahms Cello Sonata in E Minor

Endings:
Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3
Chopin Op. 25 No. 12
Dvorak Symphony No. 9
Cage 4'33" (such a climactic piece)
Prokofiev Concerto No. 3
Schumann Symphonic Etudes (there isn't anything better than that Finale)

[Skeptopotamus]

heh interesting steinwayguy I like the opening to the Symphonic Etudes ^^


Openings:
Corigliano Etude Fantasy
Liszt Don Juan
Liszt Spanish Rhapsody
Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1


Endings:
Penderecki Symphony No. 7
Sorabji Opus Clavicembalisticum.  Just glad for it to be over.

[Waldszenen]

Openings

• Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
• Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 2
• Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
• Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 and 9
• Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58
• Schumann: Piano Concerto
• Grieg: Piano Concerto
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1
• Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3
  

Endings

• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (greatest coda in history)
• Brahms: Symphony No. 4
• Piano concerti of Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Grieg, Chopin

[Teddybear]

Opening:

Mozart - Requiem
Liszt - Venezia e Napoli

Ending:

Schumann PC
Rachmaninoff 3rd PC, sure

T

[pseudopianist]

Openings:

Rachmaninov Concerti 1,3,4
Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor (Rach 1 anyone?)
Chopin Ballades 1,4
Chopin Octave Etude
Liszt Eroica
Rachmaninov Bbm Sonata

Codas:

Liszt La Campanella
Chopin Winter Wind
Chopin Prelude 24

[jeremyjchilds]

i don't really know why, but I like those "tierce de picardie" (I think that is the way it is spelled) endings...they get me every time!

[brokenagraffe]

opening:
Tchaikovsky piano concerto #1

ending:
Barber piano concerto - just because idk what the piano's playing.

[shasta]

Openings:
   Lecuona’s Rhapsodia Negra
   Sarasate’s Concert Fantasy on Bizet's "Carmen" (violin & orch)
   Mendelssohn’s piano trio d minor
   Rach 2
   Mendelssohn’s violin concerto
   Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
   Suppe's Poet & Peasant Overture

Endings:
   Vivaldi’s piccolo concerto C major
   Gershwin’s Rhapsody
   Saint-Saens piano concerto #5
   Haydn’s trumpet concerto E-flat major
   Saint-Saens piano concerto #2
   Beethoven’s 6th Symphony
   Pergolesi's Stabat Mater

[jehangircama]

Openings: Beginning of Waldstein sonata 3rd movement and Chopin Ballade G minor.
Endings: 9th symphony, Waldstein 3rd movement ending, Chopin ballade ending, Chopin Fantasie (F minor) ending and of course Liszt 2nd Rhapsody ending

[squigly]

I am very suprized that nobody wrote about Chopin's op.25 no.12 etude...
It has a very nice opening    and a fantastic end  .
I have the performance from Maurizio Polini.
The etude goes like this: (Fom the begining to the end)
     Simply amazing !

[Etude]

Openings

Barber: Piano Sonata
Sorabji:  St. Betrand de Comminges: "He was laughing in the Tower"
Sorabji:  Organ Symphony no. 1 
Chopin:  Scherzo no. 1
Prokofiev: Concerto no. 1
Penderecki: Threnody
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G


Endings

Prokofiev: Piano concerti 1 - 3
Chopin: Ballades 2 & 4
Rachmaninov: Concerti 2 & 4
Scriabin: Sonata no. 4
Scriabin:Le Poème de l'extase
Beethoven: Appasionata
Liszt: Les Préludes
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Sorabji: Fantasie Espagnole

[hazypurple21]

Openings: -Beethoven's Pathetique, Waldstein
                -Bach Invention No. 8
                -Mendelssohn G minor Concerto, 3rd Movement
                -Chopin B flat minor scherzo
                -Chopin op.10 no.8

Endings:-Bach WTK Book 1 C minor prelude
             -Chopin Black Key
             -Bach Goldberg var. 23
             -Mendelssohn Songs without Words op.19 no.1
             

[apion]

OPENINGS:

Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 1
Grieg, Piano Concerto

ENDINGS:

Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 1
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto no. 3

[steinwayguy]

I am very suprized that nobody wrote about Chopin's op.25 no.12 etude...
It has a very nice opening    and a fantastic end  .
I have the performance from Maurizio Polini.
The etude goes like this: (Fom the begining to the end)
    Simply amazing !

Uh....

Ahhhhh so many.

Openings:
Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto...aaaaaaaaaaaah
Beethoven's Op. 106
Beethoven's Op. 10 No. 2 (so cute!)
Beethoven's Op. 81a (Oh my GAWD that c minor!!!!!!)
Beethoven's 4th Concerto
Chopin's 2nd Sonata
Chopin's 4th Ballade (it's hell to play though)
Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1
Brahms Sonata No. 3
Schubert Sonata D.894
Schubert Sonata D.960
Brahms Cello Sonata in E Minor

Endings:
Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3
Chopin Op. 25 No. 12
Dvorak Symphony No. 9
Cage 4'33" (such a climactic piece)
Prokofiev Concerto No. 3
Schumann Symphonic Etudes (there isn't anything better than that Finale)

[janne p.]

The first that come to mind are:

Best openings:
Rachmaninoff: Piano concerto no. 2 (the greatest tonal development and "surprise" ever...and the string melody - greatness!)
Rachmaninoff: Piano concerto no. 3 (how Russian can you get?)
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in D minor (combination of the above in a somewhat lesser degree)
Chopin: Etude in A minor, "The Winter Wind" (the calm before the storm...)

Best endings:
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in B minor (nothing beats the solemnity of this ending)
Chopin: Etude in C sharp minor, op. 10 no. 4 (the grandeur!!)
Chopin: Etude in C minor, op. 25 no. 12 (the release...the sigh...)
Beethoven: Appassionata (the passion!! S. Richter did it best)
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G minor (the swift lift to nothingness)
Bizet-Horowitz: Variations on Carmen (the staggering octaves leave you breathless)

[Nana_Ama]

Openings

Rachmaninov Concerto no. 2
Saint-Seans "Wedding Cake"

Endings

Rachmaninov Concerto no. 2
Schubert- Wanderer Fantasy
Chopin Op. 58 Piano Sonata

[steinwayguy]

I forgot to mention one of the greatest chord progressions in the history of music, the beginning of the second movement to Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto...