Looking for 'epic' orchestral scores

[Syrograph]

A few of Jeremy Soule's scores have come up here already (Elder Scrolls stuff mostly), but one of my all-time favourite orchestral scores is the Total Annihilation OST. It's amazing, and is the absolute definition of epic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-iag83kQc

 

[Fjartholf]

I don't know about films with epic scores... but I'll just post some classics:

Wagner Flying Dutchman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqezCR_XzaI
Mozart's Requiem Dies Irae/Lacrimosa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-kJVmEWWV8
Mussorgsky Baba Yaga and Great Gate of Kiev: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZkoW1Ta3ew

you might also want to check out some Dvorak, Brahms, Stravinsky (l'oiseau de feu - danse infernale especially) and Tchaikovsky.

 

[Private Custard]

No-one linked this yet??


Escapist, I am disappoint!

 

[Jacco]

Check the Halo OSTs out, as they are damn good.

Or look up Ride of the Valkyries. That is the definition of epic.

This. The Halo 4 OST is freaking epic as hell.

 

[generals3]

Personally i'm a huge fan of John Dreamer's work. He only has a few songs but damn are they good

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Thread necro. This thread is over two years old now.

But to contribute. Mahler. Motherfucking Gustav Mahler, the master of romanticism.

(skip to around the seven minute mark)

Similar people are Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Shostakovitch, and Prokofiev. There's more, but I can't recall ones that stood out the same.

Okay, if you don't have the time to listen Mahler's 7th, listen to this quick piece by Prokofiev (by the way, I listened to Prokofiev's 5th live, it's a pretty nice symphony).



Okay, maybe you didn't like the slow part in the middle of that. Well, Shostakovitch's Festive Overture is about the same length and is upbeat and engaging throughout.


Overtures are all nice. Intro pieces, really. Fast tempo, upbeat, not that lengthy, usually with their own unique styles. Of course, by tradition the first movement to most symphonies are the same style. But here's another overture, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture - not as good Shostakovitch, but it's a recognizable classic in same familiarity as Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Lisct's Hungarian Rhapsody (trust me, you've heard their tunes, even if you don't remember the names).


Okay, fuck this, TheYellowCellPhone, these pieces still aren't as fast and exciting as I want them to be, they take too long to listen and there are only moments of pants jizzing sandwiched between pretentiously thick slices of bleh.

THEN LET ME. TELL YOU. About John Phillips Sousa and Henry Fillmore. You've heard most of Sousa's works like The Stars and the Stripes (again, you've heard the tune but probably not the names), but Fillmore is in my opinion superior to Sousa. Most of their pieces take maybe three minutes per, and goddamn don't you wish they were longer.



And if you want to get a little more modern, Maslanka. His saxophone concerto is the best concerto I've listened to, and by an incredibly unorthodox orchestral instrument like a saxophone too! Lots of his pieces, like Give us the Day are easily lovable and memorable.

Also, Maslanka's symphonies (his fourth being his most popular) are freaking awesome.