So about once a year I discover a song, that contrary to my main rock and roll category of music (Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden etc...), just blows my mind. The kind of song I'm talking about is generally either a piano solo song, or piano accompanied by strings or some sort of orchestra, and if you find the right one, its hard to find a better piece of music.
For example, recently on my ipod, my top 25 most played playlist consisted of my general sort of music, Zeppelin, Guns n' Roses, Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, Pearl Jam etc.... but at the top of this list.... a song called "Central Park" from the movie King Kong, written by James Newton Howard (never heard of him).
This is the song: (the quality is kinda bad, but it goes so well with the scene and it was the only one that had the video too)
When watching this, I literally nearly bawled my eyes out, and music in the background just blew my mind it was so perfect.
Another one of these songs occurs in the movie V for Vendetta, and it's called "Valerie". This piano part repeats alot throughout the movie, but the best and longest version of it is in this song.
The part im talking about starts at exactly 4:08 of this video clip and runs until the end.
Today I found another one of these songs, for the first time in over a year, which is much too long. It came from the movie "The Snowman" which I now remember I watched when I was a little kid and cried my eyes out a million times to.
There's also a piano version of this song which is just as good, if not better.
Anyways, hearing this song for the first time in probably 15 years today is making me crave for more. Maybe I'm weird and the only one who actually enjoys this stuff, but if not, could someone please direct me to some of their favourite "epic" songs in this style?
edit:
a couple more of these types of songs that I love, although not as epic, and a little more mainstream are:
Metallica: Ecstasy of gold
And the end part of On Every Street by Dire Straits, starting at 2:41 is the part I mean:
There is a better version out there from their live album On the Night, but i couldn't find it on youtube.
Last edited by MonsieurFish; 06-09-2009 at 01:37 AM.
Thanks for the Metallica clips!!!! Someone had told me about them doing something with an orchestra and I could never find it.
I just spent 30 minutes listening to them and the whole time "Baby Pux" was rockin' out in utero. Might have something to do with going to a Metallica concert when I was 2 months preggo.
But on the topic, I really enjoy the soundtracks to Jurrasic Park, Mystic River, and The Assassination of Jesse James. When I used to listen to XM they had a channel full of move scores. It was awesome.
I hear that there is this guy called Bach who wrote tons of excellent material. He's pretty good. What a wierd name though. Johann. Maybe he's part of a German Heavy Metal group?
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Yeah, I think there is pretty much an unlimited well of great pieces of music written by some of the greatest composer geniuses to walk this Earth. You know... Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc...
Yeah, I think there is pretty much an unlimited well of great pieces of music written by some of the greatest composer geniuses to walk this Earth. You know... Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, etc...
And there is a bunch of stuff that occasionally gets released without copyright (yes, the music isn't copyrighted but the performance usually is copyrighted, unless otherwise indicated). (Edit: here is a link to a bunch of Public Domain stuff http://www.musopen.com/)
Something else to consider are some bands like The Moody Blues who have done a huge amount of orchestral work.
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Last edited by Bobblehead; 06-09-2009 at 10:40 AM.
Reason: Added link to Public Domain Music
Thanks for the Metallica clips!!!! Someone had told me about them doing something with an orchestra and I could never find it.
I just spent 30 minutes listening to them and the whole time "Baby Pux" was rockin' out in utero. Might have something to do with going to a Metallica concert when I was 2 months preggo.
Here's a good one for Baby Pux to rock out to ... maybe this should be a thread of its own. It's not Metal, but it's a fitting theme.
I love the Spiderman Soundtrack. The use of the mutes on the trumpets, and how you have the brass carrying the melody with the woodwinds in the harmany is just beautiful. A very wide use of instruments is used in it.
One that I heard at amateur music festivals/competitions (I used to be a bit of a music nerd) is Variations of a Korean Folk song, It can be downloaded or youtubed I beleive. Variations on a Irish Folk song (played it in band), loved that too but I can't find anything on the net for audio of it.
As far as any ensamble goes, I like percussion ensembles. I sort of hate the sound of steel drums, but timpini's and marimba's carry a beautiful sound.
Bourque/Classical/Romantic - the only one I actually like is Schubert's Erlking (Erlkrong). Quite honestly, Bach bores me. Playing his music is difficult, and when you play it you do learn to appreciate the fine details, but if I were to have to listen to it, I'd fall asleep. Erlking is a piano solo, so not orchastra. Any Bourque/Classical is probably not orchastra (Bach, Mozart, maybe even Chopin though Chopin is considered Romantic era) because that was before the industrial revolution and you didn't have the brass instruments or even the range for piano.
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Last edited by Phanuthier; 06-12-2009 at 02:33 AM.
I absolutely LOVE this piece of music... brought to my attention by its presence in Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers trailer. It was remixed for the trailer and renamed Requiem for a Tower. I decided for the purposes of this thread to post the full Requiem for a Dream first.
Here is the trailer I speak of (music begins about 1/2 way through):
This piece of music is also known as Lux Aeterna.
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So about once a year I discover a song, that contrary to my main rock and roll category of music (Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden etc...), just blows my mind. The kind of song I'm talking about is generally either a piano solo song, or piano accompanied by strings or some sort of orchestra, and if you find the right one, its hard to find a better piece of music.
Then you would probably enjoy the CD named "Symphony Sessions" by David Foster. All piano solo or else piano solo accompanied by symphony orchestra.
The CD is from 1988, I had ordered it around 8 years ago only because I wanted the theme song to Calgary's Winter Olympics. But I was very pleasantly surprised with the whole CD.
Songs like "The Water Fountain" from Secret of My Success are on the CD, very relaxing and easy listening music.
Anybody wants to listen to a good soundtrack, listen to the Batman Begins soundtrack. I've been listening to it non-stop for a week. It's all classical, and I'm usually a hard rock fan... but damn, this is good music. It's from Hanz Zimmer, one of Hollywood's most well-known composers.
I tend to like eastern european composers. Arvo Part's Fratres are one of my favorite collections of pieces, And I really like Henryk Gorecki's 3rd Symphony. There's also a piece by Pelecis called Nevertheless that is probably my favorite chamber orchestra piece, although it's not very common. (Gidon Kremer's Music From My Home is the only recording of it that I'm aware of, and I highly recommend the album to anyone who thinks that they might be interested in contemporary baltic composers).
Also, I like Piazzolla Tangos a lot.
Other favorites are Orff's Carmina Burana (the most famous movement of which anyone would recognise: it's the stand-in music that epic movies use in trailers when they don't have their own soundtrack done). It's orchestra and choral arrangement, so it doesn't exactly fit your category, but while I'm on the subject I also like John Taverner's choral works, and going way back, Palestrina's. Also, Elizabethian composer John Downland, who wrote exquisite little songs for quartets or other small arrangements. I'm not a big fan of most of the mainstream classical composers, but I do have a soft spot for Bach's Sleepers Wake.
And I'm a big fan of Prokofiev's Piano Concertos, particularly no 3, and his Sonatas 6,7 and 8. And Rachmaninoff's 4th.
edit: I'm at work so I can go youtubing for links, but I'll try to find some this weekend.
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