Music that inspires

It's been kind of slow lately. I haven't had many topics to talk about, at least not topics that relate directly to my Great Medieval Science Fiction Masterpiece With Neandertals. So, mulling things over in my mind, I remember several discussions about the kind of music authors listen to when writing their masterpieces! One author said she liked, I think it was, bands like Meatloaf. Is Meatloaf still around? Anyway, such discussions always get me thinking. Because I have been, and still am, "inspired" by certain music. In my case, it's all classical, and it's only certain composers. Perhaps it's my background(I studied Russian for years), but I have a definite liking for Russian romantics --- and a lot of Shostakovich. And I was "inspired" originally by several works.

So here's the list. It's not in any particular order, just the ones I think of first.

Tchaikovsky, especially an early work called The Snow Maiden. Why? There are a couple of what I can only describe as kind of medieval-sounding pieces within.

Rimsky-Korsakov, especially The Golden Cockerel. It, too, has a medieval "sound" to it(though he was trying for Nationalistic Russian at the time), and a certain "dark" undertone to it that seems appropriate to my work. And, like all the music I really like, it's very "visual". Other pieces that were important: Sadko and the Tale of Tsar Saltan.

Finally Shostakovich. Strangely, it's some of his lighter movie and dance pieces that are "inspiring" here, although several of his symphonies "fit" my theme, because they are so broad and grand. And my trilog is broad and grand. But I like the way his music swings from rather light to very sweeping(in the symphonies, esp. 5, 7, 8, 11, and 12.)

I may end up being "inspired" by other composers in other works, but for now, these are my "inspirations". I even derived or pictured what I call a key scene(around which I've built part of my narrative), from listening to one piece.
Anne G