Vivaldi: Concerto for orchestra in B-flat Major (April 24, 2005)Schubert: Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960 (October 22, 2000)This week, we’re featuring two works with great finales, the kind that make audiences jump to their feet, by Vivaldi and Schubert. The rollicking final movement on Vivaldi’s concerto clocks in at just under one minute from start to finish, with the whole piece, all three movements, adding up to less than four minutes. Then, Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major. Schubert produced an incredible amount of music in his final year of life, editing the song cycle Winterreise from his bed, and playing recitals and attending concerts until his last months. Schubert played this sonata at a musical soiree on September 27th, 1828, just a day after finishing it. Because of the circumstances of its composition, and its melancholy moments, it is tempting to cast the sonata as a contemplation of death. Unlike the sinking end of Winterreise, however, this sonata ends with a brilliant coda. Robert Schumann, a close friend, wrote, “Thus Schubert ends both gaily and cheerfully, as though fully able to face another day’s work.” In an ironic twist of fate, Schubert died two months later, leaving this upbeat finale as one of his last great works.