# Majestic Music



## aloysius8 (Jan 9, 2007)

Hi All:

I am new to Classical music but heard a piece of music that was very majestic and full of grandeur. As I was listening to it, it brought to mind images of vast mountain ranges and rolling landscapes. I absolutely loved it, however I did not get the name of it, or other peices that are very grand and majestic. Does anyone have any favorite peices that fit that description?

Thanks
Aloysius


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## Odocoileus (Dec 25, 2006)

Was it all instrumental - symphony orchestra, any piano? If so that would narrow it down a bit. My initial thought is Grand Canyon suite by Gorfe (sp?) and New World Symphony by Dvorak. Aron Copland's music is dominated by outdoor/western themes. The iconic nature composition is Beethoven's symphone #6.


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## BassFromOboe (Oct 1, 2006)

The Alpine Symphony of Richard Strauss perhaps?


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## IAmKing (Dec 3, 2006)

Mahler's 3rd?


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

Brahms (or was it Mahler?) was walking in the alps with a friend one day. His friend stopped to take in the scenery and Brahms (or was it Mahler?) said:

_Don't bother... I've composed that already._


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## Odocoileus (Dec 25, 2006)

The most obvious composition that would educe the idea of "vast mountain ranges and rolling landscapes" is The Moldau from Ma Vlast (My Country) by Bedrich Smetana. I should have thought of this first, duh. The composer's idea was a trip down the Moldau river starting from little streams.


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## orquesta tipica (Jan 17, 2007)

If you weren't already familiar with the music, "majestic" could encompass quite a few compositions.

Do you know that such and such is describing "vast mountain ranges and rolling landscapes" because it was titled as such, or it has come down through time to be regarded as such, or can you listen to it for the first time, as if from a position of total ignorance, mind you, and automatically tell that that's what it describes?

This person is new to classical music, has never heard this piece before, and he doesn't know what it is, because he hasn't seen the liner notes, obviously, because otherwise he'd know. So "majestic" to him might mean something else to you; or he could see mountains while you're seeing the sea waters.

So by that, I'd have him also check out Prokofiev's 5th, his 7th, Shostakovich's 5th, 10th, 7th, maybe some others, Tchaikovsky's 5th, 4th, Beethoven's 7th, 3rd, and that's a very incomplete list. Or it could be the overture to Die Meistersinger, or Debussy's La Mer, that sounds majestic, or it could be....


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## Odocoileus (Dec 25, 2006)

orquesta tipica said:


> If you weren't already familiar with the music, "majestic" could encompass quite a few compositions.
> 
> Do you know that such and such is describing "vast mountain ranges and rolling landscapes" because it was titled as such, or it has come down through time to be regarded as such, or can you listen to it for the first time, as if from a position of total ignorance, mind you, and automatically tell that that's what it describes?
> 
> ...


The validity of your input cannot be denied. One person's definition of "majestic music" can be applied to too many compositions to list in this thread. That number is expounded greatly by all the other subjective concepts of "majestic'. Yet if one where to give up on learning about Classical music for the time and effort it takes, then I for one would not have done so. I could have only dreamed of a resource as the internet when I was learning about classical music. This tool should be used judiciously. This website would not serve those who seek to experience what we have if we choose to discourage the neophytes with a myriad of options, some which are rarely broadcast for their lack of mass appeal. The internet has the power to encourage and educate as well as the power to dissuade and prejudice when used by those who would rather expound their vast knowledge rather than aid and share the knowledge.


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## orquesta tipica (Jan 17, 2007)

Odocoileus said:


> The validity of your input cannot be denied. One person's definition of "majestic music" can be applied to too many compositions to list in this thread. That number is expounded greatly by all the other subjective concepts of "majestic'. Yet if one where to give up on learning about Classical music for the time and effort it takes, then I for one would not have done so. I could have only dreamed of a resource as the internet when I was learning about classical music. This tool should be used judiciously. This website would not serve those who seek to experience what we have if we choose to discourage the neophytes with a myriad of options, some which are rarely broadcast for their lack of mass appeal. The internet has the power to encourage and educate as well as the power to dissuade and prejudice when used by those who would rather expound their vast knowledge rather than aid and share the knowledge.


Oh, I don't mean to discourage the new listener at all. My comments are more towards the "learned ones" not to assume too much what "majestic" means. Don't forget, this person already heard this certain piece, which could be anything.

Therefore what advice I might give to the new listener is not so much to exhaust what might be an impossible task, but to seek out the list of composers who might have created such a work and learn about other pieces that might be just as invigorating as what they're looking for, thereby finding new loves they hadn't expected to find, and eventually it will lead them to what they were looking for in the first place.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

People.

Some guy heard some piece that sounded majestic, left one post about it and was never heard from again, and here we are making such a big deal out of it.

*aloysius8* is probably a University music professor or sociology student who wrote this on purpose just to see what reacting he gets. Now he's sitting back, smoking a water bong, watching this develop and having a good laugh.


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## Topaz (Oct 25, 2006)

He is probaby the same joker with the alias of "cliffsofdover" who recently posted a thread saying he wants to write his first symphony but doesn't know about orchestras and needed advice on what instruments there are etc.


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