Epic Music Discussion/Suggestions

[RebelRising]

I'm a huge classical/film score fan, and I am always looking around for more music to try. Do you guys have any ideas of what I would like? Feel free to post your ideas. Amongst other styles that I like (Hans Zimmer and John Murphy), I'm looking primarily for very epic/dramatic/apocalyptic songs.

To give you an idea, here are some of my favorite artists and their work.

Tyler Bates-300: Come and Get Them is overwhelmingly powerful.

Vangelis-Mythodea/Alexander: If there's one thing Vangelis knows, it's vocals.

Howard Shore-Lord of the Rings: The End of All Things is beautiful.

Karl Jenkins/Karl Orff: Great stuff there, too.

Tchaikovsky/Wagner/Stravinsky: Who can forget these guys?

Also, anyone who has seen Religilous will know that there is very epic, world-ending choral piece that is simply awesome. If anybody knows what it is, and where I can find, I will be forever indebted to you.

 

[Galletea]

I would recommend Mars, god of war, from Holsts planets for epic apocalyptic stuff.

I'll post more as they come to me.

EDIT:
O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff is a pretty awesome epic choral piece.

 

[Wasabi-Knight]

The music from Hans Zimmer or John Williams is epic and beyond.

Oh and you should listen to Vangelis' songs. Those are quite epic. ;3

 

[RebelRising]

You'll see in my posting that I really like Hans Zimmer and Vangelis.

And yeah, I love Carmina Burana.

 

[DC_Josh]

I liked the I,Robot soundtrack. Had some pretty moving pieces.

 

[Galletea]

The Dies Irae from Verdi's requiem is what you want. Epic choral and literally apocalyptic

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Promised Pain from Xenosaga 3... actually a lot of Xenosaga is of the bombastic style you speak of

 

[SargentToughie]

Requiem for a dream

/thread

EDIT: fine then, "Last of the brave" From the Halo 3 soundtrack is pretty good too

 

[Maet]

I hate Zimmer. He takes one good theme, then pummels it into the ground.

Slightly off topic, but the recently released massive RE5 trailer actually has strong orchestral underscores, so that might be worth a listen.

Personally, I find the key to strong epic music is a relentless ostenato, which is why Mars (by Gustav Holst) is such a good example.

Music that predates the film era probably doesn't have what you're looking for, except maybe in operas. Try looking at film scores from the epics from Gone With The Wind to Lawrence of Arabia.

 

[DannyDamage]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Mark Snow (X-Files)

Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy)

Dream Theater (Epic as hell!)

Enjoy!

 

[Galletea]

Shostakovich's 5th is pretty damn good too.
Thus spake Zarathrusta, of course, very short but rather good.
Prokofiev, Montagues and Capulets?

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

The Halo soundtrack is pretty awesome, even though it's a Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame has some great orchestral themes.

 

[RebelRising]

Does anybody know anything about the Religilous music?

 

[Cheesus333]

When me and my friend were coop'ing Army of Two, we entered the Back to Back bit just as the chorus of Knights of Cydonia came on. Pounding bullets into terrorists is a lot more dramatic when you've got Matt Bellamy singing "Noone's gonna taaaake, meeeee, aliiiive!" in the background.

Also, later I was playing assassin's Creed and a large barracks worth of guards encircled me. I cut each one down - perfectly in time to Hysteria, also by Muse.

Muse are good at musicing.

 

[Godysseus]

Good stuff already listed, I'll add Dvorak's Symphony No 9.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlci-kCEaKE

This is the music that plays in my head everytime I take a dump.

 

[mkb07a]

Ennio Morricone's stuff is amazing IMO- it's the spaghetti western stuff but "Man With A Harmonica" makes me feel like punching Jesus in the face and taking over the world.

Also, there's a video of Muse at Marlay Park with Chris playing "Man With A Harmonica" before "Knights of Cydonia." It's now on my iPod and what I listen to constantly, walking to class.

 

[zen5887]

Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy)

Dream Theater (Epic as hell!)

Enjoy!

Uematsu is my hero and dream theater is one of my fav bands.

Good choice!!

Look for Octivarium and 6 degrees of inner turbulence =D

 

[Galletea]

Ok religulous wise, the sombre chorale piece is Alma Redemptoris mater by palestrina. There is also a piece called fourth degree by klaus Badelt, who composed the soundtrack for the first pirates of the carribean. I couldn't find the piece to hear it, nor have I seen this film so I can't be certain.
On the music credits they were the only two classical type pieces I saw.

 

[Spinozaad]

Not really the epic music most people described, but stoner legends 'Kyuss' have some epic-sounding tracks.

Listen to 'Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop' out loud, and you'll hear the heaviest assault on your eardrums ever.

 

[Frybird]

Ayreon - Concept Albums of Epic Scope with some of the best singers of Rock/Metal as guests. Also, the Album "The Human Equiation" tells a pretty intelligent and deep story.

God of War Soundtrack & Halo Soundtracks - More than equal to film scores.

Also, any Version of Terra's Theme (Opening) from Final Fantasy VI that you can find. I don't like FF, but i LOVE that Song.