OT: Classical Music

[Hunpecked]

"Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky via Rimsky-Korsakov is quite a stirring piece of music.

If you can find it, you might like the battle music from the 1962 film "Taras Bulba".

I liked the music from the 1965 film "Battle of the Bulge", especially the German "Panzerlied" (just about anything seems more martial when you sing it in German).

The old "Victory at Sea" TV series had scads of music to complement its combat footage. You can find some samples here:

http://victoryatseaonline.com/victory_music.html

Edit: The "Conan the Barbarian" soundtrack also has some nice "barbaric" battle music.

[Cyclop]

I too am a huge classical fan while I am working or playing a game. I made a cd with most of the music already listed (Conan & O'Fortuna are favorites) but here are some more soundtrack/scores not listed:
- Star Wars Duel of the Fates
- 13th Warrior - Glow Worm
- Gladiator
- Hunt for Red October
- Star Trek Bird of Prey Song
- Last of the Mohicans
- The Patriot
Many others but these are a few on my own mix "Battlefield Classics". Let me know if anyone wants an MP3 of these. I would be happy to send a few over.

[TurinTurambar]

I was also wading thru the soundtrack samples of THIS at Buy.com and thought there was some pretty cool stuff on it.

[Morkilus]

You'll find nothing else by Orff that resembles O Fortuna. If you enjoy dark, huge choral pieces, there are many options though...

-Requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Brahms, Berlioz (usually the Dies Irae)
-Prokofiev's soundtrack for Alexander Nevsky, esp. "Battle on the Ice"
-Shostakovich's Babi Yar symphony (don't remember the number)
-Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
-Anything by Wagner or Bruckner if you have the patience for it...
and finally
-end battle of Final Fantasy 7

All quite better quality than Orff, no offense.

[Hunpecked]

Not to resurrect a dead thread or anything, but I just saw "Van Helsing" on cable. The music for the opening sequence and for the carriage chase would seem to make suitable backgrounds for combat.

[Raging Deadstar]

It does. I've played in several RPGs where we used the Van Helsing soundtrack for those suspense building moments.

It's by Alan Silvestri and is pretty dam good. The best for film soundtracks I've found is Hans Zimmer by far though.