# epic classical recommendations



## blubberbo (Jun 22, 2015)

Hi everyone,

I have recently been listening to more and more classical music and really like epic, emotional, strong sounding pieces such as:

where this video starts: 




and at this point (6min) in this video 




similarly, i also like a lot of movie soundtrack stuff, although i have most of those i think. i am more looking for traditional classical here.

any help would be MUCH appreciated.

thanks in advance,

syd


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

No problem!

Instead of giving a large list, I'll recommend one movement out of a work that is truly epic. I recommend checking out the whole symphony at some point, but if you're just looking for instant bang and boom, you can't go wrong with the scherzo of Bruckner's 9th


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

The whole thing is great and a veritable Hollywood fillmscore goldmine, but I'm sure you'll at least love the first part of Gustav Holst's Planets Suite, Mars.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

You could try the Khachaturian Violin Concerto. No one ever accused it of being delicate.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Mahler is always epic. Just pick one symphony and you can run with it.


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## Proms Fanatic (Nov 23, 2014)

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture packs a lot of punch for a work that's only 20 minutes long.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Liszt's second piano concerto! A bit off left field but you might like the cinematic, emotional excitement that comes from a good performance.


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## Marsilius (Jun 13, 2015)

Gliere symphony number 3 (called "Ilya Murometz") - truly epic.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

If you want epic then this ticks that box in the extreme  (There are far better recordings but this is the only performance I could find with video)






This one is a far better recording if the trumpet errors in the above put you off too much...


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Jón Leifs (1 May 1899 - 30 July 1968), an Icelandic composer, pianist, conductor and writer on music wrote what strikes my ears as rather "epic" music. If I must recommend only one of his works, I'll go with _Hekla_: Completed in 1966, it describes the eruption of Hekla -- a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 metres (4,892 ft) -- in 1947, one of the largest eruptions of the 20th Century, which Leifs happened to witness. The music is one massive, ever-intensifying depiction of volcanic eruption, beginning quietly but graphically increasing in intensity and power reaching a tumultuous climax during which one hears a brief chorus (almost overwhelmed by the massive orchestra/percussion sound), singing:

"In the dark depths, violent cries of death./ There the red flames carried/ The steaming lava across the land."

Leifs scored _Hekla_ for orchestra and a huge complement of percussion. Nineteen percussion players are needed. "Percussion" instruments required are "rocks with a musical quality," steel ship's chains, anvils (shades of _Rheingold_?), sirens, church bells, shotguns and canons. Eggert Palsson, principal timpanist of the Iceland Symphony, describes how they tried to follow the composer's intentions. There was a search for "musical rocks" and they finally found some that seemed to have a pitch, the anvil sound was provided by utilizing large pieces of steel tubing struck with steel hammers, the sound of sirens was made by semi-analogue synthesizers, and as church bells requested by the composer would have weighed half a ton each, plate bells in large sizes were used. As the chains are to play short notes as well as sustained tones a frame was built for the chains to move through. And the composer asked for a "large wooden stump on wooden floor" but as they were recording in an area with a stone floor, they used a big wooden hammer (shades of Mahler 6?) striking it against a large wooden box. Shotguns and cannons are to play fast passages which meant that these sounds would have to be produced digitally. Palsson said that the sheer quantity of sound was so loud that many musicians used earplugs during rehearsals and the recording sessions.

The BIS recording says it all:









Or sample it here: 




There is a claim that _Hekla_ is the loudest piece of orchestral music ever written. I don't know about that. I do know that when I work the volume control on my stereo rig, _everything_ is the loudest music ever written.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

As with some of the selections above, if you want to stray a little off the beaten path, last weekend I was listening to Gian Carlo Menotti's "Apocalypse for orchestra."






Well, I don't know how apocalyptic it is, but it's certainly epic in scope.


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## Le Peel (May 15, 2015)




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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

> Leifs scored Hekla for orchestra and a huge complement of percussion. Nineteen percussion players are needed. "Percussion" instruments required are "rocks with a musical quality," steel ship's chains, anvils (shades of Rheingold?), sirens, church bells, shotguns and canons. Eggert Palsson, principal timpanist of the Iceland Symphony, describes how they tried to follow the composer's intentions. There was a search for "musical rocks" and they finally found some that seemed to have a pitch, the anvil sound was provided by utilizing large pieces of steel tubing struck with steel hammers, the sound of sirens was made by semi-analogue synthesizers, and as church bells requested by the composer would have weighed half a ton each, plate bells in large sizes were used. As the chains are to play short notes as well as sustained tones a frame was built for the chains to move through. And the composer asked for a "large wooden stump on wooden floor" but as they were recording in an area with a stone floor, they used a big wooden hammer (shades of Mahler 6?) striking it against a large wooden box. Shotguns and cannons are to play fast passages which meant that these sounds would have to be produced digitally. Palsson said that the sheer quantity of sound was so loud that many musicians used earplugs during rehearsals and the recording sessions.


Impressive as the list of percussion is, in the recordings I have heard it is very difficult to find where each item occurs due to the overall cacophony that's going on for most of the pieces' duration. Interestingly, 'Hekla' didn't get it's first UK performance until 2009 at the BBC's "Evolution" Prom. Billed as a 'family prom', this was of course spoiled by the non-stop chattering, crying and general hubbub of attendant children.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Epic is a bit of an overused adjective nowadays but I'll gladly use it for the entire opening act of Verdi's Otello:


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