| abstract
| - There's a reason these pieces are called "classics".
* Gregorio Allegri's Miserere. When the Pope heard it, he immediately declared that it could only be performed in the Sistine Chapel, and no sheet music ever sold, so that people would pay to hear it. They did. That's right, this song was a tourist attraction. (At least until a young miscreant named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart listened to it once and then transcribed it, almost perfectly, from memory. Does that make bootlegging concert recordings Older Than Steam?)
* "Wayfarin' Stranger," an Appalachian folk hymn. When the piano kicks into high gear . . . just, WOW. Great choir, too.
* It only just about counts as Classical, Emilie Autumn's instrumental song Dominant is beyond epic. If the world were ending, this would be the perfect soundtrack.
* Additionally "Laced" is a great album with Revelry, Tambourin and La Folia particularly beautiful.
* Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor (shown here). It is used as Warcraft 2 menu theme.
* How awesome is this music? Less than fifteen seconds of it, as performed on violin, is the core of this theme from Bleach. In the anime, this is typically used as the "you underestimated my awesomeness" music.
* Not to mention his just-as-famous "Little" Fugue in G minor, which has been used as boss music for Mega Man Legends 2.
* In fact, name a piece by Bach. Any piece. The Mass in B Minor, the "Dorian" Toccata, the Fantasy and Fugue in G minor (the "Great" G minor fugue to the preceding "Little" G minor fugue), the Chromatic Fantasia, the St. Matthew Passion, the Goldberg Variations ... the man was an absolute genius.
* The Brandenburg Concertos are incredible. The first movement of the 5th, especially the end, is harpsichord on... some kind of illegal drug.
* Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is another highlight of Bach's output, and Celtic Woman certainly does a beautiful rendition of it.
* Johann Sebastian Bach improvised much of his work. Including fugues. He just wrote down what he remembered later. He could probably have farted a four-part fugue and it would have been brilliant.
* Air from Orchestral Suite No.3, better known as "Air on the G string".
* The Well-Tempered Clavier. Yes, everyone knows the first Prelude, but Book II contains many gorgeous and haunting preludes that blow the first book out of the water.
* Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Especially a chorale arrangement he heard once.
* The Dallas Symphony Orchestra opened their 2001 season with Barber's Adagio with Strings three days after 9/11. Excuse me, something caught in my eye...
* Beethoven's 9th Symphony, movement 4 is one of many Standard Snippets popular throughout fiction, but it is one that truly conveys majesty. Or that humanity is really, truly fucked.
* Not only through fiction, after all, it is the anthem of the European Union.
* It speaks volumes that this song managed to be chosen as the EU anthem even after having been used as a patriotic song by the Nazis. It's that good.
* How awesome and powerful is his 9th? A popular explanation for modern CDs being the size they are (12cm in diameter) is the single simple reason that that was the minimum size needed for the first gen of them to fit the entire ninth on one disk.
* It has been said of the 9th Symphony that Beethoven, in his final symphonic work, showed a desire to reach beyond the music itself and draw upon something divine.
* Which he arguably did--but the 9th was the first of a planned pair of symphonies. Sketches for the 10th exist (although they don't sound like much; Beethoven's first drafts were typically much less awesome than his final versions).
* To cap this off, on the night of the Symphony's premiere, the performance received five standing ovations. What's so special about this? The Emperor of Austria recieved three when attending performances and it was custom for no one to outdo this. Yes, that's right, Beethoven became greater than an Emperor for his music.
* And then there's the 5th. Not just the first movement - all four movements deserve mention here.
* Not to mention the 2nd movement of his 7th symphony. The very definition of "allegretto."
* In fact, just try to find a Beethoven symphony that is anything short of superb.
* And there's more to Beethoven than just symphonies. Check out the Fourth Piano Concerto, which has one of most hauntingly beautiful slow movements ever. Or the "Emperor", which has an absolutely gorgeous slow movement which leads - without break - straight into a brilliant finale.
* Then there's the "Egmont" Overture - just so magnificently gorgeous and evocative.
* The Moonlight Sonata.
* Even its fans would acknowledge that 20th century classical music is an acquired taste, but here is one 20th century piece made from purest awesome: Leonard Bernstein's 1st Movement of the Chichester Psalms.
* Another awesome selection from 20th century classical music is Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, particularly the 3rd movement, which consists of a movement from a Mahler symphony with all manner of musical quotations layered, as well as more literal quotations from the works of Claude Levi-Strauss and others. A particularly mind-blowing moment is near the end, when half the vocalists shout "Stop!," while the other half shout "Keep going!"
* Carmen, by Georges Bizet. One of the most well-known operas in popular culture, and the most-played opera in the world. Try the Big Chorus Number "Les Voici" (a.k.a. "Entry of the Toreadors") from Act IV, or the Habanera, or the Toreador Song, which is possibly one of the most famous operatic songs for a man of all time! And there are all kinds of other gems sprinkled throughout the opera, all the way to the end. Don't believe us? Just listen to a recording from your local library.
* Seguidilla, as well.
* And his "L'Arlésienne" suites are similarly great.
* Au fond du temple saint from The Pearl Fishers. One of the most famous duets in opera, and the best known piece from the whole opera.
* The Polovtsian Dances from Aleksandr Borodin's opera Prince Igor starts with a slow section that was ripped off as "Strangers in Paradise" for the 1953 Broadway musical Kismet, but then continues to a fast, bombastic, and VERY "O Fortuna"-ish section (beginning at about the 3:40 mark) that has been used in a lot of movie trailers.
* The final movement of Brahms' Fourth Symphony in E minor is a great deal of awesome in its own right. He's got the whole powerful and tragic thing running on all four cylinders - and unlike most symphonies in minor keys (including his own First Symphony in C minor), he doesn't shift into the major mode for the ending. The first three movements have plenty of awesome moments of their own (Yes fans will recognise the third movement as the source of Rick Wakeman's solo track "Cans and Brahms" on Fragile).
* Though (and perhaps because) both of Brahms' piano concerti are very demanding of the soloist - the B-flat major concerto in particular is one of the most difficult in the standard repertoire - they are each fifty minutes of pure awesome.
* We don't have much in the way of confirmation, but it is quite possible that Anton Bruckner wrote the fourth movement of his Eighth Symphony specifically to knock you on your ass.
* The Piano Concerto in C by Feruccio Busoni. Nearly an hour long, in five movements, and the last movement calls for full-voiced men's choir. If you have a pianist that can manage it, it is a thing of amazement.
* John Cage's prepared piano music. Regardless of how you feel about his later music, these earlier pieces are texturally fascinating, melodically innovative (and hummable!) and rhythmically exciting. For example, try listening to Totem ancestor.
* His 4'33" is definitely a Crowning Music Of Awesome and arguably the greatest Mind Screw in music history.
* Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu.
* By the same composer, Waltz in C# minor. (Too often played much too fast, but the linked video is an excellent recording.)
* Also by Chopin, the posthumous nocturne in C# minor. It can be a very difficult piece to play, but it pretty much defines "heartbreakingly beautiful" as classical music goes.
* Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni. The guy wrote it when he was only SEVENTEEN.
* Technically, it's Classical and something else, but Classical Crossover and Classical Fusion definitely deserve mention. Just start with "Explosive" from Bond and go from there.
* "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland. (ELP's version is pretty awesome too.)
* A Copland medley with "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Simple Gifts" has been a staple of the WVU marching band for a long time now - listen to it here.
* Copland's Rodeo - especially the Hoedown - is often cited as uplifting souls and generating tears.
* Henry Cowell's Three Irish Legends Suite. While modern pieces that rely heavily on dissonant clusters for their effects, they're ALL amazing pieces of work.
* Claude Debussy deserves a mention or three. Clair de lune is one of the most recognizable classical pieces of all time. Not to mention La Mer, Arabesque, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and many, many more.
* Lucia's Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti.
* Also by Donizetti, Una furtiva lagrima from L'Elisir d'amore. One of the most famous tenor arias.
* Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"), especially the third movement Molto vivace, was also helpful in writing Star Wars. And the concluding Allegro con fuoco was an inspiration behind blatantly plagiarised into the Jaws theme, but is ten times more awesome.
* Hell, when Allegro con Fuoco takes up the final half of episode 126 of One Piece (where Luffy finally defeats Sir Crocodile), and was remixed into one of Rhapsody of Fire's most epic songs, Wizard's Last Rhymes, you know it's bound to be Crowning Music of Awesome.
* There's no doubt that the Allegro con fuoco is awesome, but let's not forget that the entire symphony is pretty much epic win in musical form.
* Dvorak wrote all kinds of kick-ass music. Slavonic Dances, Rusalka, The Water-Goblin etc. etc.
* The cello concerto in B minor. The whole thing, especially the first movement, is the crowning moment of awesome for concertos in general.
* The theme of Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations forms the basis of Clubbed to Death as featured in The Matrix. Nimrod, a movement from the Variations, is achingly beautiful and has been used in many moving moments in film and TV, as well as being played by British military bands at services on Remembrance Day.
* Elgar's Cello Concerto also forms a solid block of awesomeness, but particularly the first movement as played by Jacqueline du Pre: a quiet beginning, rising to incredible heights, and back down again.
* Elgar's First Symphony also deserves a mention. Its opening is superb. It begins with muted timpani, and then branches into a glorious, stately theme, played pianissimo at first, but it starts increasing in volume, and then it gets taken up by the full orchestra, played fortissimo. The effect is glorious.
* César Franck's Le Chasseur Maudit, which tells how the titular "accursed hunter" is punished by God for hunting on the Sabbath. There are four sections, all of them epic. The hunter ignores the church bells and heads to the forest (section 1, a noble slow introduction). He relentlessly pursues his prey (section 2, containing the main "chase" theme). He reaches the heart of the forest (section 3, a slow interlude superficially reminiscent of section 1 but much more mysterious). Something stirs in the trees (a creepy transition that ends with a terrifying blast from the horns), and suddenly the hunter is himself being chased (section 4, which cleverly repeats the "chase" theme from section 2 but much faster and with creepier instrumentation). The hunter hears church bells as fate closes in on him. Basically, it's awesome.
* Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". From the first clarinet trill to the last soaring chords... It never quite leaves you alone.
* Reinhold Gliere is a Russian/Soviet composer whose works are relatively unknown to the West, which is a pity, as his "Hymn to the Great City" from The Bronze Horseman is a stirring tribute to Saint Petersburg. It has since been given words to form an actual anthem for Saint Petersburg. His "Russian Sailors' Dance" from The Red Poppy is lots of fun, his tone poem "Heroic March for the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR" is epic, and "Holiday in Ferghana" is evocative of a wild Eastern bazaar.
* Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. After the inexorable buildup, when the music finally swells and crashes, you can almost feel every cymbal crashing in your face.
* For a slightly different taste - but no less awesome by any means - the cover by the band Apocalyptica deserves a standing ovation every time.
* Handel's Messiah. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah!
* How about the Hallelujah Chorus in flash mob form?
* All of the Messiah. All three beautiful hours.
* Also Israel in Egypt, particularly the second half.
* Zadok the Priest, which also doubles as Awesome Music of Crowning - it was written for the coronation of King George II of Great Britain, Ireland, and Hannover in 1727, and has been played at every coronation of a British monarch since.
* Te Deum for the Victory of Dettingen, written to commemorate King George II's victory over the French in 1743, is an underrated piece of brilliance.
* Arrival of the Queen of Sheba is fantastic.
* The Water Music is excellent, as is the Music for the Royal Fireworks.
* See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes from Judas Maccabeus is incredible.
* Haydn's Creation. Dear Lord, Haydn's Creation. The oratorio begins with a musical representation of chaos, followed by a bass recitative, and then the choir singing, pianissimo: Und Gott spracht: Es werde Licht (And God said: Let there be light), und es ward -- and then a sudden fortissimo -- LICHT! Words can't describe it properly -- listen to it here.
* Samuel R. Hazo's Ride is an energetic piece with an epic alto sax solo at 1:04. Sevens, the piece that starts out alternating between 11/16 and 7/16 time and in the key of G-flat. Arabesque, starting out with three epic flute solos and then getting much more epic as it goes on. Finally, Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song, a beautiful piece.
* Hildegard of Bingen's Alleluia, O Virga Mediatrix is one of the most beautiful Gregorian chants ever written.
* Gustav Holst's "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" and, to a lesser extent, "Mars, the Bringer of War", which was a major inspiration behind much of the Star Wars soundtrack. This is the music we will play when we go to war against the stars.
* Some would say that the string solo that starts at 3:07 in Jupiter practically qualifies as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. Holst recomposed that part to create "I Vow To Thee My Country", one of England's many unofficial anthems.
* "Uranus, the Magician". Starts out bombastic, gets quiet, then epic, then quiet again, then finally revs up to Fucking MEGA EPIC for the finale.
* Also, "Neptune the Mystic". Pure mystery, with a gorgeous Ethereal Choir.
* It's also the first piece in music to be written with an intentional fadeout ending, even in a live performance setting. Holst nailed it. (Holst specified that the chorus is to be placed in an offstage room, and at the end, while the chorus is repeating the last bar over and over, the door to the room is to be closed slowly…)
* Holst's symphonic tone poem Egdon Heath, written to evoke the setting of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native. It is both harmonically and emotionally mysterious. Holst actually considered it his best work, but it never became popular. Definitely Needs More Love.
* Leoš Janáček's String Concerto No. 2, called "Intimate Letters" by the composer. He wrote it for Kamila Stösslová, a married woman 40 years his junior who may have never loved him back. The third movement has been interpreted as a lullaby for the son she never bore him.
* Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer". Yes, it's become a standard jingle (usually played much too fast) but the actual piece remains great; and the third section is a moment of ethereal beauty that catches you completely by surprise.
* Maple Leaf Rag is awesomely... enjoyable.
* A few others that stand out among Joplin's oeuvre are "The Chrysanthemum", "Peacherine Rag" and "Gladiolus Rag".
* And for something a bit different, Joplin's "Bethena: A Concert Waltz" is also rather awesomely pretty. Also known for being "that song from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".
* Khachaturian's Sabre Dance from Gayane, another of the most instantly recognisable tracks in all of classical music.
* Or, boosting the awesome quotient, Vanessa Mae's remix. And to further up the awesome quotient, there's dancers too.
* Listen to his "Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia" (known to fans of vintage British television as the theme to The Onedin Line). Then dry your eyes.
* Also the violin concerto.
* По́люшко-по́ле, (Polyushko-polye, or Song of the Plains) by Lev Knipper with lyrics by Viktor Gusev. As stirring as Soviet patriotic songs get.
* Korobeiniki, aka the Tetris theme. Older Than They Think. Most Westerners have only heard it in MIDI format on their Game Boys, but with full orchestra... AWESOME.
* While we're on the subject of fully-orchestrated Tetris music, we must mention the remix included in the Super Smash Bros Brawl soundtrack. DEFINITELY qualifies for the trope. (Along with about 95% of the rest of the Brawl OST, but we'll leave that for the video game page.)
* Vesti la giubba from I Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. It's the aria in The Untouchables.
* Franz Liszt wrote many pieces which deserve mention here. Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp minor/F-sharp major and Liebestraum No.3 in A-flat major are some of the most challenging and beautiful pieces for piano.
* Then there's Paysage, Funérailles, La Campanella, Totentanz, the Symphonic Poems, the Mephisto Waltz... not surprising that many of these are awesome since Liszt wrote them to perform himself so that he could show off his considerable pianistic skill (he is often regarded as one of the outstanding piano virtuosi of all time).
* Medieval Latin Chanting time. From the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat: Cuncti simun concantentes - AVE MARIA!
* The last 7-8 minutes of Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony will take your breath away every time.
* The finale of the 2nd Symphony is a literal example of the phrase "pull out all the stops"; the organist is, in fact, instructed to play with all stops open.
* Any live (professional) performance of the mammoth 8th Symphony, "The Symphony of a Thousand", is almost guaranteed to be an awesome experience for both performers and audience.
* Mexican music is underappreciated so here's Danzon no.2 by Arturo Márquez.
* Voi lo sapete from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.
* Also The Easter Chorus.
* Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" is awesomeness of epic proportions. There's a reason it has become a standard wedding recessional in many countries.
* His Violin Concerto in E minor is concentrated awesome from start to finish.
* To this we've come from The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti. Passionate, desperate, and incredibly powerful.
* Further awesomeness from the 20th century: Olivier Messiaen - 5th Movement of the Turangalîla Symphonie.
* Mozart's Krönungsmesse (link to the Kyrie) is Awesome Music of Crowning.
* Not to mention that he wrote a song titled "Leck mich im Arsch" which, in German, means "Kiss my ass". We need a Crowning Music Of Funny section for that.
* Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"
* Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Particularly amazing bits are Gnomus, The Old Castle, and The Great Gate of Kiev, especially the moment when the recurring "Promenade" theme enters about halfway through.
* Conlon Nancarrow was a modern composer who liked to write pieces that no human could possibly play. These pieces might be impossibly fast or precise, contrapuntal lines at different tempi (and strange tempo ratios), and some very thick counterpoint. Obviously, if nobody could play these pieces, there could be a problem in finding performers. His solution? He wrote them for player piano, a piano that plays itself. The results are startling and rather spectacular. He did this partially as an extension of the harmonic theories of Henry Cowell, previously mentioned on this page.
* Several opera choruses are incredibly stunning. For instance the Soldiers' Chorus from Faust by Charles Gounod, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi, and the Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhaüser by Richard Wagner.
* "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. One of the most instantly recognisable pieces in all of classical music, and with good reason.
* Also by Carl Orff, "In Taberna Quando Sumus", an Ominous Latin drinking song.
* Bacce bene venies as well. Istud vinum bonum vinum vinum generosum... Redit vinum curialem probum animosum!
* Also Tempus est iocundum, which might just be the happiest song ever written.
*
* Orff's "Carmina Burana" is just full of epicness. There is no way to deny that fact.
* Pachelbel's Canon in D. Period.
* This version certainly belongs on this list.
* As does this comedic take, which lampshades just how prevalent Canon in D is in Western culture.
* See also the Christmas version.
* Paganini's fiendishly tough caprice #24 as played by Jascha Heifetz. There's a reason why no one is allowed to surpass Paganini in sheer awesomeness of all that he could do with a violin. As for Heifetz, his playing of this piece is something very unique. That's all that needs to be said.
* Better quality here. To make it more awesome, this is likely the most widely viewed classical video on Youtube, and Heifetz himself runs into several millions of views overall which further cements his place as one of the greatest violinists ever.
* The Montagues and Capulets sequence from Prokofiev's Romeo And Juliet.
* La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini. All. Of. It. But ESPECIALLY "O soave fanciulla and "Quando m'en vo" (a.k.a. Musetta's Waltz). If you hear opera in a movie or tv show and it's not Flight of the Valkyries, there's a good chance it's this.
* Also from Puccini, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot. The end of the aria is the bit that everyone knows (Luciano Pavarotti in particular made it something of a signature tune in his repertoire):
* Henry Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary. It's mostly known as the unfitting opening theme in the film of A Clockwork Orange.
* Also, Purcell's When I am laid in earth, the famous lament from Dido and Aeneas. Heart-breakingly beautiful...
* Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise", Op.34 No.14, is his most well-known vocal work, and has been arranged for almost every conceivable collection of instruments. Its haunting beauty definitely earns it a place on this page.
* Although Nos. 2 and 3 are the most popular and frequently performed, all four of Rachmaninoff's piano concerti embody awesomeness to at least some extent. Ditto the Paganini Rhapsody. And the 2nd Symphony.
* While the entire piece is epic, the Cathedral Chorus (ending) of Alfred Reed's Russian Christmas Music is simply awe-inspiring.
* For the full recording.
* The "Dies Irae" part of the Requiem Mass has more than one crowningly awesome interpretation. Try Mozart's or Verdi's or Michael Haydn's (which is very under-appreciated). There is also the original chant.
* It is also notable for being one of the first headbang-able pieces of music ever written. Seriously. Mozart invented heavy metal. And Punk, according to some pundits.
* The former was used to great effect in X 2 X Men United during Nightcrawler's attack on the White House.
* And if that's not good enough, Mozart's Confutatis, maledictis will leave you breathless. (This was the one that Mozart was doing additive composition on with Salieri near the end of Amadeus.)
* Don't forget World at War, when you, as the Russian, sack Berlin.
* The latter was used to great effect in the opening cinema of Quidditch World Cup.
* Also applies to Faure's Requiem, with the "Dies Irae" passage appearing in ridiculously awesome fashion in the 6th movement Libera Me. Both this and the 7th movement, In Paradisum, were used to poignant effect in the final episode of British Detective Series Inspector Morse.
* The Ballad of Sweeney Todd was also inspired by the Dies Irae.
* Maurice Ravel's Bolero. It's one of a very few pieces of music that, while repetitive, lacks for nothing, and let's not forget that amazing, soul-inflating, spirit-lifting ending. Also, it's tied to a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the Winter Olympics: Torvill and Dean ice-danced to it and earned the sport's only perfect score, to date.
* Ravel's F Major String Quartet is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest - and most difficult - string quartets ever written. The fourth movement is absolutely spectacular.
* Resphigi's Pini di Roma - so awesome, it influenced John Williams. Of special note is the final movement, I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of Appian Way), which has been described as follows:
*
* Even more awesome when its accompanies by humpback whales flying into the Aurora Borealis.
* Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture. Part beautiful, part powerful and energetic, part takes your breath away... It's quite possibly one of the most epic overtures ever written.
* Also "Story of the Calendar Prince".
* El Condor Pasa, by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles. So epic that Paul Simon ripped it off. The Twelve Girls Band arrangement is arguably the most awesome, especially from 2.56 to the end.
* Rossini opera overtures - The Thieving Magpie, The Barber of Seville, and quintessentially Wilhelm Tell.
* The second movement of John Rutter's Gloria.
* Carnival of the Animals: Finale.
* Fossils. And Aquarium. Aquarium in particular is almost the perfect accompaniment for scuba diving or spacewalk scenes.
* Speaking of Saint-Saens, Symphony #3, commonly referred to as the "Organ" symphony because it uses that instrument. The most awesome moment is the entrance of the organ in the second half of the second movement, going from near silence in the orchestra to the full organ in an instant. Also marks the shift from C Minor to C Major. Here are the links for the entire symphony in all its glory.
* Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix, from his opera Samson et Dalila. Seductive and perfect. Also the wild Bacchanal from Act III.
* "Danse Macabre". The Grim Reaper rocking out to Psycho Strings? Yes please! Play this on Halloween. Loudly.
* Schubert's Erlkonig. Dark, whimsical, and completely menacing.
* Schubert wrote incredibly accessible and just plainly awesome music. Try his "Unfinished" symphony (both of the complete movements in different ways), his Lieder (so many to choose from), the Death and the Maiden quartet, and of course his Ave Maria (memorably used as the concluding piece in the original Fantasia).
* Shostakovich has many, many moments of awesome music. Several of the pieces in the Op. 87 set of 24 Preludes and Fugues for the piano are this for both composer and performer. The finale of Symphony #5 is brilliant and exciting, always climbing up by semitones and pushing the tension up further with each step. And Symphony #9, written at the behest of Josef Stalin who commissioned it as a celebration of victory in World War Two, which completely mocks the idea of a grandiose celebratory symphony in favour of a more "folksy" style.
* This does come with the caveat that many of Shostakovich's ostensible crowning moments of awesome are often alternatively interpreted as hollow triumphs, the music wearing a big fake plastic smile to hide inner grief and torment (much like Shostakovich himself for much of his life). Moments frequently interpreted in this way include the aforementioned finale of Symphony No.5 and the concluding prelude and fugue in D minor from Op.87. This does not detract from their quality, but it does add a rather sinister edge to many supposed triumphant conclusions in his works.
* For the lighter (yet still awesome) side of Shostakovich, there's Waltz No.2 from the Suite for Variety Orchestra.
* Finlandia by Jean Sibelius.
* Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 is a formal masterpiece and has quite possibly the greatest (and most enigmatic) ending of any piece of classical music. The finale of the second symphony is also worth mention.
* Robert W Smith, anyone? The Ascension, Inferno, Paradiso, Into the Storm.
* Anything by the Strauss family... Most notably the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss I, and the Blue Danube Waltz and Thunder and Lightning by Johann Strauss II.
* Many Austrians wish the Radetzkymarsch was the Austrian Anthem.
* By a Strauss not related to the famous Strauss family, Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra!
* His "Four Last Songs", for soprano and orchestra, written towards the end of his life, when Germany was devastated after World War 2, are among the most beautiful and grandest sad music ever written: "At Sunset" (Turn up your speakers!)
* Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird" and "Rite of Spring", which was intended to represent a Virgin Sacrifice. Listen to the finale of the former and weep.
* Gilbert and Sullivan's "For he is an Englishman" from HMS Pinafore.
* Thomas Tallis, a 16th-century English composer of choral music, wrote a 40-part chorale, called Spem in Alium. It was written for 8 separate five-voiced choirs. The voices in this song will lift up your soul and carry it off to heaven.
* Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", a work that is played with a triumphant Russian chorus, numerous thundering chimes, fireworks, and freaking cannons.
* To quote Calvin, "And they perform this in crowded concert halls? Gee, I thought classical music was boring!"
* Perhaps the only piece of music that REQUIRES cannons, carillon, and an organ to perform properly. Since there are perhaps only a dozen places where these three instruments can be used, live performances will use at best two out the three, with the third instrument being pre-recorded, or ignoring the organ orchestration all-together.
* It's possible to fake the cannons by giving members in the audience...paper bags. (Which does greatly diminish the effect, but still.) Also, the carillon are very frequently replaced with a set of tubular bells and local church bells.
* Being able to play this beast of a musical piece properly is a Crowning Moment of Awesome in and of itself, regardless of what type of band you're in. Anyone who has participated in a performance can tell you just how hard it really is.
* Sadly the 1812 overture for most US people will be most known for just the one-minute snippet near the end where everything gets fast-paced mainly due to the fact that that one snippet is used in practically every Fourth of July fireworks celebration!
* The 1812 Overture just scrapes the surface for Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake leaps to mind. The overture from Swan Lake was used to Nightmare Fuel-riffic effect in the trailers for Black Swan, using that upswing in the middle to punctuate the ad.
* Also the violin concerto. Why only one violin concerto, Piotr Illitch? Why?
* Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor as well - and not just the famous first three minutes.
* And Symphonies No.4 in F minor and No.5 in E minor, especially the finales. (No.6 in B minor falls more into Tear Jerker territory.)
* Nutcracker, anyone?
* Ophelia's Mad Scene from Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas. Thirteen minutes long, incredibly difficult, and incredibly haunting.
* Modern classical, but classical still: composer Christopher Tin of the Video Games example Baba Yetu, has recently released an album called "Calling All Dawns." This album can basically be described as more than an hour of Crowning Music of Awesome. A song cycle depicting day, night, and dawn, it is made up of 12 songs (including an epic reorchestration of Baba Yetu itself). Each song is sung in a different language, each segues smoothly into the next, sometimes with no break, and the album ends on the same sequence of notes with which it began. And it is stirringly, tear-jerkingly beautiful.
* Special CMuOA mention goes to "Rassemblons-Nous" (Let Us Gather), which from the title sounds like it would be some type of Kumbaya song, but in French. Instead, it's a techno-backed anthem about giving destiny the finger, building a La Résistance against death itself, and pure, unmitigated AWESOME.
* "Kia Hora Te Marino" needs a mention too. Sung in Maori, it would make for a great anthem for peace. More or less, it's a powerful ending to an incredible album.
* Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending. It is often presented in concert or recorded programs along with Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis, which is heart-stirring and emotionally rending without ever being sappy.
* Not to mention Fantasia on Christmas Carols, especially once the "Come All You Worthy Gentlemen" part starts at roughly 4:25 (depending on the recording). The most amazing for me is near the end when the choir is alternating verses of "Come All You Worthy Gentlemen" and "The Sussex Carol".
* Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos, one associated with each season. While the first movement of "La Primavera" ("Spring") is the best known, it is the final movement of "L'estate" ("Summer"), the musical depiction of a furious summer thunderstorm, that belongs on this page.
* Can't forget "L'inverno" ("Winter"), both the opening Allegro non molto and the central Largo.
* Singing the concluding Cum Sancto Spiritu, from Vivaldi's Gloria in D major, makes you feel ten feet tall.
* Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Sure, it's Music of Note, but it's still CMOA.
* Unfortunately, this one's picked up a few nasty connotations due to the Nazis' usage of it. But then, it could be argued that more people associate Ride of the Valkyries with Apocalypse Now than with Those Wacky Nazis. Or with Bugs Bunny - "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!" Or the tank driver in Starcraft.
* Also, Götterdämmerung. Oh hell, all of Der Ring Des Nibelungen is pretty amazing.
* Charles-Marie Widor's Toccata, the finale from his Symphony No.5 for Organ in F minor, is a Crowning Music of Awesome, but seeing it played, it also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for any organist who can successfully pull it off!
* Widor's Organ Symphonies contain a lot of moments that deserve to be more widely known. Two which are particularly impressive are Symphony No. 6 in G Minor, Op 42. No.2, Allegro and Symphony No. 9 "Gothique", Allegro.
* Tempered Steel by Charles R. Young; if you don't like it that much, try being backstage while an ensemble is playing it.
* Zoltán Kodály's Vainamoinen makes music for women's choir and piano. The choir gets memorable melodies, playful counterpoint, and tricky rhythms. The piano part is beautiful, epic, and fun to play (which can't be said for a lot of choral literature), especially in the introduction and at the end. Each section is different from the last. It's only 4 minutes long. Go listen.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)