# Looking for big, full sound



## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Hi! Im' looking for classical pieces which would sound like the palette achieved by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Maurice Ravel and Bernard Herrmann. Denser, richer and more advanced than 19th century romanticist standards, truly melting the heart of the listener. Ideas?


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## samm (Jul 4, 2011)

Eduard Tubin. Arnold Bax. Albert Roussel's symphonies. Arthur Honegger. Shostakovich.

Or a similar subjective list from someone here with different tastes. Personally I don't think Erich Korngold or Ravel or Bernard Herrmann are particularly denser or richer or more melodic or any better with an orchestra than, say, Bruckner.

I advise you to listen to those you mentioned on you tube and the algorithms will offer you more of the same.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Thanks for the recommendations. I will check them out. I did not mean melodies. It's more about orchestration and harmony choices I suppose. 
Rimsky, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky for example sound a bit too old-fashioned for what I am looking for. I do not have much hope for music earlier than XXth century here.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

You are referring to the type of early 20th century composers who put me into a CM form of sugar shock! One I tried listening to within the last couple of weeks is Joseph Marx. I find some of Richard Strauss' big works to be of a similar type.


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## samm (Jul 4, 2011)

Mahler puts you into sugar shock?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

CHeck out the music of Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Felix Weingartner, Franz Schreker, and as mentioned above, Marx and Bax.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

samm said:


> Mahler puts you into sugar shock?


I was, of course, using that figuratively but no, Mahler doesn't, but some of Strauss, Marx, Korngold and their ilk do. Gurrelieder is about my limit.

P.S. I wouldn't put Bax and Tubin in that group, or Rubbra. Lloyd is just bordering on it at times although I have always liked most of his symphonies.

P.P.S. Herbert Howells ... yes.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder. Don't worry, this is pre-atonal, certainly pre-12-tone Schoenberg. Maybe Elgar? Not a big fan of his (yet) but his music tends toward the big and lush.

Mahler and Ravel are the big two for me when I'm in that mood. Typically I'll get my fill from one or the other.

Another good one is Szymanowski:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The lush life. Ahhh ….
Try the symphonies of Franz Schmidt, Georges Enesco, Wilhelm Furtwaengler (yes! _That _Furtwaengler, the conductor!), and Alexander Grechaninov. There are others, but I think of those off-hand.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

SONNET CLV said:


> The lush life. Ahhh ….
> Try the symphonies of Franz Schmidt, Georges Enesco, Wilhelm Furtwaengler (yes! _That _Furtwaengler, the conductor!), and Alexander Grechaninov. There are others, but I think of those off-hand.


I just heard Schmidt for the first time yesterday, definitely perfectly fitting. Maybe also Reger as well...? His Romantic Suite I'd say is worth checking out.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> You are referring to the type of early 20th century composers who put me into a CM form of sugar shock! One I tried listening to within the last couple of weeks is Joseph Marx. I find some of Richard Strauss' big works to be of a similar type.


The dessert menu served up as the main course.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Fabulin said:


> Hi! Im' looking for classical pieces which would sound like the palette achieved by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Maurice Ravel and Bernard Herrmann. Denser, richer and more advanced than 19th century romanticist standards, truly melting the heart of the listener. Ideas?


If I am reading correctly-Wagner, Messiaen, Artyomov. The latter two can be a bit "sugary".


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

There was also this recent thread, mentioning Hausegger, Klenau etc.

https://www.talkclassical.com/61029-who-has-beaten-mahler.html?highlight=hausegger+klenau


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Denser, richer, more advanced? Try something by Harrison Birtwhistle. On the surface he'd satisfy all three criteria. Earth Dances, perhaps?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

seems like Richard Strauss ought to fit the bill.....same with Bruckner.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Heck148 said:


> seems like Richard Strauss ought to fit the bill.....same with Bruckner.


This was my initial thought too. If the string surge after the opening of _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ doesn't melt your heart then your heart must have a higher melting point than a tube full of sodium.


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## brunumb (Dec 8, 2017)

Sodium has a relatively low melting point of just under 98°C.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

Fabulin said:


> Hi! Im' looking for classical pieces which would sound like the palette achieved by Gustav Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Maurice Ravel and Bernard Herrmann. Denser, richer and more advanced than 19th century romanticist standards, truly melting the heart of the listener. Ideas?


While not exactly like the composers named, for dense, rich music in the 20th cent. that melts the heart of its listeners you might try the symphonies of Alan Hovhaness. Try numbers 22, 2, and 6 to start.

And I would say the symphonies of Charles Ives (1 through 3) are 20th cent. pieces which contain dense, rich music (counterpoint especially) that "melts my heart". Especially Sym. 2.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

brunumb said:


> Sodium has a relatively low melting point of just under 98°C.


You're quite right. For some reason, I was thinking it was a couple of thousands of degrees Celcius.

As another suggestion, although it is from the 19th century, Berlioz's Requiem is quite dense and the forces required are suitably Mahlerian; it is quite a popular work so forgive me if you've heard it.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

How come we leave this off???


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Becca said:


> How come we leave this off???


 Wow. Big sound! If this is only his first symphony, where does one go from here?


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> seems like Richard Strauss ought to fit the bill.....same with Bruckner.


Just what I was thinking about, I'm getting into Richard Strauss lately, and I really think he was a great talent, yet unlike composers like Mendelssohn and Mozart he actually died in an old age (he died 85), and during his life he composed a lot in both quantity and quality.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Richard Wagner


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Not mentioned yet, I would recommend Scriabin symphonies. Also Prokofiev if you don't mind a touch of dissonance (but not no.1).


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Couchie said:


> Richard Wagner


And yet another German Classical composer, and a very good one; here in Israel his operas are banned from public play, but selling and playing CDs are of no problem, and I love his operas; he was a great talent, and my lack of a foreskin isn't going to change that.

Hey...Wagner's wedding march is a part of an opera of him I didn't get the chance to know yet...could you remind me the opera's name? I'd love to add it to my music collection; that wedding march is a great change from the oriental music crap played here on most weddings...


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> And yet another German Classical composer, and a very good one; here in Israel his operas are banned from public play, but selling and playing CDs are of no problem, and I love his operas; he was a great talent, and my lack of a foreskin isn't going to change that.
> 
> Hey...Wagner's wedding march is a part of an opera of him I didn't get the chance to know yet...could you remind me the opera's name? I'd love to add it to my music collection; that wedding march is a great change from the oriental music crap played here on most weddings...


What is popularly known as the "Wedding March" ("Here comes the bride") is from Lohengrin. It's not actually the wedding march in the opera. The wedding processional from the opera ("Elsa's procession to the cathedral") is even more exquisite:


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Couchie said:


> What is popularly known as the "Wedding March" ("Here comes the bride") is from Lohengrin. It's not actually the wedding march in the opera. The wedding processional from the opera ("*Elsa*'s procession to the cathedral") is even more exquisite:


So Disney's Elsa isn't the first one...


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Glière's crowning achievement, the gargantuan 'Ilya Muromets' Symphony is chock full of orchestral extravagance, atmosphere, drama, and imaginative scoring.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> So Disney's Elsa isn't the first one...


Have you seen _The Last Crusade_? "Let it go, Elsa!"---Indiana Jones

Thank you guys for the recommendations so far. Good stuff


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Couchie said:


> What is popularly known as the "Wedding March" ("Here comes the bride") is from Lohengrin. It's not actually the wedding march in the opera. The wedding processional from the opera ("Elsa's procession to the cathedral") is even more exquisite


for an absolute knockout, sound spectacular version of "Elsa's Procession" check out the Fennell/Eastman Wind Ensemble recording of Lucien Cailliet's transcription for symphonic band..WOW!! amazing!! a real thriller...


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Heck148 said:


> for an absolute knockout, sound spectacular version of "Elsa's Procession" check out the Fennell/Eastman Wind Ensemble recording of Lucien Cailliet's transcription for symphonic band..WOW!! amazing!! a real thriller...


You're bringing back memories of high school band, where I couldn't play the trombone worth **** but loved sitting in the middle of that piece of music.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I have my doorbell set up to play "Crown Imperial" whenever I enter the house. This is necessary to properly reflect my status.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

KenOC said:


> I have my doorbell set up to play "Crown Imperial" whenever I enter the house. This is necessary to properly reflect my status.


How does it know it's you and not some lesser being unworthy of such pomp and circumstance?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

KenOC said:


> I have my doorbell set up to play "Crown Imperial" whenever I enter the house. This is necessary to properly reflect my status.


Yes, Walton certainly carried not the great Pomp and Circumstance tradition of British grand marches, started by Handel, not Elgar...Orb & Scepter is a good one, too...


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Woodduck said:


> You're bringing back memories of high school band, where I couldn't play the trombone worth **** but loved sitting in the middle of that piece of music.


yes, it's a great transcription - you've go to pace yourself, not "shoot your wad" too early....


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