I am looking for scores that are just a wonder to listen to. I don't know how to describe it other. Maybe someone here will know what I am talking about and be able to help me.

Michael Nyman's score for The Claim and Angelo Badalamenti's score for The Straight Story are epic and sweeping.

Some others that might make for the combination, Atticus Ross - Book of Eli or Nick Cave - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. As an outlier, Vangelis - Antartica for the film Nankyoku Monogatari.

Trying not to devolve my post into a list my favorite score list, but it's damn hard.

Dragonheart
Randy Edelman

The Island
Steve Jablonsky

Batman Returns
Danny Elfman

The Fountain
Clint Mansell

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Klaus Badelt/Hans Zimmer

The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Nixon
John Williams

Once Upon a Time In The West, The Mission, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Ennio Morricone

Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Christopher Young

Ben-Hur
Miklos Rozsa

Lawrence of Arabia
Maurice Jarre

Blade Runner
Vangelis

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Wojciech Kilar

Once Upon A Time In The West
Ennio Fucking Morricone....

Two of my favorites:

The Last of the Mohicans
Randy Edelman

The Social Network
Trent Reznor

The Godfather
Nino Rota

E.t.

Pearl Harbor
Hans Zimmer

Hate the movie but the score is great.

The main theme to Star Trek First Contact seemed awesome to me.

The English Patient, Gabriel Yared. It's simply wonderful. Here is a taste:

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Warning, the video does contain some spoilers.

"The Big Country" by Jerome Moross.

This thread isn't about favorite scores, it's about scores with a sweeping, epic sound to them or at least in part.

Krull, Willow, Glory, Legends Of The Fall, Braveheart, Apollo 13, The Missing, The Mask of Zorro / The Legend of Zorro
-James Horner (my favorite composer)

Stargate, Independence Day (my favorite score)
-David Arnold

Unfortunately, our esteemed original poster was rather vague. What is "epic" to you may be different to others. The English Patient is an epic romance, and a wonder to listen to.

Nevertheless, I believe your assumption is what godzilla rules implied, which is why I listed the scores I did. Every one of them has punch, power and panache. Give a listen to John William's Nixon score, especially the cue "The 1960's - the Turbulent Years".

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Sweeps me everytime!

I was thinking more of "The Social Network" being in this thread. It's not orchestral, therefore 'sweeping' doesn't exactly apply to it. Epic? Not sure, since all I know of it is who came up with it but given the film it's for, epic probably wouldn't work for that kind of story. So while it may be a favorite score for some, it's not really the kind of music (we must assume) the OP is asking for.

All of the scores you listed are pretty much perfect for this thread in terms of their overall sound.

A Very Long Engagement



Out of Africa




.

I don't believe that "sweeping" is defined by whether it's orchestral or not; an electronic score can sweep and swell just as much. As to whether The Social Network is classified as much, I can't say, haven't seen it.

In my particular post, I only mentioned "favorite" in that I tend to like scores that aren't too pop or percussive.

Though a bad movie, City Of Angels had a great score.

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Another film I dislike that is blessed with a fantastic score:

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Ditto on BEN-HUR by Miklos Rozsa. By the same composer: EL CID, KING OF KINGS, among many others.

Give Hugo Friedhofer's score for THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) a try. One of the most beautiful scores I've ever heard. And it won the Oscar for Best Score that year. (BEST YEARS, of course, won Best Picture.)

Although the worst film in the series (assuming the fourth film doesn't royally suck), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End had the best music in the series, by far:

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A nice homage to Ennio Morricone.

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Most epic music EVER!

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I'm very surprised that Return of the King wasn't the first one listed.

Other than the Annie Lennox song (which is sampled towards the tail end of the movie), there isn't much to distinguish it from the scores of FOTR or TTT.

Dances With Wolves - John Barry

The Right Stuff - Bill Conti

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