Hamoohaha Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I have been making a number of short films lately and my next is going to have a very dark tone. I am looking for music that is unnerving, atmospheric and spooky. I have used alot of Bartok in the past but I am looking for some alternatives and am currently leaning more towards atonal music. I have started listening to Penderecki, but I don't know much about his works, so some recommendations would be nice. So, what is/are the scariest piece(s) of classical music that you know? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plutokat Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 George Crumb, BLACK ANGELS I wouldnt say this is scary to me, I think it is just soo cool a quite beautiful but it was used in the Exorcist so there has got to be some scare factor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeckelphoneNYC Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 lol Chris Bruckner 9 has some rreeeeeaaaaallllly scary stuff in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JmAY Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre Beethoven - Piano Sonata in D-Minor No. 17 Op. 31-2, "Tempest" (1st and 3rd movements) Beethoven - Piano Sonata in F-Minor No. 23 Op. 57, "Appassionata" (1st and 3rd movements) Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A-Major, (2nd movement) Mozart - Requiem in Dm (K.626) esp. Confutatis Orff - Carmina Burana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I agree with JMay, on what might not be the most obvious choice: Mozart's Requiem...some really terrifying bits in that. Mainly the Rex Tremendae, and Confutatis and Dies Irae. How about the start of the development of the 4th movement of Mozart's 40th symphony? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg5sA4T9xO0#t=1m43s That movement in general... The opening of the 'Dissonance' quartet is creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceWind91 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 You might be interested in the works of Shostakovich. The violin and cello concertos are a good place to start. Not quite atonal, but creepy nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrcramer Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 agreed. The 2nd Cello concerto, and then the 2nv movement. And the way that theme returns in the finale. Terrifying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackballoons Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Varese: Déserts Penderecki: Threnody, Anaklasis Tsontakis: Ghost Variations David Gordon: Friction Systems There's a lot out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamma Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 A few, youtube links, save ya the trouble. Good song about death. Obviously... Prokofiev's famous Suggestion Diabolique Two pieces that show Rachmaninoff's darker side... Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dance No.2 I find this one a mixture of beautiful and creepy personally. Blumenfeld - Etude de concert in F sharp minor, Op.24 I agree about Jmay's suggestion of Danse Macabre as well as Dominus Vobiscum's suggestion Toccata and Fugue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qmwne235 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Xenakis - Keqrops (beginning) Many works by the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi are really creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plutokat Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Xenakis - Keqrops (beginning) Many works by the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi are really creepy. I have never heard of Xenakis, but I looked him up and he sounds amazing. Great suggestion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nirvana69 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Schnittke's Pianissimo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Pagel Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Verdi's Requiem. Namely "Dies irae" and "Tuba mirum" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sum1 Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Second on that Psycho soundtrack. COMPLETELY freaked me out when I heard it in my music theory class. Also a second on Danse Macabre. That piece is just awesome on the organ. Also consider Shostakovich Quartet no. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siwi Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 - The famously lazy Anatol Lyadov managed to finish a couple of pieces you might find a use for - Baba Yaga and Kikimora (both about Russian witches, the former is the same witch as in Mussiorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition) - Holst - Egdon Heath - Richard Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (particularly the opening and the storm sequence, there are some pretty happy bits elsewhere) - Rite of Spring - Sibelius - Tapiola (getting lost in a Nordic forest is not a good idea when there's a storm brewing); Overture from The Tempest (too late, the storm is already here) - Mahler symphonies Five and Six, especially the finale with the hammer blows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy-uk Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Gyorgy Ligety's opera .....le grand macabre (over 18's only!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferkungamabooboo Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Rite of Spring was the first piece to really get me all weirded out. The Threnody's pretty intense. Fantomas's long-form work was pretty brutal. Some of Ekkehard Ehlers's blues album was really intense too... Course the scariest thing I ever heard was the record of the Jonestown Massacre. Gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamma Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Charles Ives Piano Sonata No.2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrtle Esmeralde Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 You might wanna check some of J. Sibelius's more dark-atmosphered works, such as the second part of the Lemminkäinen suite ( ) and some parts of En Saga. Some of Debussey's works are pretty chilling as well, although I do not have any specific one in my mind right now. If you don't mind having a piece with a singr and lyrics, I'd warmly recommend Leevi Madetoja's "Syksy", which pretty much chilled me to the bone... :wacko: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Fatuus Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 If music scares you, you aren't listening to it correctly. .............? :blink: I'm just wondering what definitions of "scare", "music", "listening" and "correctly" you are using to cobble that sentence together. I often come across views I disagree with, and sometimes views I don't understand... but rarely statements that I can't even begin to see how they are arrived at, and yet presented in such a consice manner as to appear a dogmatic, self-evident truth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Fatuus Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I believe that music does not have any inherent emotion; I believe our perceptions of emotion in music are as a result of our societal conditioning which really isn't anyone's fault but does a disservice to some of the greater depths of music that isn't emotional. "The aim of music is not to express feelings but to express music. It is not a vessel into which the composer distills his soul drop by drop, but a labyrinth with no beginning and no end, full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal." — Pierre Boulez (attributed) When my clock radio goes off in the morning, I can tell you I am momentarily terrified - or am I not listening to it properly? I also think Boulez is a prick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Fatuus Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I do not, however, think Stravisky and Copland are pricks, so this needs a serious reply :phones: It's interesting that you expect us to look for someone to be at "fault" for social conditioning. It's a harsh-sounding phrase but it means "learning". To say: "our perceptions of emotion in music are as a result of our societal conditioning", means "we learn how to react emotionally to music" - which is obvious. I don't see why this is a bad thing. But anyway, your argument rests on the assertion that social conditioning is distracting our appreciation of music, but I can't think of a single thing that cuts through the niceties of civilized culture, quite as well as fear. And I am very dubious of quotes that begin with "The aim of music is...". Can we start a new thread on this? It's interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yasamune Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I have a scraggy load of music that fits into this: Schonberg's "Variationen uber ein Rezitativ, Op. 40" (Hans-Ola Ericsson is beast) '' Pierrot Lunaire '' Survivor From Warsaw Britten's Peter Grimes (go to the scene where he loses his mind it's brilliant) Prokofiev's 3rd Symphony Crumb: Star Child (the Dies Irae is unbelievable), Black Angels, Mosolow(Mosolov): Zavod-brilliant BRILLIANT Shostakovich Symphony 7 (first movement) Penderecki Threnody, Cello Concerti Rite of Spring Poulenc Sextet Anything by Sorabji (HOW THE HELL DO YOU PLAY IT? LET ALONE PICK OUT THE BEAT!!!!) Messiaen Quartet for End of times gubaidulina's Bassoon Concerto (Bassoon and low Strings-FOURTH MOVEMENT WDF?!?!-Sinfonia Lahti Chamber Ensemble Recording is freaky as hell) Takemitsu's Soundtrack to "Ran" Aho's Contrabassoon Concerto :P Tons of other stuff :P Can I go on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yasamune Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Gyorgy Ligety's opera .....le grand macabre (over 18's only!!!!) BRILLIANT OPERA I GET TO SEE IT IN MAY 2010 WITH THE NYPHIL. IS IT NOT BRILLIANT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarplaya1990 Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 George Crumb, BLACK ANGELS I wouldnt say this is scary to me, I think it is just soo cool a quite beautiful but it was used in the Exorcist so there has got to be some scare factor Unknowingly having my speakers turned up while clicking on that link certainly gave me a scare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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