Interesting discussion in Prog Music Soceity......

[prythm]

OK, now that we've destroyed an excellent thread with another interesting topic, Any other epics? Anyone?

I'll ramble on about more Genesis. Apopolypse, as mentioned before, which I thinks is the ultimate example of plateau musical form. In this structure the piece evolves through a series of vertical steps, each at different levels of dissonance (tension), climbing its way through the most tense area (9/8s) then resolving at the top level (As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs ) and fading into the clouds. I love this structure. It can also be seen on the 3 Sides Live, the ‘In the Cage’ medley builds ultimate tension finally breaking into AfterGlow at the top, which in turn has it’s own build. Powerful stuff.

In other worlds Keith Jarret’s Vienna concert part 1 takes you through an insane tense segment which results in such a heavenly resolve , a sweet plateau that you can only fully appreciate if you make it through the journey of the previous parts. Another minor example is Alan Parsons ‘Silence and I’ (not exactly epic) which takes you through a high powered orchestrated mid section that elevates the remaining section.