Duration: 27:00

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As requested by weavileoff0461, I'll be covering Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 with the Pokémon RSE soundfont, starting with its first movement.

The last of Bruckner's symphonies is unfortunately incomplete, as he died before being able to finish composing the finale. Even then, he left behind a towering work, with its three completed movements adding up to over an hour of music. Its first movement alone is almost half an hour long just by itself.

It is no secret that Bruckner was among the many 19th century composers who greatly admired Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the fact that he chose to compose his own Symphony No. 9 in the same key, D minor, was most likely intentional.
This admiration is also present in how the symphony begins. As he did in many of his symphonies, Bruckner imitates the famous beginning of Beethoven's work, in which the music seemingly emerges out of nothing, building up to a powerful proclamation (2:50). Here, that process is stretched to a much longer degree and constitutes what could be called this movement's first theme group.
After that imposing, large paragraph, we get an equally large but much more lyrical second one (4:12). The orchestration here is one of Bruckner's greatest achievements in this work.

Around eight minutes in, what could be called the development section begins. In truth, Bruckner melded the traditional development and recapitulation sections together so much that it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when either of them begins or ends. To be more accurate, what unfolds is a massive and heavily intricate fantasy, continuously elaborating on everything that came before.
The movement's ending is very loud and "final" sounding, yet it seems to be deliberately inconclusive, both due to its abrupt close and its refusal to settle into either D major or D minor. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the "questions" presented by this movement would have been answered by the finale that Bruckner was unable to finish.

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109
I. Feierlich, misterioso

Composer: Anton Bruckner

Soundfont: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Movement 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CXSR-ahLcI

Fire Emblem version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtTdlo8L3i0